Independent Faith, Civility, and Wearing the Purple

The God's Politics Blog is one of my go to reads every week.  Jim Wallis' Sojourner's organization is a voice representing Christians from all different traditions; its mission is to articulate the biblical call for social justice independent of any particular political affiliation.  Civility, not partisan politics.  Really, who can argue with that?

Wallis' most recent blog post is on a topic that's been very much in the news lately.  Christians and Bullying: Standing with Gays and Lesbians tries to take a Christ-like approach to a divisive issue.  The point is well taken... no matter how much disagreement there might be on an issue, no matter how deeply felt, there is no Christian justification for disrespect, tearing someone down or violence. 

And to go another necessary step further, "to paraphrase Christ, if you oppose bullying, what reward will you get? Isn’t everybody against it?....  The fact that any community or group of people is regularly the target of harassment and hate means Christians should be on the front line of defense against any who would attack."  We should be standing with the vulnerable in our society, whoever they are, not just looking on and shaking our heads at their plight.

Friday Pearls

For hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life-and-death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity. I hope therefore … to counter the hostility of the regime with the best of intentions, and defuse hate with love.
- Liu Xiaobo, a literature professor, essayist, human rights activist and Chinese political prisoner, awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. (Source: Los Angeles Times)

The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency

I've seen all the books appear over the past few years, but have always resisted buying them.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe because I tend to avoid most anything hinting at "literature" or afrocentric or that everybody tells me I should be buying.

What a fool!

Having taken a half-day from work - complete aversion to work today combined with an overabundance of comp time/time-in-lieu not yet taken - I ended up watching the movie I'd recorded from the BBC onto my DVR a couple of weeks ago.

As you can see, this has motivated me to write a blog post for the first time in a month.  And why?  Because my experience was so fantastic, so amazing, I think everyone should know about this.  This wonderful movie was funny, engrossing, empowering, touching, and flat out beautiful.

I guess it should be no surprise really.  With a director like Anthony Minghella, of The English Patient and Cold Mountain fame, there was little chance that this film wouldn't work.  Add in a screenplay co-written by he and Richard Curtis, of Four Weddings and A Funeral (see earlier post) and Bridget Jones' Diary, and you have a wonderful script.  Round all this off with the acting chops of some fantastic actors and cinematography actually shot in the true location (!), and you have a film where everything rings true.  I laughed.  I shed real tears.  And... now I want to go to Botswana.

 But first, I need to read the books.