"Cyndere's Midnight" is threatening marriages?!
A dismaying post from Sean Gaffney in L.A.!
Oh, and by the way, I had the pleasant surprise of an encounter with Cyndere's Midnight reader Jessica Ribera at church on Sunday. She came running up to happily report that she had "dreamed of the Keeper! There were tracks on the ground, and everything!" If you've read Auralia's Colors and Cyndere's Midnight, you'll know the significance of this. The Keeper lives... (in dreams, anyway).
The #1 Movie in America!!
Warning: The following might have been written with tongue firmly in cheek.
In Which I Am Interviewed on "Discourse" with Stephen Reed
Thanks to Gina Dalfonzo at The Point for pointing out that the latest installment of Stephen Reed's Discourse has been posted.
Discourse is an interview podcast, which is available at Breakpoint. It's a fairly new feature, and it was a privilege to be one of Stephen's first guests.
Dude... I'm Going to Iowa!
Northwestern College of Iowa has extended me a gracious invitation to come and spend a day talking about faith and film with the students. I can't wait. I'll be there Monday, November 10.
Anybody here at Northwestern?
Next Wednesday at Seattle Pacific University...
Next Wednesday, Seattle Pacific University throws the doors wide open to the public for a day of lectures on the subject of BEAUTY.
I'll be speaking about beauty, beasts, and Cyndere's Midnight.
And before that, I'll be speaking at this conference for high school teachers.
I hope to see some of you at one or the other of these events. Bonus points if I see you at both!
Steven Greydanus is Dismantling "Religulous"
Hey, stop by ArtsandFaith.com and check it out: Steven Greydanus is dismantling Religulous, exposing the falsity of some of Bill Maher's claims in the film. I'd recommend starting with this post, in which Greydanus begins with a question from Peter Chattaway:
Chattaway:
... I do have one question: Does anybody here have any insights into Maher's claim that 16% of the American public -- a bigger chunk of the population than Jews, blacks, gays, or NRA members -- is non-religious? Does that simply mean that 16% of the population is unaffiliated with any particular religion (which would leave open the possibility that they are still spiritual or even religious in a non-affiliated way)? Or does it mean that 16% of the population actively reject belief in God etc.? I ask because Maher tells this 16% of the population to shed its "timidity", and to speak up the way all those other, smaller segments of the population do -- and I am wondering if this 16% is really as solid a bloc as he implies it is.
Greydanus replies:
No.
The presumptive source is the recent, massive study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which found that 16 percent of the population has no religious affiliation -- not no religious belief.
The same study found that Americans are nearly unanimous (92 percent) in saying they believe in God. Only about four percent of Americans self-identify as "atheist" or "agnostic."
Wait, it gets better. According to the study, over half of self-identified "agnostics" and over a fifth of "atheists" say that they believe in God or a universal spirit. "Atheists" and "agnostics" in double digits also believe in heaven and hell, pray at least weekly, believe that abortion should be illegal in most cases -- and believe that "values are threatened by Hollywood."
And he goes on from there, with even more simple debunking of Maher's errors and falsehoods...
L.B. Graham on the Problem with "Christian fiction"
An excellent post by author L.B. Graham!
I don't know his stories (yet), but I'm impressed with his perspective on prevalent problems in "Christian fiction."
Christianity is not about moralism, and Christian fiction shouldn't be either. Christianity revolves, not around good behavior, but around God's mercy shown to man in the death and resurrection of Christ. However, even though we know this to be theologically true, I think we struggle to remember this as we go about our daily lives, and one of the places where we really struggle to remember it is in our engagement with the arts in general, but as fiction is our topic, we'll limit our reflection here to that...