tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71019362024-03-14T00:30:27.532+11:00the wanderings of an Australian evangelical who grew up in the hard-right Reformed Presbyterian Church, passed through the Presbyterian and Sydney Anglican scenes, landing in a unique evangelical, socially engaged, charismatic Uniting Church.<p>Meanwhile he studied comparative religion and political economics and lived in four Christian communities approximating intentional community and halfway houses in equal parts.<p>Here he ponders: '<b>What are you doing more than others?</b>'(Matt 5:47)jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.comBlogger226125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-44166791636522229972008-09-22T09:04:00.004+10:002008-09-22T09:14:17.044+10:00

Hey, check it out, pretty cool website this. It's all about keeping representatives accountable and all that. It's hot stuff.But the best part is just about anything Bill Heffernan says. The Heff is a veritable treasure trove of wacked-out, moonbat-crazy ramblings. And now I can get it in a weekly mailing. I love it.* disclosure: I am not entirely unassociated with the website above-linked ;)

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-13795487827126363142008-02-27T15:27:00.003+11:002008-02-27T15:48:42.006+11:00

For those who pooh pooh security threats or believe they're all a result of lazy programmers or devious marketers here's a story worth noting.In the classic security hack scenario a teenage geek with too much time on his hands reverse engineered the infrared protocol used to control tram track changes in Poland. He modified a TV Remote to send the appropriate signals and then treated the tram

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-90830714190422375802007-07-04T14:39:00.000+10:002007-07-04T15:03:46.473+10:00

If you can't takes the kids off the land, take the land off the kids.So it's been a little while since I posted and a lot has happened, but Howard's "send in the army" NT farce was a bit too much to ignore. Especially with the mainstream press dropping the ball 'children overboard' style. All we hear is victim-porn about all the horrible things happening in indigenous Australia. Since it's

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-28217189332410932812007-03-15T12:00:00.000+11:002007-03-15T12:34:55.662+11:00

Among the darkness of an urban cityscape a fleeting shadow leaves a sinister trail. Between graffiti, syringes and broken glass the dark figures dance and fade, impossible to discern for more than a moment. Then with a flash of needles and eerie laughter there is nothing - silence descends. In the morning an unassuming streetlight, a public monument or a power pole blooms with riotous polyester/

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-58888888088796569112007-03-05T17:35:00.000+11:002007-03-05T18:37:46.378+11:00

The following image was produced by NASA based on images of the Earth taken at night. City lights make major cities and populated areas easily identifiable - at least for those countries that can afford street lights (click for a closer view):Credit: C. Mayhew & R. Simmon (NASA/GSFC), NOAA/ NGDC, DMSP Digital ArchiveAstronomy Picture of The Day: 27th November, 2007.

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1168943269613732042007-01-16T21:27:00.000+11:002007-01-16T21:27:50.256+11:00

Late last year a blog called 'randomness exemplified' reproduced one of the best articles I ever seen on the subject of the Hillsong mega-church. The picture is not a pretty one. Remarkably this good journalism comes from News Limited of all places.Others have reported that Head Pastor, Brian Houston, while not earning anything directly from the church does earn significant "love gifts" for

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1165833972108567042006-12-11T21:46:00.000+11:002006-12-12T06:14:51.016+11:00

So it's green slips time for me and I've been wandering the net in search of enlightenment. I've never managed to get a straight answer out of anyone on exactly what green slips insure you against. Even Wikipedia turned out to be too US-centric to know. Resting my hopes on a Googling I finally discovered that green slips insure you against legal liability for personal injury to anyone else from a

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1155822924040132182006-08-17T23:55:00.000+10:002006-10-16T10:25:08.593+10:00

The Washington Post has a piece called "Diving for Dinner" on people who 'dumpster dive' in the DC area. Often less hardcore than the name sounds this is just when people take food from a supermarket that is in the process of throwing it away because it has reached the "sell by" date (they don't have "use by" in the States).The Web Editor from Sojourners who I work pretty closely with, Ryan

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1155748805367463812006-08-17T03:20:00.000+10:002006-11-07T16:26:34.303+11:00

I got published again. This time writing about a recent service trip a group of us did to the Gulf Coast where rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, over a year past, still continues. There were some large cuts for the nicely edited final published version, but I'm posting the full original copy.Charity, Justice and Love on the Gulf CoastAs we rolled into New Orleans we left the Interstate

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1155594753430979162006-08-15T07:54:00.000+10:002006-08-15T08:35:30.516+10:00

One of my fellow interns gave the sermon at our office chapel service a couple of weeks back. I really liked the way he managed to critique both conservative and liberal preaching he had heard for the ways it had abused the Bible. His sermon was an exercise in walking the line between Biblical legalism and popular culture dressed up as Chrisitnaity. I asked and Steve agreed to let me publish the

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1155136270270406322006-08-10T01:11:00.000+10:002006-08-10T01:17:22.890+10:00

The Boston Globe's recent op-ed titled "The Nagasaki principle" is an eloquent reflection in the same vein as a something I wrote a couple of months back asking whether it is sensible to talk of Just War or honourable ways of using military force. The question being whether the nature of warfare doesn't inherently cause all combatants to commit attrocities."The Nagasaki priciple" outlines a

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1154713348413669582006-08-05T03:42:00.000+10:002006-08-05T03:51:00.303+10:00

...the scorching blazing sunlight of America's recent heatwave. He's been converted and now says he believes in global warming:"We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels," Robertson said on his "700 Club" broadcast. "It is getting hotter, and the icecaps are melting and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air."Hallelujah! Whether it is sincere or just cynically reading the

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1154619767672170002006-08-04T01:42:00.000+10:002006-08-04T01:43:56.690+10:00

You know the evenagelical mood shift is penetrating the polical conciousness when even the Dallas Morning News is reporting it. They even have a prof from Dallas Theological Seminary (home of 'Left Behind'-style rapture theology and premillenial dispensationalism) saying:Evangelicals should lose their "Jimmy Cagney theology," he says. "Quit telling people they're dirty rats who shouldn't be doing

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1154363935448203202006-08-01T02:38:00.000+10:002006-08-02T05:50:05.990+10:00

The NYT is reporting that at least one mega-church pastor is distancing himself from the Republican Party machine, Religious Right politics and the nationalism that is America's civic religion. The Rev Gregory Boyd is a conservative, in that he believes abortion and homosexuality are wrong, but he outright rejects militarism, jingoism and reactionary outrage over sexual issues in society.“I am

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1154361825550189192006-08-01T02:03:00.000+10:002006-08-01T02:40:52.003+10:00

The Lexington Herald-Leader has an interesting article. The guy who runs the Wittenburg Door, "the world's pretty much only religious satire magazine," sounds quite remarkable. He has a private detective license and goes around checking up on and exposing corrupt televangelists. He and his supporters, under the auspices of the 'Trinity Foundation', live simply (he gets food, board and $55/wk),

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1152633024041424042006-07-12T01:50:00.000+10:002006-07-12T01:54:10.710+10:00

So it seems the Boston Globe has written the history of fundamentalism that I had had in the back of my mind for about a year now. It's an important read, especially if you ever want to use the terms 'fundamentalist' or 'evangelical' and not be completely ignorant about what they mean and have meant. For example, William Jennings Bryan - perhaps the most famous fundamentalist ever - while he

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1152627525344833062006-07-12T00:18:00.000+10:002006-07-12T00:18:46.146+10:00

A news source that monitors international Christian imprisonments and martyrdoms is reporting that Mexico is releasing 9 prisoners and lowering the sentences of 10 (out of a total of 90) all charged with the December 22, 1997, massacre of 45 Tzotzil Indians in Acteal, Chiapas. Investigators said it became clear that the 45 massacred Tzotzil Indians, including pregnant women and children, were

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1150725459158355432006-06-19T23:57:00.000+10:002006-07-08T01:18:17.513+10:00

The Register reports that an email (or "phishing") scam has tricked 1,000 NAB customers into downloading a trojan virus from a fake information page after claiming that the NAB had gone bankrupt. It then instructed them to access their accounts online at which point the trojan intercepted their account details.It's a good reminder that online scams do happen and can target even the humble

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1149959128031264662006-06-11T01:51:00.000+10:002006-06-11T03:15:17.193+10:00

The recent New York Times article 'Will Same-Sex Marriage Collide With Religious Liberty?' is rare among mainstream media articles for its recognition of religious liberty as a human right.Human rights are the language of humanism and although humanism derived from both Christian and atheist thinkers during the Renaissance in modern times it is almost synonymous with non-religious secular

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1149546154100135722006-06-06T08:22:00.000+10:002006-06-06T08:23:07.433+10:00

The Christian Century has another article in the long line of "Wow, not all Christians want to kill the planet and eat the poor (even in America)!" pieces. This time the focus is on the younger generation, specifically those on evangelical campuses. Our old friend Rich Cizik makes another appearance, but overall the picture that emerges is of a conservative evangelical backlash against the

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1149264777631107382006-06-03T02:12:00.000+10:002006-06-03T02:21:28.406+10:00

The BBC has video footage of remains from an attack in Ishaqi, alleged by Iraqis to have been the site of a US massacre of civilians. They are reporting that the footage contradicts US claims that the building collapsed, killing eleven, and sides closer to the Iraqi claims that the US soldiers entered the building and summarily executed all 11 inhabitants (including three children). They note

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1148568353466000422006-05-26T00:45:00.000+10:002006-06-09T15:35:27.013+10:00

The Scientific American reports on a large study of pot and tobacco smokers. Marijuana smokers end up with significantly more tar (4x) and more carcinogens (1.5x) in their system than tobacco smokers and yet the study found they are no more likely than non-smokers to get lung cancer and significantly less likely than tobacco smokers to get it.Why this is is not known, though one speculation is

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1148486946006105572006-05-25T02:09:00.000+10:002006-05-26T08:50:48.646+10:00

So I finally got published again. The following is a review of an interesting documentary about child silver miners in Bolivia.Subtle advocatesby James FergusonSojoMail 5-24-2006The Devil's Miner is Basilio Vargas, a fatherless 14-year-old "indio," or indigenous person, who has been mining silver in Potosi, Bolivia, since he was 10. Despite being a practicing Catholic, Basilio offers gifts to "

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1147985866320575072006-05-19T06:57:00.000+10:002006-05-19T06:57:49.730+10:00

You may've heard of the spate of recently retired generals blasting Bush and especially Rumsfeld for the duo's mishandling of Iraq. Foreign Policy magazine has a not-so-recently retired Lt. General writing a very short but incredibly deft piece on why even the most persuasive arguments for 'staying the course' are duplicitous rubbish. From civil war to the need for further training of Iraqi

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7101936.post-1147967203467681622006-05-19T01:46:00.000+10:002006-05-19T02:04:57.070+10:00

"This one is ugly" NBC reports an official saying. It appears a group of Marines lost the plot when one of their own was killed by a roadside bomb. They entered a nearby town and executed 15 civilians, ten of whom were women and children, in a cold-blooded and indiscriminate revenge spree. A number of the victims were in the middle of prayer when they were shot.The story is currently under

jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16448193289603574422noreply@blogger.com0