Archives For America

School Violence and Our Zero Tolerance World

February 20, 2013 — 11 Comments
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The scene of some dangerous finger pointing, noise making and make-believe playtime. Crisis averted, thanks to quick thinking by heroic school officials.

Kids get in trouble at school every day.  Nothing unusual there.

Getting suspended from school used to be the worst punishment that a kid could get.  It was the last resort, reserved for kids who picked fights and were serious offenders.

Today, on a pretty regular basis, you can read stories about a new kind of elementary school hooligan.

Every week or two, there’s a new story of a kid who doesn’t actually bring a weapon to school, or make actual threats toward others, or actually hurts anyone. No, these new playground terrorists get suspended for having a Hello Kitty bubble gun, pointing fingers at playmates while making the ubiquitous “pow” sound of a gun, or even disposing of an imaginary bomb in order to save the world.

Thank God these school administrators are here to save our playgrounds from future Jack Bauers, MacGyvers and Chuck Norrises.

Before you think I’m coming down too hard on principals who have to enforce their “zero tolerance” policies about weapons and violence in an age of school shootings, think about how easy the zero tolerance policy has made the task of suspending kids, and how we are increasingly living in a stark black-and-white world with fewer and fewer shades of gray.

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In America, culture, education
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Hollywood and Washington Hope You Love Sequels

January 7, 2013 — 3 Comments

I hope you all like sequels.movie-300-fiscal-cliff-2-620x374

Hollywood knows we like sequels and rehashes to familiar stories.  We gobble them up.  We demand more.

So maybe Congress is just taking a cue from Hollywood.

Last week, we “averted” the so called “fiscal cliff” with a last minute deal to fend off a doomsday-like scenario of automatic tax hikes.

But we did so in a way that solved absolutely no problems whatsoever.  And, once again, the can was kicked down the road.  I hope you like sequels, because we are going to watch this farce unfold again in March.

Everyone knows someone who just can’t get their act together.  No matter how much they struggle, no matter how much help or how many second chances they get, they just can’t stop being a completely trainwreck, a lightning rod, and a dysfunctional mess.  I’ve come to see our government as our dysfunctional, roadkill-like friend.  It’s awful to watch, but we can’t look away.

But despite all of this, I think we actually can learn something from an old-fashioned game of “kick the can” with our representatives in Washington.

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In America, politics
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Post Culture War America

November 19, 2012 — 13 Comments

Recently, Ed Stetzer posted several of his thoughts about the political and cultural outlook for America.flag_cross_525

Among his many predictions, he tentatively called the end of the culture war.

Like, he didn’t call for the end of the culture war.  Like watching an election map take shape and realizing that the paths to victory are narrowing, Stetzer called the culture war over.  

And he says we’ve lost.  Our path to victory has closed.

With multiple states passing referenda that would be opposite of the typical evangelical agenda, he says it’s time to prepare to live in post-culture-war America.

If you think that means hunkering in your basement until the apocalypse, here’s what I think.

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In America, culture
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Please Give Up Your First Amendment Rights

November 7, 2012 — 27 Comments

I have a question for you, now that Election Day is over:6a00d834515f9b69e2016302ae4f64970d-800wi

How much damage did the election cause to the church?

Or rather, how much damage did we do, with the election’s help?

I am writing this on Tuesday afternoon. I have no idea what mood I will be in by the time you read these words. While you are reading these words, literally half of this country is very upset. I do not need to be a fortune teller to know that.

Half of us are convinced that the man who will be President for the next four years will cause irreparable harm to this country. Chances are, he will, as most Presidents do. Hopefully, he will cause less harm than the good he accomplishes.

But I fear that the damage done to our churches will not be erased anytime soon, though the election is over.

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In America, church, politics
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Why God Doesn’t Come To America Anymore

November 5, 2012 — 22 Comments

Kwot Nyor is a quietly amazing man.li-sudan-flag-rtr2olus-620

Yesterday, he spoke to our church. He has been a good friend to my dad for several years.

Kwot is from South Sudan. He spent ten years fighting in the liberation army, defending Christians from genocide. He would go without food and water for days at a time. After a decade of fighting, he worked as a pastor and evangelist. Now, he is living in the midwest United States, but is preparing to return home with the dream of building new Christian schools and churches in the very primitive South Sudan.

This is a place where people worship trees and sacrifice animals to appease spirits. They speak curses and incantations against one another. People cannot read or write. Whole communities share single water wells.

He told us stories of specific people who came for healing, and they were healed. Or, Kwot prayed, and Jesus appeared to them, the way He appeared to Paul. He has dreams that come true. He even dreamed on Saturday night that his car would break down, and on Sunday morning, on his way to church, it did.

Kwot’s stories are outlandish, to the point of unbelievability to an American like me.

It makes me wonder when I hear all the things that happen in places like Africa if God has decided to check out of America.

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In America, doubt, faith
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Give Us a King…er, President

November 2, 2012 — 10 Comments

Just one more weekend to go…white-house-south-2007-dj

…Many of us have rested many hopes on the shoulders of one man or the other.

We assure ourselves that if only the right man is elected, then our troubles will be erased:

We will have more money.

We will enjoy more opportunities.

We will be safer and more secure.

We will be happier.

We have a lot of hope pinned on what happens next Tuesday.  Half the country will be elated, while the other lies around in sackcloth and ashes, certain that it is the end of modern civilization as we know it.

In times like this, I like to recall this:

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In America, politics
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