Altered states in photojournalism (and, perhaps, church?)
In an attempt to connect the sacred and the secular, however tenuously, I link to an observation by Dean Peters at Heal Your Church Web Site regarding the recent flap over the L.A. Times photographer's alteration of battle photos. Dean notes how tempting it is for those of us in the church to alter our images and (in what is perhaps a subtle reference to another recently altered image, this one from Hollywood, from whence none of us should expect image and reality to meet), offers his own clever example of an altered (head of) state.
Some non-journalists might wonder about the big flap over the altered photograph, but the point is this: journalists in the field -- unlike bloggers, columnists, pundits and other commentators -- should provide unaltered observations of reality for readers and viewers. I almost wrote "objective observations..." but we all know objectivity is an impossibility. We all report and filter reality through our own biased perceptions of the world. That's a given. But to deliberately alter a perception of reality is unethical for a journalist. Editing is a necessity for any journalist, photo or otherwise. But some semblance of objectivity should be a goal toward which any journalist should strive.
Now, how does this relate to church? Take a look at church websites. How many of them consist of altered images of their congregations? My hunch is, quite a few. I agree with Dean's assessment: "regarding your church web site, remember, we are supposed to be beacons of truth. So if you're thinking of faking it ... DON'T!"
:: Andrew 12:05 + ::
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:: Friday, April 04, 2003 ::
Fan mail
Here's one from the inbox today:
Dear Sir, While waiting for a friend to come online I decided to look up christian blogs. I was wondering if your faith is reformed,freewill, or new age. Im sure if i had continued to read your site the info may have been available. But I became discouraged reading all the secular crap. Movies sports war etc. etc. Do you happen to know of any good reformed calvnistic blogs? Ones that teach people about the doctrines of Grace and are truly concerned for souls and not this cesspool we live in . Thanks so much. Nahum l:7 The Lord is good a stronghold in the time of trouble He knows those that trust in HIm...
My response, in part:
Dear ______:
Thank you for writing. I'm sorry that my blog discouraged you. I don't believe there is such a thing as "secular crap," as you call it -- if we are to believe that "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof," as Scripture teaches. But I also do understand where you are coming from. My hope with my weblog is to be able to engage non-Christians as well as Christians in conversations that may help to lead people to Christ. As for "reformed" theology, I recommend a very good weblog by Gideon Strauss, http://gideonstrauss.blogspot.com/, which includes links to several Calvinistic blogs.
Grace and peace!
Andrew
P.S. - Sorry, Gideon. You're the closest thing to a Calvinistic blogger I could think of that early in the morning. Now go hide your secular crap. Company's coming.
Update: I like Gideon's Sunday, April 6, post in response to my link to his blog, a portion of which I've posted here, in true Gideonesque fashion: Jesus is Lord over all of life. Which means that as the people of God we must be at work as agents of grace in all areas of life. The doctrines of grace do not stand in opposition to a human life lived to the full, in engagement with culture in all its creationally ordained facets. Quite the opposite: these doctrines are reliable guides toward a reading of the Scriptures that will enable us to understand what such a life, lived to the glory of God, looks like.
:: Andrew 11:11 + ::
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Rushkoff on our relationship with religion
Douglas Rushkoff, out on his book tour for Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism, is talking to people about religion. His latest post (linked in the headline) contains some thoughtful observations, starting with this one: I'm fast learning that people are less willing to consider new ways of looking at their relationship to religion than, say, the Internet. In fact, many people don't seem to understand that they have a relationship to religion, at all. They think it just is. Later, he adds: People have much less room for entertaining doubt in their relationships to religion. ... That's probably because these relationships are always fraught with so much doubt - conscious or otherwise. Of course, engaging with different models of theology needn't shake anyone's belief that there is a God - only that we may not yet conceive of God exactly as God is.
Here is another perspective on Rushkoff's post.
:: Andrew 12:40 + ::
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Journalist Michael Kelly killed in Humvee accident in Iraq
This is shocking news. Kelly was reporting for The Washington Post and The Atlantic, and was one of the embedded columnists I was following regularly. He's the first embedded journalist from the U.S. to die during this war. I admired Kelly for leaving the comfort of a desk job to join the troops. I like to think I would have done the same thing, if given the opportunity.
Today's story on the Post website describes Kelly as "a caustic conservative who was merciless in his criticism of Bill Clinton and Al Gore and was generally supportive of President Bush." His last dispatch, dated April 3, began this way:
EAST OF THE EUPHRATES RIVER, Iraq -- Near the crest of the bridge across the Euphrates that Task Force 3-69 Armor of the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division seized yesterday afternoon was a body that lay twisted from its fall. He had been an old man -- poor, not a regular soldier -- judging from his clothes. He was lying on his back, not far from one of several burning skeletons of the small trucks that Saddam Hussein's willing and unwilling irregulars employed. The tanks and Bradleys and Humvees and bulldozers and rocket launchers, and all the rest of the massive stuff that makes up the U.S. Army on the march, rumbled past him, pushing on.
Update: Here's The Atlantic Monthly's statement on Kelly's death. Also, several blog-surfers have left comments about Kelly's death here on the Command-Post.org site. More comments (many from fellow journalists) at Legacy.com.
:: Andrew 10:54 + ::
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Al Jazeera's back
The English-version website of the controversial Arab TV network Al Jazeera is back online. It provides an interesting perspective on the war news. Not necessarily better, but different.
:: Andrew 08:33 + ::
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:: Thursday, April 03, 2003 ::
Pfc. Jessica Lynch's amazing, heroic story
By now, we've all heard about this brave young woman's amazing story, of how she was fighting to the death. All, apparently, except this organization. I did a search for "Jessica Lynch" on NOW's site and got a big, fat goose-egg. Thanks to Opinion Journal for this observation.
:: Andrew 08:28 + ::
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Dwindling book reviews hurting publishers
Add this to the growing list of woes for small publishing houses: "The main problem is simply letting the world know that a book exists — there are so many new books coming out, it's a constant struggle," says Douglas Gibson, publisher and chief executive at McClelland & Stewart. "The bad review is better than no review at all. Traditionally the newspaper review has been the main way to alert people and continues to be — that may change over time. The Internet is an interesting new opportunity to get at specific markets."
Ah, yes. The Internet. Scorned by many publishers (including the one who published my first book, which ironically was all about the Internet) as yet another tool of Satan to distract people from reading a good book, perhaps it may now become small publishing's savior. Thank God for reviewers like Jordon Cooper, from whose site I found this article.
It also bugs me that only the behemoths like Zondervan (owned by HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corp., which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, that scion of decency who also owns Fox properties) and Tyndale House (most famous for Left Behind books) are the ones making the rules these days.
Related topic: You are what you read, an enlightening article from World magazine about the reading habits of evangelical Christians, based on the top-selling books in the Christian market. Excerpt: Of the top 100 (Christian) books, only four could be described as even popular theology. ... There are three books of apologetics, dealing with evidences for the faith and how to answer its critics. Those seem to be the only books that are focused on evangelism. Of the top 100 books, only six are about the Bible. (This does not count an additional eight books on "God's Promises" or "Bible Promises," two series consisting of scriptural texts arranged topically and addressed to various issues and stations in life.)
:: Andrew 18:02 + ::
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:: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 ::
Strange goings-on in blogland
In his post "God-blogs mirrored," Bene Diction blogs on about apparent hackings of certain "god-blogs" and a site that has misappropriated the identities of several blogs, including this one.
:: Andrew 17:53 + ::
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A blogger in need...
Something has gone terribly awry with my blog archives. Several weeks ago the archives disappeared, no doubt due to my ineptness, and now all I get in my "archive template" is this string of code:
faultStringjava.lang.Exception: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /home/Templates/3414478_a.html (No such file or directory)faultCode0
Please, some helpful technoblogger, come to my aid!
:: Andrew 10:24 + ::
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:: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 ::
A pretty good April Fool's joke...
I didn't get the chance to have fun with April Fool's yesterday. (Unfortunately I was in meetings most of the day. Talk about a cruel prank.) But the husband of one of my writers here at the university pulled a good one on another writer. While the writer was out of the office, the husband of the other writer entered her cubicle, made a screen shot of her open Outlook inbox, then made it her background on the monitor and hid all her icons so that it looked like her e-mail had frozen. Sure enough, when she got back, that's what she thought had happened. The kind prankster left her a note, however, explaining the joke and how to fix things.
:: Andrew 10:09 + ::
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Or maybe this is a joke?
Sorry, Red Sox fans. The joke's gonna be on you this year. Again.
But here's the cruelest joke in all of Major League Baseball. I feel sorry for the Cub-lover who wins this sucker's auction. (Link via Don Drake.)
:: Andrew 07:24 + ::
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:: Monday, March 31, 2003 ::
Is this a joke?
For the first time since the mid-1980s, The Key West (Fla.) Citizen won't publish its April Fool's Day special, a fake news front wrapped around the paper. Marketing Director Nancy Jones cited the war and lack of support from advertisers, some of whom "didn't feel it was in the best taste to put a message in something that mocks the news."
Another wonderful newspaper tradition ends. Selah.
We've got to stop taking ourselves so seriously, folks. Let's lighten up a bit. If ever we needed some April Foolery, the time is now. So, here are a few links to help you out. I hope we can take a break from the serious blogging of the day to have a bit of fun. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
U.S. forms own UN
"We gave the old U.N. a go for I don't know how many years, but it just wasn't working," said Dick Cheney, a U.S. delegate to the U.S.U.N. "Really, I have no idea what we were doing sacrificing all that power and autonomy in exchange for a couple of lousy troops from New Zealand." (Editor's note: embedded link not included in original story.)
Local Mom Whips Up Some of Her Famous War Pie
"Any time there's an invasion, I get down the mixing bowls and bake a sweet, delicious war pie," (Janet) Sensenbrenner (of Tipton, Iowa) said. "In fact, I usually go ahead and make two because the first one always disappears in a flash. A U.S. military action in the Middle East just wouldn't be the same without it."
Tonight on Al-Jazeera
"The O’Sama Factor" – Caution: You’re about to enter a no-fly zone.
"Larry, King of The Hashemite Kingdom, Live" – With special guests Queen Noor and Tommy Lasorda.
"Evans, Novak, Hunt, Shields & Musharraf"
"Talk Back Live With An Awkward Three Second Pause"
This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four. -- Mark Twain
Happy April Fool's Day, everyone!
:: Andrew 07:04 + ::
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My latest Net obsession: The Command Post: A Warblog Collective
This is now where I turn to get the latest on the war in Iraq and related news.
:: Andrew 16:53 + ::
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:: Sunday, March 30, 2003 ::
Onward, Christian Sojourners
Several years ago, when I was thinking our church youth ministry -- small, themeless, titleless -- was adrift, I came up with what I thought was a catchy title for the group: the ALIENS. I've since stumbled across or heard of countless other youth groups with the same catchy name. But that's not the point. our ALIENS was actually an acronym, hence the capital letters. It stood for Army of the Living, Indwelling, Eternal, Super-Natural Savior. Clever, eh. I wanted our group to have a biblocentric "theme" of some sort, and the notion that believers are aliens, strangers in a strange land, always struck a chord with me, so I picked 1 Peter 2:11 -- Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul -- as our touchstone verse. We also created ALIENS T-shirts, an ALIENS banner, and even at one time developed ALIENS tracts to hand out at parades. (Our first year we build a flying saucer for the Christmas parade and played a continuous loop of the intro and chorus of the Newsboys song, "Take Me to Your Leader.")
For whatever reason (probably the T-shirts) the ALIENS theme caught on.
These days, we don't make a big deal of the ALIENS theme. The T-shirts are still popular, but the banner, which saw action in only one parade, now hangs on the wall of our classroom.
I started thinking about this "aliens" theme in Scripture while practicing lectio divina this morning. (Yes, I'm still at it, even after a slothful weekend of watching too much basketball and reading too little Scripture.) Today my eyes fall upon this verse from Psalm 39:
"Hear my prayer, O LORD,
listen to my cry for help;
be not deaf to my weeping.
For I dwell with you as an alien,
a stranger, as all my fathers were.
This served as a powerful reminder to me that I am a stranger in this world -- a stranger to this world, even -- and that I should not get too comfy at the inn. To borrow an idea from the Grateful Dead, it's been a long, strange trip so far. Let's hope it continues to be long and strange. After all, if we are strangers, why shouldn't our journeys be strange?
:: Andrew 08:33 + ::
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Good news from Jeremy
I heard some good news in church this morning about our lone church member serving in Iraq. Jeremy, who is in the Marines, called his grandmother last night to tell her he is alive and well in central Iraq. "That's all he can say," his grandma said.
Jeremy's wife also gave birth to their first child, a boy, last week.
:: Andrew 13:31 + ::
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Confessions of a youth pastor
If you work with young people, or know someone who does, read this piece by Mark Riddle. Then go read Mark's blog.
:: Andrew 13:18 + ::
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Top 10 reasons to know Christian history
Reason No. 1: Christian history is everywhere in our culture. No matter what your religious background (or lack thereof), you just can't understand the modern, Western world—including its wars—unless you know your Christian history.
:: Andrew 13:05 + ::
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Simon Dawes, 
