Waving or Drowning?

Who Is My Neighbour?

Over at eMerging City, Greg writes beautifully about an incident and interaction in his neighbourhood. He's learning something we're figuring out in our work in the Downtown Eastside: It's not the crime that upsets us, it's the victim. If they are like us, we are concerned. If they are not like us, then, well, it's not such a concern. This is injustice.

Health 101

Our friends at Kaiser have alerted us to some new resources, as well as reminded us of some other material that they have produced previously. There's a heavy emphasis on US material. but good stuff none the less.

Federal Budget and Health Policy Tutorial
The President’s budget proposal outlines the Administration's priorities for health care. This new tutorial, prepared by Tim Westmoreland of Georgetown University and former Counsel to the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment in the U.S. House of Representatives, walks you through the federal budget process and explains how it shapes health policy.

Domestic HIV/AIDS Tutorial
HIV continues to be a leading public health challenge in the U.S. This new narrated slide tutorial, by Jen Kates of the Kaiser Family Foundation, provides an overview of the HIV/AIDS epidemic’s course in the U.S. It highlights the impact of the epidemic on minorities, women, and youth, and reviews public and private financing for prevention and treatment.

From the Journals: Interview with John Stover
The author discusses the article, "The Global Impact of Scaling-Up HIV/AIDS Prevention Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries" published this month in Science Express and Science magazine. Kaisernetwork.org’s From the Journals highlights current research on health policy published in major professional journals and is part of the special interview series "A Closer Look."

Global HIV/AIDS Tutorial

HIV/AIDS in the U.S.: The Basics, Reference Library

HIV/AIDS Syllabi 

Luther, Works & North American Evangelicalism

Last week I handed in my very brief paper examining the potential impact of Martin Luther's emphasis on justification by faith and the current view of "works" in the North American evangelical church. If you're interested in having a look you can download the pdf file here , and eventually I'll get something set up over on the sidebar.

As always, feedback is welcomed. Just don't point out any typos... it's too late now!

Questions to Ponder Today...

... from our friends at Dropping Knowledge:

 

       

Sign On

For any American readers who are not members of the ONE campaign and thus may not get the notice, there is a sign-on letter at the ONE site asking the leaders of the House and Senate Budget Committees to fund President's Bush's full budget request for International Affairs. (For some reason no one wants my opinion, but they may have more time for you!)

No Money Down

I'm a regular reader of the slacktivist, but it was Karen's post that made me go back and take a second look at something Fred had to say. (School has really cut into my blog-reading time.) Here's my take on Karen's take on Fred's take on evangelism:
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The office is being repainted. Good-bye loony bin white walls. Hello flint smoke and rodeo red and a place for the windup toys, finger puppets, and Ox the ugly doll. The computer is uncovered as the last coat dries and I was able to read the wondrous Slacktivist's (the Left Behind series is one of the greatest things in the blog world) post on Hospitality versus Sales:

This happened, I think, when what ought to be an act of hospitality was transformed into an act of salesmanship. Salesmanship, whatever else it may be, is ultimately inhospitable.

We could go back and look at the causes of this perverse commodification of the gospel -- tracing the way that 19th-century evangelists like Charles Finney began adopting the techniques of salesmen, and how these techniques were further refined over the years by students of marketing like Bill Bright. But we needn't go into great detail here about how this happened to acknowledge that it has happened.

"Evangelism" today is not seen as the practice of hospitality, but as a kind of marketing scheme. It is not an invitation, but a sales pitch. Not a matter of "taste and see," but of "buy now." Or, to use one of my favorite descriptions of the work of evangelism, it is not "one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread," but rather one fat man trying to convince another fat man that he's a beggar in order to close the sale on another loaf.

Contemporary American-style evangelism is made even stranger by the fact that it seems devoid of content. It's become a turtles-all-the-way-down exercise with no apparent real bottom. Evangelism means, literally, the telling of good news. Surely there must be more to this good news than simply that the hearers of it become obliged to turn around and tell it to others. And those others, in turn, are obliged to tell still others the good news of their obligation to spread this news.

This reminded me of a clip from the movie,  The Big Kahuna:

It doesn't matter whether you're selling Jesus or Buddha or civil rights or 'How to Make Money in Real Estate With No Money Down.' That doesn't make you a human being; it makes you a marketing rep. If you want to talk to somebody honestly, as a human being, ask him about his kids. Find out what his dreams are - just to find out, for no other reason. Because as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it's not a conversation anymore; it's a pitch. And you're not a human being; you're a marketing rep.

(emphasis mine)
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Here's my (Mike's) addition to the conversation:

When you create a pitch for the product, inevitably the product is reduced to that pitch. Like a pyramid scheme where all the members send everyone above them $5, it really doesn't matter what the product is anymore, it's all about the system. In these get-rich-quick schemes we cut back on the product until it's just some cheap trinket to make the whole thing legal.

This is why I don't think it's enough to stop and look at the system (evangelism). We also need to consider what we've reduced the product (the Gospel) to, and that means asking difficult questions about our theology.

Million Voices for Darfur

One of the africa blogs I keep track of is Sudan: The Passion of the Present. A couple of days ago I came across this post:

Tour for Darfur: Eyewitness to Genocide

Save Darfur has announced the basics concerning Brian Steidle's national tour in support of the "Million Voices for Darfur" campaign (culminating in the April 30th march in Washington, D.C.).  Here is the current basic list of locations; the source page has details on some of the events already, with further details and more events to be added

Admittedly I'd never heard of Brian Steidle, but a little digging has me intrigued.

Tour for Darfur: Eyewitness to Genocide

Brian Steidle, a former Marine captain and observer to the African Union peacekeeping forces, will be traveling over 21,000 miles on his national tour in support of the Million Voices for Darfur Campaign. Captain Steidle will be speaking from his firsthand experience as a witness to genocide and mass murder, and he will be telling Americans what they can do to help stop genocide.

The dates are all in the U.S., so have a look if this interests you.

Good On Ya!

Global Challenges | Australia To Partner With Clinton Foundation, Contribute $18.5M To Combat HIV/AIDS in China, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea

[Feb 23, 2006]

Australia plans to contribute $18.5 million over four years to help fight HIV/AIDS in China, Vietnam and Papua Guinea in collaboration with the Clinton Foundation, Reuters reports.  Under the agreement, the foundation will supplement Australia's contribution with an undisclosed amount of money (Tait, Reuters, 2/22). The money will be used to increase the countries' supplies of antiretroviral drugs and support their national health systems (Tasker/Jean, Australian Associated Press, 2/22). Clinton on Sunday during a visit to Sydney signed a memorandum of understanding with the Australian government aid program AusAID. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer in signing the agreement noted that the United Nations estimates more than eight million people in the Asia-Pacific region are HIV-positive and that figure could increase to 20 million by 2010 without an accelerated response to the epidemic (Associated Press, 2/21).  It is projected that about 40% of new HIV cases globally might occur in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010 (Reuters, 2/22). In related news, an Asia Pacific Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS on Sunday also was launched in Sydney. The coalition will be headed by Qantas Airways Chair Margaret Jackson and will aim to encourage businesses to support HIV/AIDS-prevention efforts (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2/22). 

Rwanda: Hope Rises

A few weeks back we talked about our friend Trevor Meier's trip to Rwanda.

A few days ago he was on the evening news talking about his film,  Rwanda:Hope Rises. Click on the image below to check out the video of his appearance. Trevor's now at the distribution phase... as in, he needs some. Spread the word: He's looking for a broadcaster to pick up the film so this very important story can be told.

She's Got Digital Eyes

I've mentioned World Changing before... it's a great blog you should be tracking if you have any interest in anything green. And you do, don't you?

Seeing the World Through Digital Eyes |Jamais Cascio

2005 will be remembered for many reasons, but perhaps the most worldchanging is the explosion in online geographic information systems, led by Google Earth. We've covered myriad Google Earth overlays in recent months, and the number and variety of useful datasets continues to grow. Scientists are particularly glad to have access to easy online digital globe software, as these new tools are significantly easier to experiment with than traditional GIS applications. The scientific journal Nature has been a leader in the advocacy and use of digital globes, and last week's issue included multiple articles about the application of Google Earth and other online virtual maps to scientific pursuits.

Great post. Check out the rest here.