Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

The student trustees at Orange Coast College will no longer say the pledge at their meetings. Student leaders at a California community college have voted down the Pledge of Allegiance.  One board member said the pledge violates the separation of church and state because of the line “under God.” He also said it’s irrelevant to the business of student government.  Read about it here and here.

“Irrelevant?” Tell that to all of the men and women who gave their lives so these students can have the freedom to ban the pledge.

What do you think?

In Wisconsin, a Jewish man whose polling place was at a Catholic church said he was disturbed to see a crucifix hanging over a ballot box.  Read about it here.

Would it bother you to vote at a Mormon Church or a Mosque?

Organizers of an evangelical summer camp for children featured in the documentary “Jesus Camp” are discontinuing the camp because of negative reaction sparked by the film and recent vandalism at the camp site in Devils Lake, N. D.

The film also features scenes with disgraced evangelical leader the Rev. Ted Haggard, who resigned as pastor of the 14,000 member New Life Church in Colorado Springs last week after a gay sex and drug scandal.  Read about it here.

We are back in NC. What a great trip. I again encourage any church looking for a great mission trip to go to New Orleans. There are years of work still to be done. Mike and Ryan worked hard all week. They took a week off of work to come serve others. Cool!

We had some shrink wrap left so we wrapped Jason Sampler’s trailer!
The other pictures are where we stayed all week. The people with the Arkansas Baptist Builders were great. We stayed at Gentilly Baptist and you can see the pictures of where they meet each week. People should never complain about where they attend church until they check out these conditions.

I’m glad to be home but my heart will always be with Edgewater and the people of New Orleans.

Wal-Mart has told its employees that it’s OK to once again greet shoppers by saying “Merry Christmas” this holiday season instead of the generic “Happy Holidays.”

CNN confirmed that Wal-Mart will announce Thursday that it plans to use the phrase “Merry Christmas” in products and around its stores this holiday season.

The announcement comes a year after religious groups such as The American Family Association and The Catholic League boycotted retailers including Wal-Mart last holiday season for excluding the word “Christmas” from products sold in stores.

“We, quite frankly, have learned a lesson from last year,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Linda Blakley told USA Today in a separate report. “We’re not afraid to use the term ‘Merry Christmas.’ We’ll use it early, and we’ll use it often.” Read about it here.

Humm…. I wonder why they are doing this? $$$$$$$$$$$$ What do you think?