Pondering Pastor

I received word (and a copy) of my daughter’s first published journal article.  She is second author of “Differential Tonic GABA Conductances in Striatal Medium Spiny Neurons” published in The Journal of Neuroscience, January 30, 2008.  Yes, it is dense reading, but she is published in a major scientific journal!  Nice job!

Pondering Pastor

As a signer of the Clergy Project Letter, it is my intent during February to use this space on occasion to offer my perspectives about religion and evolution as non-conflicting disciplines.  Part of the clergy project letter states:

We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist.

What’s  prompting this?  February 8-10 is designated “Evolution Weekend” where clergy are invited to address the matters of evolution and religion as part of the worship service.  I will not be using worship on the first Sunday in Lent to do this.  I believe that the season of Lent is not the appropriate time or place for such a focus, and it doesn’t quite fit with the themes we’ve planned for worship anyway.  But I will be engaging people in this conversation both here and in face-to-face settings.

Note: I’ll not be unbiased in these postings.  I will be civil.  Comments that are not civil will not be permitted.  Biased comments are welcomed.

For the record:  I am strongly committed to Christianity.  I believe scripture as authoritative and hold it in high regard.

Pondering Pastor

Two news items, literally read one after another.

“Poor Hatians resort to eating dirt”

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - It was lunchtime in one of Haiti’s worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti’s poorest can’t afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country’s central plateau.

The article goes on to describes life on less than $2/day.   The world’s demand for oil and turning food crops into fuel is causing spikes in the cost of food that can’t be easily absorbed by the poor.

“Tom Cruise 1st to get Ducati superbike”

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Tom Cruise is the first on the list to get Ducati’s newest motorcycle — a $72,500 superbike bristling with titanium, magnesium and carbon fiber technology that can scoot up to 200 mph.

Evidence once again of a world out of control.

Pondering Pastor