My God's bigger than your God

Awful, simply awful:

Members of a medical team gunned down in Afghanistan brought some of the first toothbrushes and eyeglasses villagers had ever seen and spent no time talking about religion as they provided medical care, friends and aid organizations said Sunday.

Dr. Thomas Grams, 51, quit his dental practice in Durango, Colo., four years ago to work full-time giving impoverished children free dental care in Nepal and Afghanistan, said Katy Shaw of Global Dental Relief, a Denver-based group that sends teams of dentists around the globe. He was killed Thursday, Shaw said, along with five other Americans, two Afghans, one German and a Briton.

"The kids had never seen toothbrushes, and Tom brought thousands of them," said Khris Nedam, head of the Kids 4 Afghan Kids in Livonia, Mich., which builds schools and wells in Afghanistan. "He trained them how to brush their teeth, and you should've seen the way they smiled after they learned to brush their teeth."

The team was attacked after a two-week mission in the remote Parun valley of Nuristan province, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) north of Kabul. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found Friday, and were returned to Kabul Sunday aboard helicopters.

The families of the six Americans were formally notified of their deaths after U.S. officials confirmed their identities, said Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the embassy.

The Taliban has claimed credit for the attack, saying the workers were trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. The gunmen spared an Afghan driver who told police he recited verses from the Islamic holy book the Quran as he begged for his life.

But Grams' former partner at the Durango practice told the Associated Press Sunday that the medical group had no religious mission.

Grams had "absolutely zero interest in proselytizing," Dr. Courtney Heinicke said.

The members were working with the International Assistance Mission, or IAM, one of the longest serving non-governmental organizations operating in Afghanistan. The group is registered a nonprofit Christian organization but does not proselytize, said its director, Dirk Frans.

If the IAM doesn't proselytize, that makes them the rare exception to Christian aid groups. On the AIM website we see this:

IAM’s core values are:

• Dependency on God
• Love for All
• Teamwork
• Accountability
• Learning
• Quality Work

I'm not blaming the victims, because I have no direct knowledge of this organization, but "Dependency on God" at the top of their values list doesn't surprise me.

I do have extensive knowledge of several evangelical organizations here in So. California, and they would sooner proselytize than eat.

In fact, so sure is their faith that several of them regularly send missionaries to Central & South America to spread their version of the Gospel to the poor, ignorant, and 'unsaved' Roman Catholics living there.

In the evangelical world, "saving souls" is like collecting scalps for God. They regularly rate the success of outreach concerts and events by the number of people who respond to the "altar call" or who ask to speak to ministers after the event.

Was IAM doing this? I have no idea. If they were practicing medicine without preaching, that's nothing but noble. But if they were preaching and trying to "save souls", that would reflect the enormous hubris of the Evangelical movement in this country. Committed to faith in their God and their values to the exclusion of any acceptance of any other viewpoint.

In other words, like an American Taliban.

John Cole has the best last words:

This the kind of thing that just makes you want to bomb the Taliban back to the stone ages, which is a great thought until you realize they think the stone ages would be a mighty fine target destination.

Just get out of the region. Now.

Cause the preacher tells visions he sees

Mark Kleiman, friend of ours, has a neat, tidy, concise dissection of the smarmy 'moderate' awfulness of Rick Warren:

But Rick Warren is still a sick, twisted human being, and the smiling front-man for intolerably cruel and stupid policies. Intellectually and morally, he's several cuts below Jeremiah Wright (of whom I am by no means an admirer). Yet Warren, like his predecessor the Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, is treated with respect in the mass media, his many flaws airbrushed out of the picture. That's a problem.

Indeed. Go read the whole thing.

Oh, and the title lyrics are from Testament-"The Preacher":

And now it's gone, it doesn't matter anymore

(Fleetwood Mac-Sara)

Want to know everything about Sarah "Baked Alaska" Palin? It only takes knowing 2 things:

1. Rigidly anti-Choice,
2. pro-Creationism.

That's all. From those 2 things, all else follows.

Biblically, there are 2 parts to Salvation: Grace (being saved), and Works (doing Christian deeds). Most Catholics and old-school Protestants relied on both, Grace, of course, but with a healthy dose of Works because it was the right thing to do.

Modern Evangelicals put all their eggs in the Grace basket. And sadly, in my observation, many of them completely fail the Works test.

Palin is a prime example of this. Seeking self-aggrandizement and satisfaction, punishing and belittling others who don't do her wishes, lack of concern about real-world issues including her job duties, but it's all OK because she's Saved.

While some Evangelicals seem to truly exhibit the traits mentioned in the Sermon On The Mount, many I have known, and I have known many, don't. I don't mean the Epic Fails of Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, etc., I mean the failure to live in a way that reflects one's supposed belief:

• Drive a gas-guzzler when you're admonished to be a good steward? But I'm saved.
• Cheat on taxes when you're told to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's? But I'm saved.

While these are typical hypocrisies, they may or may not apply to Palin. But . . .

Evangelicals condemn Moral Relativism, yet Palin doesn't seem to be the "help-meet" to her husband that Evangelicals believe the Bible requires.

Evangelicals condemn Situational Ethics, yet Palin's callous increasing of Wasilla's debt doesn't seem to bother her sense of Stewardship.

Evangelicals tout the 10 Commandments, yet Palin's continuous lying doesn't seem to bother her conscience. She keeps telling the jet/ebay story, now thoroughly debunked.

But that's OK, because she is saved.

Jesus is just alright

John McCain and Barack Obama are meeting at Saddleback Church in deepest Orange Co. Saturday to discuss faith. Or something.

I noticed as I wrote that that I put McCain first . . . interesting, that. Now check out this graphic:


McCain is on the left. So?

All western languages of which I'm aware read left to right.

When I was taught to look both ways in Kindergarten, it was "look left, then right."

Menus in restaurants are organized as description on the left, price on the right.

While I'm possibly being paranoid, I'm also pretty sure this is no accident.

Full disclosure: In my alter ego as a Professional Audio Expert, I have done work for Saddleback Church. And I have seen 'backstage' of their operation. They have top-of-the-line audio and video equipment, dedicated professionals running same, and I have no doubt they also have pro graphics designers working on web design.

And graphics like that one.

In all fairness, when you go to this site: saddlebackcivilforum.com, the photo order is Warren/Obama/McCain. So I dunno . . .

What I do know is this: When we lived in the OC, I had 2 big mega-churches as clients. One was extremely right-wing, very repressive, male-dominated, based on Four Square Gospel tradition.

The other, an off-shoot of above, was more relaxed, more . . . well, tolerant of difference. The son of the Head Pastor and I got to be good friends. He ran their recording studio and record label (hence my involvement).

This church did anti-poverty work, reaching into the poorest communities and helping. They ran food and clothing drives, giving to folks in need with no questions asked. They would go to seedy motels in OC, offering material help, and yes, Gospel help if folks were open to it. But they seemed to me to be acting on their spiritual values, and not just building fancy glass cathedrals.

I clearly remember, during the run up to the '92 election, talking with my friend. Clinton was the candidate who more closely comported with his beliefs; help the poor, the downtrodden, worship at church regularly on Sunday, etc. But my friend was going to vote for G.H.W. Bush.

When I asked why, he simply said: "He doesn't kill babies."

With the 1st Gulf War having just taken place, I responded that Clinton doesn't kill innocent civilians. But that didn't matter. It was single issue time.

It's 16 years later, and regardless of how some say the evangelical movement has changed, when Barack Obama speaks tomorrow at Saddleback Church, that may be the deciding factor. They'll believe that McCain:

Doesn't kill babies.

I hope I'm wrong.