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Posted on 01.11.12 by Danny Glover @ 12:30 pm
Hollywood plans to send a sad but true statement next week about the vulgar realities of today’s modern family. ABC will air an episode of “Modern Family” about a 2-1/2-year-old toddler who says the dirtiest of dirty words. “We thought it was a very natural story since, as parents, we’ve all been through this,” the show’s creator, Steve Levitan, said in defending the storyline. Levitan’s explanation stretches credibility. His latest envelope-pushing plot is more a case of crude Hollywood social engineers trying to shove society further down the road of immorality than “entertainment” reflecting a norm. But he’s not too far ahead of the reality curve. I’ve documented America’s seemingly perpetual slide into the pit of profanity on this blog:
Too many people think it’s cool, creative and comical to cuss. There is almost no circumstance where uttering a bad word is considered a bad thing. In that atmosphere, it is inevitable that men like Levitan will see how far they can go to make their black mark on society. I wish Simon Cowell’s attitude held more sway in Hollywood and reality. He is determined to produce family entertainment free of swearing. But when it comes to language, George Carlin is the hero. His admirers won’t rest until everyone from toddlers to grannies utter all seven of his dirty words (and then some) with reckless abandon at home, in school, on the job and across the airwaves. Filed under: Culture and Entertainment and Parenting and People and Religion Comments: 2 Comments |
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Posted on 08.26.11 by Danny Glover @ 6:44 pm
“Fact: There are no parental rights in the Constitution.” And the government — in the form of arrogant teachers and education bureaucrats who think they know best and do-gooder activist judges who take their side — is undercutting those rights every day. Here’s a taste of the disturbing evidence: The U.S. education system is full of committed teachers and administrators who focus on teaching the basics children need to excel in life. They care about their students, and they deserve the support of every parent. But a vocal and powerful minority of educators is even more committed to shaping children’s minds in ways that have nothing to do with reading, writing and arithmetic — and they will not be deterred by engaged, informed parents. The situation already is bad in America, which is one reason why we home-school (and under a religious exemption at that). It’s also why, as long as our children are of school age, we are unlikely to ever move to my much-beloved home state of West Virginia, where unenlightened rednecks are trying to impose invasive rules on home-schoolers. But the conditions could get much worse for parents if the U.S. government embraces the ideas of people who want to create a Global Nanny State. Fight that possibility by signing the petition for a Parental Rights Amendment. Filed under: Culture and Government and Home Schooling and News & Politics and Parenting and Religion and Video and West Virginia Comments: None |
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Posted on 06.14.11 by Danny Glover @ 12:37 pm
How ironic that Dalai Lama humor is lost on the Dalai Lama himself: Filed under: Just For Laughs and Religion and Video Comments: None |
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Posted on 06.01.11 by Danny Glover @ 12:28 pm
We don’t want our children dining at Hooters when they go on field trips with irresponsible (and presumably male) chaperones. But this brief story contains an arguably more shocking revelation than the fact that eighth-graders from Pennsylvania ate at Hooters while visiting the National Aquarium in Baltimore: “Hooters spokesman Mike McNeil says the restaurant chain often hosts groups, including sports teams and church organizations with teens and younger children.” Religious church groups at Hooters? I wonder if they were wearing “What would Jesus do?” bracelets while ogling the busty waitresses. (Read previous “Why We Home-School” lessons.) Filed under: Parenting and Religion and Why We Home-School Comments: None |
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Posted on 04.15.11 by Danny Glover @ 10:00 am
How might the life, death and resurrection of Jesus have played out on Twitter if His followers had captured their experiences in 140 characters or less? This video imagines it: Filed under: Religion and Video Comments: None |
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Posted on 02.14.11 by Danny Glover @ 11:07 am
On this Valentine’s Day, I will let the eloquent, passionate, late senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd, speak for me about the importance of a soul mate to a man: My guiding light, my angel from the sky, is Kimberly Johnson Glover. Like too many middle-aged men who become complacent in marriage and take for granted the value of a God-fearing wife and mother, I don’t tell her — or show her — often enough how important she is in my life. Today is a good day to start. Yesterday would have been better. Tomorrow will be. Filed under: Family and Holidays and People and Religion and Video and West Virginia Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.15.10 by Danny Glover @ 10:07 pm
Put your faith in the economy, your job, your home, your earthly relationships, or your happiness, security identity or sanity, and you’re bound to have the rug pulled out from under you eventually. Put your faith in God and trust in His grace, love and righteousness, and you’ll stand firm. And don’t think for a second that you can put one foot on the firm foundation of faith and the other on the shaky ground of comfort in this life. You’ll fall flat on your face every time. Filed under: Religion and Video Comments: None |
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Posted on 08.24.10 by Danny Glover @ 6:58 pm
This message is aimed at football fanatics everywhere — except those of us who bleed blue and gold for the West Virginia University Mountaineers. Let’s go … Mountaineers! On a more serious note, Jason Hardin used the video to make an excellent point at his blog, Imagine Man As God Envisioned (IMAGE): “There is an epic reality that must overshadow and define sports as nothing more than meaningless games. Let’s raise our children with that sort of framework. To search for lasting happiness and true fulfillment in the outcome of a game is vanity and a striving after wind.” Filed under: Culture and Religion and Sports and Video and West Virginia Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 08.07.10 by Danny Glover @ 2:32 pm
Last month at First Things, I learned that I have some work to do if I want to live a good life. I can do many of the “50 Things A Man Should Be Able To Do” but not all of them. I can make a budget, change a diaper, cook a signature dish, type with more than two fingers, and perform CPR and the Heimlich maneuver (I actually had to perform it on my mother not long ago). I can even hug another man without embarrassment. But I can’t maintain my car, push-start a car with manual transmission or navigate an unfamiliar city, and I definitely can’t help someone who is throwing up without also barfing myself (ask my kids.) I also don’t yet know whether I can get a prostate exam without crying. And I have no interest in innocently flirting with a woman twice my age, conversing with people who bore me to tears or planning for a zombie apocalypse. The good news is that I’m fairly certain my wife can’t do everything on First Things’ list of “50 Things A Woman Should Be Able To Do.” Here are a few that pose challenges for her: Filed under: Culture and Family and Human Interest and Religion Comments: None |
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Posted on 07.16.10 by Danny Glover @ 12:41 pm
Our children don’t need as “leaders” religiously correct busybodies who are determined to push all references to God, even those that are part of America’s government and culture. The key quote from this video: “So, this school district is arguing that Judeo-Christian views, as expressed in our nation’s history, are too offensive for students to view — but other religions, even anti-religion … OK.” (Read previous “Why We Home-School” lessons.) Filed under: History and News & Politics and Religion and Why We Home-School Comments: None |
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Posted on 05.20.10 by Danny Glover @ 10:30 pm
Today was “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day,” an online protest manufactured by a bunch of juveniles who fancy themselves defenders of the sacred American principle of free speech. Does the First Amendment give them the right to engage in such offensive behavior? Absolutely. Do I, a journalist whose livelihood depends upon that constitutional guarantee and a Christian whose religious freedom is protected by it, defend their right to be willfully obnoxious? Yes, reluctantly. But what I won’t do is praise anyone who thinks it noble to viciously demean another man’s beliefs. That’s especially true of people who profess to follow Christ. “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day” violates a core tenant of Christ’s teachings: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 7:12) Notice that Jesus didn’t say “treat people the same way they have treated you” — or, in this case, your religion. So the fact that blaspheming all things Christian is considered high art in America these days is no justification for a supposedly artistic counterattack against Mohammad. Drawing Mohammad in order to stick a collective finger in the eyes of his disciples doesn’t make him look bad, but self-proclaimed Christians who participated in the event certainly made Jesus look bad by disobeying His “Golden Rule.” Filed under: Culture and News & Politics and Religion Comments: None |
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Posted on 04.18.10 by Danny Glover @ 12:48 pm
Christians often use phrase “What would Jesus do?” (and the modern shorthand “WWJD”) as a reminder that the Son of God, who took on the form of man and lived without sinning, is the perfect example of how we should behave. After reading this tweet by a young woman this morning, I know at least one person who needs to adopt a slightly altered motto — “What would Jesus say?”:
Her idea of getting ready to worship God is cursing on Twitter about how good it feels to be a Christian? Clearly there is a disconnect between her spirit and her flesh. James, the brother of Jesus, warned that no man can tame the tongue and that “from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing” (James 3:8-12). But it’s rare to hear such a stark contrast in the same sentence — and in eight words no less. We live in an era when political leaders are “caught” using vile language on a regular basis and when worldly people embrace those vulgar moments as mottoes rather than being embarrassed by them. People young and old also think it’s cool to curse and take the Lord’s name in vain in abbreviated form. It’s tough to walk in this filthy-mouthed world and not be of it. But that is exactly what God demands. Being “like Christ,” which is the definition of “Christian,” means behaving and speaking as He does. While His speech was seasoned with salt always, He never spoke with a salty tongue — and definitely not as part of His preparation to worship His Father. So before you speak, it’s a good idea to ask yourself: “What would Jesus say?” Filed under: Culture and Religion Comments: 2 Comments |
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Posted on 04.16.10 by Danny Glover @ 2:21 pm
Like most of America’s official recognitions of God, the National Day of Prayer now at the center of a legal dispute is rooted in the spiritual heyday of the post-World War II era. The day was first celebrated in 1952. I revisited the history of such “ceremonial deism” (the Supreme Court’s term) in my 1999 “Congress Back Then” column for IntellectualCapital.com, and I am reprinting it here to offer some context for the current debate about the National Day of Prayer. Congress Back Then: America’s Spiritual Heyday Earlier this year, policymakers, pundits and people on the street reopened a uniquely American (and seemingly infinite) debate. In the wake of another incident of school violence, this time a mass murder at a high school in Littleton, Colo., they pondered a familiar question: Just how far should our nation go in trying to maintain a clear separation between church and state? Congress debated the question in mid-June and decided that perhaps we had gone too far. More specifically, House lawmakers saw a need for a greater religious presence in the public schools, so they cast a series of votes designed to give new spiritual direction to the nation’s youth. The most-publicized decision: They sanctioned the posting of the Bible’s Ten Commandments on school walls. The primarily symbolic votes topped the news of the week, not at all surprising in an era when Americans are sharply divided on the relationship between religion and government. But four decades back, the votes might have gone unnoticed, an unremarkable act at a time when Congress added the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, and made the phrase “In God We Trust” the national motto and a mandatory slogan on all U.S. coins and currency. All of that religious posturing, and more, happened during the presidency of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower and in the early days of a Cold War that most patriotic Americans apparently saw as a battle between Christian America and the godless, communist Soviet Union. Filed under: Books and Culture and Entertainment and History and News & Politics and People and Religion Comments: None |
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Posted on 04.16.10 by Danny Glover @ 2:07 pm
So it was yesterday in Wisconsin, when U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. An American tradition practiced for a half-century is now in jeopardy because she said “the nature of prayer is so personal and can have such a powerful effect on a community that the government may not use its authority to try to influence an individual’s decision whether and when to pray.” My reaction to this new judicial attack on spirituality is similar to the one I had back in 2002 when the phrase “under God” in the “Pledge of Allegiance” was ruled unconstitutional. (The same court ultimately reversed itself on that issue.) On the one hand, the history of this nation makes clear that there is a difference between freedom of religion and freedom from it, which is what too many courts are demanding these days. But on the other hand, the faith of Christians does not depend upon the superficial endorsement of the government or any other secular institution. Our allegiance is to God, and it demands a deep commitment to righteousness, not just a symbolic declaration that we are “under God.” Faith also demands a life of prayer, not a superficial and arguably politically motivated day of it. When government takes the side of those who reject God, it should strengthen the resolve of His children to serve the Lord, come what may. Filed under: News & Politics and People and Religion Comments: 5 Comments |
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Posted on 02.21.10 by Danny Glover @ 8:33 am
My father forwarded this e-mail to me months ago, but I just rediscovered it in my inbox. The message is consistent with the theme of this blog, so it’s worth a reprint:
Filed under: Culture and Rednecks and Religion Comments: None |
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