{Tip o' the hat to James at the PCCBoard Forums.

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."

Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.

"This is not a prank" said Clements, "The Towne of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development."

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 09:58 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I posed this question over at the PCCBoard forums, but I wanted to ask it of all of you, my faithful readers (reader? Anyone?):

Why do we call it flag desecration? What is sacred about the flag? Or should I say the Flag?

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Posted by: Warren Kelly at 09:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Last year, I wrote about a resolution that was sent before the Southern Baptist Convention that advocated the withdrawl of all children of SBC church members from public schools.

This year, they're doing it again.

The Arnold-Scarbrough Resolution: (a) applauds Christians working in the government schools as missionaries, (b) calls on churches to warn their members of the devastating effects of sending their children to a totally secular institution for their education, (c) calls on churches to become aggressive and pro-active in starting Christian schools and in supporting homeschooling.

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Posted by: Warren Kelly at 09:26 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Hat-tip to Christianity Today on this one -- let's see if anyone else picks it up.

"Abortions have increased during the Bush administration." How often have we been told that? Howard Dean said so. John Kerry said so during the campaign. Sojourners magazine reported it. And, though I've heard some people who were shocked, and some who didn't WANT to believe it, I haven't heard much refuting it.

Until now.

Politicians from Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Howard Dean have recently contended that abortions have increased since George W. Bush took office in 2001.

This claim is false. It's based on an an opinion piece that used data from only 16 states. A study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute of 43 states found that abortions have actually decreased. Update, May 26: The author of the original claim now concedes that the Guttmacher study is "significantly better" than his own.

We have a "Christian blogosphere" that includes some talented people. Did we all miss this? Were we so invloved in damage control, making excuses for the President, that we took it for granted that the data was accurate? I admit, I was disturbed by this "fact" -- though I questioned how the President was going to do something about a "private decision between a woman and her doctor." Abortion is still legal. It is OUR responsibility to make sure that it doesn't have to happen.

Our responsibility NOW is to make sure, whenever someone spouts the "abortion has increased under Bush" line, that they learn the truth. Keep the link above handy -- they have background data there as well. Now that we have the facts, it's time to start letting people know about it.

{UPDATE: Jonathan Bunch over at In the Agora posted this two days ago. Joe Carter at The Evangelical Outpost made mention of this in yesterday's outtakes.

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 08:32 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Ok, now I may be in disagreement with everyone who reads this blog on this issue. But that's never stopped me from shooting off my mouth before.

A judge in Indianapolis has decreed that a set of divorced parents can't teach their kid their religion. Because that religion is Wicca.

I disagree with pretty much everything Wicca teaches. I think they are totally wrong, and deceived, concerning the nature of the supernatural world. I sometimes wish that Christians had as much of an appreciation for the spiritual forces that are out there, though -- we tend to separate things into "God did it" and "Not real at all" and reject the whole "Satan did it" category out of hand. But I don't believe that everything supernatural is essentially good, or should be harnessed.

BUT -- last time I checked, the Constitution prohibited government interference in religion, including the religious instruction of children by their parents. As far as I can tell, the parents are in agreement about the religious training that their kids should have -- it may be the only thing they agree on, I don't know. The judge has prohibited the teaching of "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." No definition of what "mainstream religious beliefs and rituals" actually ARE.

THAT'S a problem area. Evangelicalism is often considered non-mainstream. So the parents can't teach their kids evangelical Christianity? Never says that specifically, but it could be interpreted that way.

I hate to use the phrase "slippery slope" here, but it seems to fit. A dangerous precident has been established if this decision holds up. The government, or at least a representative of the government, is dictating to parents what type of religious training and education that their child can have. That is simply wrong.

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 10:53 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Found this interesting article at the Wall Street Journal (registration required). Since you have to register for it, I'll quote the relevant section here.
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The New York Sun has asked a question that I think we should all be asking ourselves in light of Newsweek's article about Qur'an desecrations more...

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 09:01 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Newsflash!!

Sunday Schools Teach Children Creationism

Seriously, is this really news? Next thing you know, Mr. Baker will be leading off with a story that many evangelical churches pray, and at most the church leader (called the "pastor" by the congregation) ends the service with a half-hour speach based on a selected Biblical text. Some parishoners call this speach a "sermon," and it is often followed by an "altar call" or a "benediction" in some churches.

This would be in the running for a Clewie award, but I'm not sure this guy can get a clue. He sure shouldn't be covering religion news if he thinks that teaching creation in Sunday School is news.

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 05:03 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I admit that I was outraged when I first heard the story about intentional desecrations of the Qur'an at Guantanamo Bay. I'm not 100% sure why I didn't blog about it, though. Maybe I had a gut instinct that we weren't getting the whole story, maybe I was nervous because I hadn't heard much about the story from other outlets (and it gets a small mention in the Newsweek article. If you blink, you might miss it). But I held off, and I'm glad I did.
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On top of everything else I have going on this week (paper, work, etc.), and everything I had going on last week (paper, work, etc.) I am preaching tomorrow morning. I appreciate everyone's prayers tomorrow as I preach on Genesis 3, and the results of the Fall.

It's been interesting -- each class I've had this week had something to contribute to the subject. Especially the discussion of penal substitutionary atonement we started in Systematic Theology yesterday. I ended up adding an extra point on my outline after that class.

BTW, I've sort of moved in at the new blog. I goofed up when I requested the URL, and right now it's http://piewview.mu.nu. I asked if I could change it, but I don't know if it's too late or not. I've got the bare bones template set up -- still have to add some color, my blogrolls, etc. But I'll be able to do a lot after May 6 -- when finals are over. I should be all moved in by mid-May. I'll let everyone know about the new URL and the RSS feed address -- though if you've subscribed to the Feedburner feed, that should stay the same.

{EDIT -- The URL has been fixed. The Future Home of View from the Pew}

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 08:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The white smoke has been sent through the chimney at the Sistine Chapel.

Cardinal Ratzinger is the new Pope. Pope Benedict XVI.

Once the archbishop of Munich and for many years prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Ratzinger, 77, is one of the most powerful men in the Vatican and is widely acknowledged as a leading theologian. (from CNN.com)

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Ok, maybe not news. Maybe more like shameless self promotion, but titling a post "Shameless Self Promotion from the Pew" just doesn't have the same ring to it, you know?

I've set up a "bookstore" at Lulu.com, where you will be able to get PDF copies of whatever papers I've written for school for free. Why would you want them? I don't know, but they're free, so you won't be throwing any money away.

The only thing I have up there right now is my last Systematic II paper, covering creatio ex nihilo, or creation out of nothing. I got an A on it, so the grader thought it was a good paper -- I wasn't too sure when I finished it, but the grader is a doctoral student, so I assume he's a better judge than I am. You can get it in PDF format for free, or if you REALLY want to spend money, you can buy it in booklet form for $4.85. I don't make any money off it at all, and neither does Lulu -- they only make a profit off books that the author makes a profit on.

The main reason I'm doing this is that I had told some people before that I'd post some of my papers, and this is an easy way of doing it -- especially since I really don't have server space right now. Lulu's free, and it's a pretty good way of getting your writing out to people. AND it's easy to get started.

So go download the thing, and let me know what you think.

Unless you think it stinks -- then I'd rather not know (lol).

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 06:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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First of all, slow posting this week, and probably slow posting for the month of April. I have a 10-13 page sermon due for systematic theology on the 22nd, and a 20-page paper on Andrew Fuller and Assurance of Salvation due on the 28th. Of course, I've actually started writing neither of them, so I have a bit of work to do. At least I've done the research on these already.

Second, there is a move coming. I mentioned before that I was hoping to get a mu.nu blog -- I got it! So I will be moving there in the near future. I'll let everyone know the details when it happens -- including the new address AND RSS feed URI.

AND sometime this weekend, or maybe next week, my wife will be blogging for me. She said she had something, and was going to post on Friday, but she didn't, so I'm hoping she'll do it this week sometime. From what she told me, it sounds like a pretty good post.

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The scene: Larry King Live.

The Question: Do you understand how they feel? [Concerning Terri Schiavo's parents and family]

The Answer:Yes, I do. But this is not about them, it's about Terri. And I've also said that in court. We didn't know what Terri wanted, but this is what we want...

It's all about what he wants -- not about what Terri ever wanted. One moment of truth in the midst of a sea of deception.

I wonder if the MSM will pick this one up, or if it's up to the blogosphere again.

{MAJOR Hat tip to Nick at NickQueen.com, where you can find a more complete transcript that shows you the context of the question and the answer.}

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 01:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Liberty University women's basketball team, the 13th seed in the Chattanooga region of the NCAA Women's tournament, upset the #4 seed Penn State Lady Lions last night. This is only the fourth time that a 13 seed has beaten a 4 seed in tournament history.

The Lady Flames have been Big South champions for the past 9 years running, but have normally been given a 16 seed -- a real disappointment last year after beating teams like UVa.

As an LU graduate, I just had to brag a bit about the Lady Flames basketball team. The men's team has been to the dance twice, once losing to UNC and losing last year to St. Johns. The women have become a fixture in the tournament, but this is the first year they get to advance. And according to the ESPN poll (as of 12:20 Eastern, anyway), they are favored to make it to the Sweet 16. They take on #5 DePaul on Tuesday at 7 PM in College Park, MD. GO FLAMES!!

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 12:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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No, not the 70's sitcom -- I'm talking about what's happening around here!

First of all, I'm back in the Best of Me Symphony. Head over there and read all the great posts (including one from Nick Queen himself).

SPEAKING of Nick Queen -- (and I was going to make this a separate post) I am returning to the King of the Blogs competition to reclaim my throne, and become the only King to rule nonconsecutive weeks (which I guess would make me the Teddy Roosevelt of Blog Kings). Head over to the KotB page and be sure to vote for me, and make sure that you trackback to the right post!

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 10:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I heard a little about this story on the way to school this evening. Once I got here and had dinner, I figured I would check into it a little.

Is anyone else VERY disturbed about this? The fact that someone can go to the FBI and claim that your sermons are inciting violence, and the FBI then shows up and gets transcripts or recordings of your messages bothers me more than I want to even think about.

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 06:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A few other people have noticed that the US military seems to be involved in religious torture. I'm a little upset that more people aren't makeing this an issue. We need to seriously ask the questions that Jeff Jacoby asks -- "Are Americans OK with using religious humiliation as tools of war? How about religious torture?"

Marcus Sheffield has a good editorial in the Chatanoogan about not counting on AMerica being the new incarnation of the Kingdom of God. He reminds me about Christ's words in John 18:36.

I'll be doing the Blogroll Cruise in a bit. My medication has worn off, which is a good thing, and I'm not in pain anymore (not much pain, anyway). I might be able to manage something original soon, who knows. I missed classes this week, because I couldn't handle sitting in the car for three hours, then sitting in class for three hours. If they'd let me lay down in class, I think I'd have gone. Not much chance of that, though. I'll be back to full strength next week, though.

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 03:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This piece from the New York Times just cruised through the RSS reader, and I'm more than a little disappointed.

Never mind the fact that I don't like using politics to effect a change that can really only come through Christ. Never mind the fact that I think that Social Security is in need of an overhaul. Using SS reform to get what you want socially is not a good plan.

Let's say that Bush, for whatever reason, decides not to push for the marriage ammendment. Maybe he's decided that he resents the Religious Right(tm) thinking they own him because they voted for him. Maybe he never really wanted to do it to begin with -- it was just campaign rhetoric to get our votes. Whatever the reason, he decides not to do it after all. So the Social Security reform doesn't get passed because of a lack of support.

Now, in thirty years or however long SS has left in it's current state, the whole thing tanks. People are upset: "Why wasn't something done about this?" And the answer? "We tried, but the Christians fought us, so it didn't get done. Blame them, not the GOP."

Don't think it will happen? Ha. The GOP will turn on us so fast it will make EVERYONE'S head spin, if it means staying in charge and in power. They don't owe us a thing.

The gay marriage issue won't go away because we legislate it away. The solution is changing hearts, minds, and lifestyles with the message of the Gospel of Christ. Let's be about our Father's business.

Posted by: Warren Kelly at 01:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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