Howard Dean: Right again.

When Howard Dean spoke at DemocracyFest one of the things he spoke of at length about was how the Democratic National Committee was reaching out to find common ground among evangelical and other Christian groups. He made the point that these folks are moving away from the hard right positions of "God, Guns and Gays," and moving toward issues of the occupation of Iraq, poverty, social justice and environmental stewardship. Dean said that there is much common ground that can be explored in the next election cycle.

Last night I found this in the New York Times:

The extraordinary evangelical love affair with Bush has ended, for many, in heartbreak over the Iraq war and what they see as his meager domestic accomplishments. That disappointment, in turn, has sharpened latent divisions within the evangelical world — over the evangelical alliance with the Republican Party, among approaches to ministry and theology, and between the generations.

(Snip)

Meanwhile, a younger generation of evangelical pastors — including the widely emulated preachers Rick Warren and Bill Hybels — are pushing the movement and its theology in new directions. However conceived, though, the result is a new interest in public policies that address problems of peace, health and poverty — problems, unlike abortion and same-sex marriage, where left and right compete to present the best answers.

The backlash on the right against Bush and the war has emboldened some previously circumspect evangelical leaders to criticize the leadership of the Christian conservative political movement. “The quickness to arms, the quickness to invade, I think that caused a kind of desertion of what has been known as the Christian right,” Hybels, whose Willow Creek Association now includes 12,000 churches, told me over the summer. “People who might be called progressive evangelicals or centrist evangelicals are one stirring away from a real awakening.”

This ten page article in the Sunday Magazine offers much to consider as progressives try to find common ground with a constituency that was led astray by wolves in sheep's clothing (Fallwell, Dobson et al) that for far too long has held sway over the public presentation and perception of American Christianity.

“There was a time when evangelical churches were becoming largely and almost exclusively the Republican Party at prayer,” said Marvin Olasky, the editor of the evangelical magazine World and an informal adviser to George W. Bush when he was governor. “To some extent — we have to see how much — the Republicans have blown it. That opportunity to lock up that constituency has vanished. The ball now really is in the Democrats’ court.”

Amen.

Dem Leaders: Stand up or step down!

Help Oppose Telecom Amnesty

The first step is to make sure retroactive immunity doesn't make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- where it will be considered shortly.

If we can get it stripped there, it will have to be offered as an amendment to the overall bill where it will be a lot easier to get 41 votes against retroactive immunity than 41 to sustain my filibuster if necessary.

Take a moment and call up members of the Judiciary Committee and ask them whether they will oppose any legislation that includes retroactive immunity. Let us know what they said, and join others in tracking our progress in stopping the provision in the Committee.

A Howardly Award to Chris Dodd

Thank you for standing up for the Constiution by putting a hold on the FISA bill that would grant immunity to Telecommunication companies for illegal wiretapping.

Sex Addiction in Christian Women on the...um...Rise

(via Pam's House Blend:)

There is a crisis brewing in the Church: a growing epidemic of sexual addiction among women. A new book from Pure Life Ministries by authors Steve and Kathy Gallagher, Create in Me a Pure Heart, explores the scope of the problem and provides biblical answers for the church and the struggling woman.

For twenty-two years, Kathy Gallagher has been helping women cope with their husbands' addiction to pornography, strip clubs and prostitutes. Now she is responding to a growing number of women addicted to porn, chat rooms and online sex. "Thirty years ago," remarks Gallagher, "you never would have thought that the woman sitting next to you in Sunday school might be viewing porn. But with the growth of the Internet, the gap between what men and women do in secret has been drastically reduced."

According to Nielsen NetRatings, nearly one-third of the visitors to adult websites are female. Today's Christian Woman reported that 34 percent of their online newsletter readers admitted to intentionally accessing Internet porn. Women are also twice as likely as men to visit online chat rooms, according to Internet Filter Review.

My first instinct, empath that I am, was "What can I do to help these poor sex addicted Christian women?" The answer was simple:

I will develop a "Twelve Shtup Program." If any of you good women need my help, please don't hesitate to ask. My better two thirds has often praised the way I "Drill the Fear of God" into her, so I will do my best to relieve your overwhelming burdens.

Frankly, she's been looking for a way to put me out to stud. This could solve a multitude of problems...

Gizmo is for Lovers

My wife, Jackie is in a lot of pain most of the time, so although I've been experimenting with Gizmo since about mid April, the time was never quite right for her to play the Butterfly Game with me until about two weeks ago, and again this past Thursday. Each session lasted about a half an hour because it's hard for her to stay in one position for longer than that.

In the first session, we started during the second half of 'our' favorite movie, "The Quiet Man." The second half hour, last week, we listened to selections from Rod Stewart's "Great American Song Book." I have to say that the results of those two sessions were astounding.

I have often talked about the moments when Lovers feel like two halves of the same person. Jackie and I have felt that way quite often over the years, but while playing Gizmo, we were taken to a whole new level. As the butterflies grew closer together, and finally touched, a tangible electrical field enveloped us. The intensity of this gentle electrical field grew as our hearts maintained and sustained identical frequencies, and was most intense at .6HZ, the frequency most associated with Oneness and Empathy.

Jackie knows almost nothing about computers, and even less about the theory behind how Gizmo works, but as we were surrounded by this electricity, tears of Love were streaming down our faces. We are looking forward to our next sessions, but Jackie has become busy taking care of the new kittens, and they have become a distraction for her. So it may be another week or so before we can try it again.

My instinct tells me that there is great potential for healing in that electrical field. In nearly 24 years together, I don't think we've ever experienced anything like it. Just imagine the difference between a flashlight and a laser and you'll begin to understand what happened.

We were totally amazed.