a review of religion and media
The AP reports that British Petroleum has not yet decided how to handle claims from churches and religious groups that have been hurt by the Gulf oil spill. Because many attendees have lost their jobs church organizations are suffering a loss of donations and an increase in aid requests. Continue Reading →
Yesterday, reports CNN, was designated a day of prayer by Louisiana’s desperate state senate. The decision was made by unanimous vote last week as a reaction to the continued gushing of crude oil into the Gulf. “Thus far efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail,” state Sen. Robert Adley said. As to how Louisiana’s legislators might address the cause of the oil spill, CNN includes only the following paragraph, which invites questions about whether “culture and livelihood” are culprits or casualties:
The resolution names Sunday as a statewide day of prayer in Louisiana and calls on people of all religions throughout the Gulf Coast “to pray for an end to this environmental emergency, sparing us all from the destruction of both culture and livelihood.”
Yesterday, reports CNN, was designated a day of prayer by Louisiana’s desperate state senate. The decision was made by unanimous vote last week as a reaction to the continued gushing of crude oil into the Gulf. “Thus far efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail,” state Sen. Robert Adley said. As to how Louisiana’s legislators might address the cause of the oil spill, CNN includes only the following paragraph, which invites questions about whether “culture and livelihood” are culprits or casualties:
The resolution names Sunday as a statewide day of prayer in Louisiana and calls on people of all religions throughout the Gulf Coast “to pray for an end to this environmental emergency, sparing us all from the destruction of both culture and livelihood.”
Yesterday, reports CNN, was designated a day of prayer by Louisiana’s desperate state senate. The decision was made by unanimous vote last week as a reaction to the continued gushing of crude oil into the Gulf. “Thus far efforts made by mortals to try to solve the crisis have been to no avail,” state Sen. Robert Adley said. As to how Louisiana’s legislators might address the cause of the oil spill, CNN includes only the following paragraph, which invites questions about whether “culture and livelihood” are culprits or casualties:
The resolution names Sunday as a statewide day of prayer in Louisiana and calls on people of all religions throughout the Gulf Coast “to pray for an end to this environmental emergency, sparing us all from the destruction of both culture and livelihood.”
It’s been six weeks since the Deep Water Horizon sank to the bottom of the Gulf waters. The Revealer‘s collected a number of articles and essays that examine what the spill means for the future of environmental activism, faith leaders, free-market supporters, and the animal and human inhabitants of a now-polluted region:
An op-ed by Killing the Buddha senior editor, Meera Subramanian, from USAToday.
Photos of bird drenched in oil
Religion News Service calls it the “oil spill apocalypse” and links to more articles.
60 Minutes segment, with interviews with a survivor from the rig, Mike Williams, on the weeks before the explosion.
Since the spill, governor Rick Perry (R-TX) and representative Tom Cole (R-OK) have both called it an “act of God.” Ted Turner’s wondered if the spill is a sign from God that we shouldn’t be drilling off the coast.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew tells us that it’s time to atone for our sins against nature and God.
Leonard Pitts says that free-market religion is lost on the coast. “As there are no atheists in foxholes, it turns out there are no small-government disciples in massive oil spills.”
Mother Jones rounds up the conspiracy theories surrounding the spill.
Hopi Indian prophecy of the ocean turning black.
The Washington Post‘s “On Faith Blog” has convened more than a dozen commentators, including Herb Silverman, Janet Edwards, and David Wolpe, to write about the oil disaster in the Gulf.
Continue Reading →
Ok, conservatives can hate the Amish all they want for their exemption from the health care mandate. The rest of us love them — as the funniest DailyKos poster, Bill in Portland Maine, notes — for their ability to manage disaster, even hypothetically:
“As you English might say, it was no big deal,” said project coordinator Samuel Lapp of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Lapp traveled to Louisiana with a group of volunteers from several Amish communities after he heard about the spill, which threatened to become the worst oil disaster in history. “To solve a complex problem, one must think simply, and rely on the old ways. Your complicated modern ways were not getting it done,” Lapp said. “I know this sounds a little strange coming from us, but we simply ran out of patience.”