Wonderful Matters

I noticed that tonight there is yet another episode of "To Catch a Predator" on NBC's Dateline . I'd written a blog post about the practice of television network shaming a couple months ago, and I'd like to address a few other things in light of NBC's programming approach here. First of all, is it the thinking of NBC execs that doing this on a regular basis would actually put a dent in criminal molestation? That by sending correspondent Chris Hansen out to bait more of these guys, many of them would stop for fear of walking into the trap? I mean, I really don't know the answer to that question. I do know that unless any given individual does not allow Christ to take out his sin, he is always prone to do all kinds of wretched things. A proficiently wide-spread "Scarlet Lettering" can't change that. Any one molester who Chris Hansen can't stop will still destroy the life of someone. Furthermore, what will NBC execs do when enough people who...

Tonight the NBC News national evening broadcast opened with a tease featuring two successive items: sleep disorders for a large number of Americans, and The DaVinci Code "backlash," what people are saying about the controversial film opening this Friday. I couldn't help but think. People would sleep better if they simply had their full daily compliment of relationship, discovery, and accomplishment . That is, they knew people around them loved them, they saw events that were wonderful in whatever way they happened, and they did things that they were confident made the world a better place. But in the Catholicist Nation, many people put themselves to bed at night with the following in their psyches: They firmly believe that no matter what people around them may say, they are not loved, indeed they may even be targets, by anyone from wild-eyed terrorists to a bitter spouse. Not quite relationship . They witness horrific acts of violence of all types, and if they should...

Right after it was revealed that the National Security Agency is paying phone companies for copies of all of their customers' phone records, using them to look for "patterns" to help them fight terrorism, the Washington Post took a poll and found that 56% said "it was appropriate for the news media to have disclosed the existence of this secret government program." I took this stat from Tim Rutten's media column in Saturday's LA Times. Rutten makes the case that, really, it is up to the people to decide, but gives a great deal of credit to the press as a sort of clearinghouse for what people are to know about government. Thing is, as much as Rutten tries to objectively detail today's conditions of information dissemination, he doesn't admit that he and the media is a critical part of what the government does. He may even think he is an unbias reporter, sworn to serve the public as a check against tyrannical government, but he is actually a pawn i...

Every once in a while I pick up the news monthly Christian Examiner , a newspaper publication that addresses issues of concern to evangelical Christians. It is actually a pretty good paper, and I like to peek around at what they're all thinking about. With the film The DaVinci Code due to come out next Friday, lots is being said about it and across the top of this month's Examiner is a banner headline, "The DaVinci Code: Irreconcilable with Christianity." The instant I saw this I thought, great, another pitiful postmodern concession. The point is that the headline should read "The DaVinci Code: Irreconcilable with Truth ." Instead we make it seem like the film (and book) just don't jibe with our particular brand of religion-slash-philosophy-slash-lifestyle. The fact is, people read that headline and think--as they should--that all the huffing and puffing is merely the result of a spat between clubs. Here's the DaVinci Jesus-was-married-and-had-child...

My latest take on the pandemic Catholicization of the world is at my website The Catholicist Nation . I look at four motion pictures that are out and about, three of which you may see at the temple--or as it is more commonly known, the movie theater; one of which you may view in the convenience of your own home after slipping it into your image and sound machine at your humanist alter--or, okay, better known as the DVD player at the home entertainment center. The films are Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Thank You For Smoking, United 93, and The DaVinci Code . All shout from the rooftops the virulent humanist dogma. Of course, shouting from the rooftops isn't required anymore when you have the temple and millions of congregants in attendance.