Faith And The City e.Newsletter
December 14, 2007
Volume 6, Issue 12
Greetings! Faith And The City offers the information below for your review. Use the associated links to learn more about each topic. For information on a wider range of public issues, visit our home page at http://www.faithandthecity.org.
Visit the new Faith And The City weblog – www.interfaithdialogueatlanta.org – and share your comments on the issues below and a range of others.
Faith And The City News
"Megachurches" is topic of Faith And The City Forum TV program
Faith And The City e.Newsletter
Dec. 14, 2007
When Sen. Grassley requested financial information from six prominent megachurch ministries, including two based in metro Atlanta, he fueled a long-standing controversy. Faith And The City Forum's currently airing public affairs dialogue is titled, "Megachurches: Ethics, Law, and Money," airing four days each week on Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters Inc. cable television network.
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Church on the Edge of Somewhere: Ministry, Marginality, and the Future
Book Review
Alban Institute
October 14, 2007 (posted by FATC)
Most congregations today exist in what George Thompson calls the "middle of anywhere." They live comfortably with their surrounding culture, focusing their energies on serving the needs of the current members. These congregations have many strengths and gifts that they can exercise without changing a thing. But Thompson envisions a deeper, more prophetic call for congregations to explore the meaning of being in the world but not of it—a church on the "edge of somewhere."
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Nonprofit board good for Grady
Opinion by Andrew Young
For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nov. 26, 2007
As a community, our support for Grady Hospital is one very tangible expression of our commitment to help our neighbors who have no health care coverage -- those in need who otherwise would be ignored on "the road to Jericho." Faith And The City believes that our capacity as a community to provide such assistance is best facilitated by the creation of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating board for Grady.
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Social Issues
Does death penalty save lives? A new debate
By Adam Liptak
New York Times
Nov. 18, 2007
For the first time in a generation, the question of whether the death penalty deters murders has captured the attention of scholars in law and economics, setting off an intense new debate about one of the central justifications for capital punishment.
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Justice Dept. numbers show prison trends
By Solomon Moore
New York Times
Dec. 6, 2007
About one in every 31 adults in the United States was in prison, in jail or on supervised release at the end of last year, the Department of Justice reported yesterday.
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Reduced to the small screen
By DeNeen L. Brown and Darryl Fears
Washington Post
Nov. 11, 2007
Has racial conflict become amusement? Is the conversation about racism mere entertainment, dialogue rendered for show, inflammatory words tossed back and forth over a racial divide to excite an audience?
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Atlanta Jewish Film Festival expands 2008 dates, venues
AJFF Website
Sep. 17, 2007
The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (AJFF) announced today new dates and venues for its annual showcase of outstanding international and independent films. The 8th Annual Atlanta Jewish Film Festival will run from January 16-27, 2008, expanding from 7 to 12 days. Screenings will take place at the Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 16 and Lefont Sandy Springs theaters, as well as at a new North Metro venue, the Regal Medlock Crossing Stadium 18 in Duluth.
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Global Issues
A look into the Muslim headscarf hysteria in France
By Laila Lalami, The Nation
AlterNet
Nov. 24, 2007 (posted by AlterNet)
The decade-long debate in France over the foulard was marked by three specific controversies. The first erupted in October 1989, when Ernest Chénière, the principal of a high school in Creil, north of Paris, expelled three students: Samira Saidani and Leila and Fatima Achaboun. The reason for the expulsion, Chénière claimed, was that he had to enforce laïcité, the French notion of secularism, in the school.
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Education
U.S. students match many nations in math, but lag behind Asia
Public Agenda Alert
Nov. 15, 2007
American eighth-graders match or outperform students in most countries in mathematics, according to the American Institutes of Research. That holds true even in states that generally do poorly in education. But U.S. pupils in the top-performing states lag behind Asian countries like Singapore and Japan.
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Economic Disparity
Warren Buffett to congress: Keep taxing the mega-rich
By Chuck Collins
AlterNet
Nov. 19, 2007
Buffett pointed out that tax cuts of the last decade have enabled the superrich, including himself, to get richer. "Tax-law changes have benefited this superrich group, including me, in a huge way. During that time the average American went exactly nowhere on the economic scale: He's been on a treadmill while the superrich have been on a spaceship."
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Faith and Politics
Court bars state effort using faith in prisons
By Neela Banerjee
New York Times
Dec. 4, 2007
A federal appeals panel ruled yesterday that a state-financed evangelical Christian program to help prisoners re-enter civilian life fostered religious indoctrination and violated the constitutional separation of church and state.
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Health
Now doctors say it's good to be overweight
By David Usborne
Independent UK
Nov. 13, 2007 (posted on AlterNet)
A startling new study by medical researchers in the United States has caused consternation among public health professionals by suggesting that, contrary to conventional wisdom, being overweight might actually be beneficial for health.
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Physical Environment
The dirty energy solution
By Bill McKibben
Orion Magazine
Nov. 27, 2007 (posted on AlterNet)
Casten's company estimates that recycling waste heat from factories alone could produce 14 percent of the electric power the U.S. now uses. If you took much the same approach to electric generating stations you could, says Casten, conceivably produce the same amount of energy we use now with half the fossil fuel.
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Events
Guidelines for Posting Events
Faith And The City posts brief event notices that must include a website address for additional information. Events should be concerned with faith, interfaith and public issues.
Dec. 20: "Pastors Breakfast." Monthly event of Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta. Hosted by Cascade United Methodist Church. 7:30 AM. RSVP to 404.523.5554, ext 231, or ecarter@rccatl.org.
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Jan. 16-27: “8th Annual Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.” Various venues.
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Feb. 13: “Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta Membership Luncheon.” Legislative issues and business meeting. Hosted by Central Presbyterian Church, 201 Washington St., Atlanta 30303. More information or RSVP, call 404.622.3399.
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April 2: “Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta Membership Luncheon.” Topic and location TBD. More information or RSVP, call 404.622.3399.
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Additional Events: Visit the website of the Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta at http://www.rccatl.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=108
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