September 17, 2007

“Goldman Ex-Partner, Hedge-Fund Chief Sender Fight Over Church.”  That’s a headline on Bloomberg.com this morning, and the issue at hand is as ridiculous as it might suggest. 

Dennis Suskind, formerly of Goldman Sachs, has bought a Methodist church in Sag Harbor, New York with plans to turn it into a house, and Adam Sender, the manager of Exis Capital, is pouting because he says he wanted to buy it for the purpose of showcasing his collection of contemporary art.

The fact that two money machers are arguing over gets to rip apart a place many consider holy in order to satisfy personal ambitions may just be the most telling sign yet that we are in the thick of an age of excess. But that’s beyond the scope of this blog.

That might be the case for the Figure Painting blog on Portfolio’s site, where I found this post, but its not outside the scope of The God Blog.

This reminds a little bit of the money changers doing business in the Temple. And yet, if churches are not being used for religious services, there is nothing inherently sacred inside their walls. Regardless of any amount of sacrilege, I thinks it’s safe to we’re living in a time of “irrational exuberance.”

Remember that post from earlier this month about Patrick Henry College? Well, today the author of “God’s Harvard” debates on Slate whether American’s should be scared of “Evangelical Elites” with “a real, live evangelical who worked at the White House and lived to write about it.”

I certainly met some Patrick Henry students who would be happy to establish a theocracy. But they tend not to be chosen for White House jobs. As you well know, there is usually an inverse relationship between vocalized extremism and political success, which is why the impending theocracy thesis is not all that convincing. That said, the Bush administration accomplished something unique in American history. It provided formal training for hundreds of what I call the evangelical elites, the first generation of conservative Christians who take political power for granted and feel entitled—in fact, compelled—by their faith to hold public office.

Patrick Henry kids were usually transformed by their White House internships. They went out drinking with Republican staffers or argued with them about Iraq. Theologically, the first thing to go was the six-day creationism. But they didn’t change their views about homosexuality or the environment or taxes, or the overall view that a Christian could feel at home only among Republicans.

I’m waiting for David Kuo’s response.

This is a rather long “Daily Show” sketch, and only marginally worth the six and a half minutes I just spent watching it at work (from an employer’s standpoint; not mine). But it offers yet another in the drumbeat of satirical pieces on the ever shifting target for “success” in Iraq.

The rescinded offer for liberal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky to be the founding dean of UC Irvine’s law school has been quite the cause celebre during the past week. I don’t want to wax too much on the issues—here‘s a bunch of links that do—but did want to make note of what LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who had sent an e-mail to two dozen Orange County folk urging them to oppose Chemerinsky, told the Associated Press:

Making Chemerinsky the head of the law school “would be like appointing al-Qaida in charge of homeland security.”

Frankly, I don’t see the resemblance.

* Updated: Chemerinsky gets the job back.

From the depths of my e-mail inbox:

According to statistics released earlier this summer, religious books were the publishing industry’s fastest-growing category last year, with Bible sales alone exceeding 25 million copies. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the $4.5 billion Christian products industry, which runs the gamut from books and videos to toys, games and, now, even insurance.

Launched two years ago in select test markets, GuideOne Insurance’s FaithGuard Auto and Home product is now offered to churchgoers in 19 states. FaithGuard offers customers a number of unique benefits including waiving policyholders’ deductibles in crashes that happen on the way to church (or Sunday school) and doubling medical payments to persons injured during at-home church activities.

OK, there may be some benefit to having auto insurance that erases the deductible if you’re driving home from church. But how common are at-home, church-related injuries?

Remember that alleged Israeli bombing deep inside Syria two weeks ago. Here’s some of the continually emerging details from The Times of London.

IT was just after midnight when the 69th Squadron of Israeli F15Is crossed the Syrian coast-line. On the ground, Syria’s formidable air defences went dead. An audacious raid on a Syrian target 50 miles from the Iraqi border was under way.

At a rendezvous point on the ground, a Shaldag air force commando team was waiting to direct their laser beams at the target for the approaching jets. The team had arrived a day earlier, taking up position near a large underground depot. Soon the bunkers were in flames.

Ten days after the jets reached home, their mission was the focus of intense speculation this weekend amid claims that Israel believed it had destroyed a cache of nuclear materials from North Korea.

The Israeli government was not saying. “The security sources and IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] soldiers are demonstrating unusual courage,” said Ehud Olmert, the prime minister. “We naturally cannot always show the public our cards.”

 

Actually, Israel rarely shows the public its cards—except for when Olmert lets it slip that Israel has nuclear bombs. When I was in Israel last month, an IDF captain talked about how no one in the government actually expected a war this summer; they just kept talking about it so their neighbors would know they were ready.

That’s smart. The question is: What are the planning to do next the neutralize the nuclear threat from Iran? And what role will the United States play?

(Hat tip to Seraphic Secret.)