Jenn’s Sunday Sermon

I haven't done one of these in awhile.

Today's sermon is about stewardship of Mother Earth.

Yesterday was Earth Day, and while I'd planned to spend the day outside, getting my gardens ready for planting and neatening up the front and backyards, the weather failed to cooperate. So, I ended up working inside on an Earth Day-related project: getting rid of stuff.

One thing unique about Americans is our need to have stuff. We buy stuff and then we need a bigger place for all our stuff. But, because nature abhors a vacuum, soon the new place fills up with stuff, and we need an even bigger house to hold it all. Stuff in the attics, stuff in the basements, stuff in the garage – so much stuff that the cars have to be left in the driveway.

And cars don't hold enough stuff, so we have to buy a great big, gas-guzzling SUV to hold all the stuff we desperately 'need' while driving around. (And yes, I'm pointing at you fools who buy portable DVD systems to mesmerize the kids. Would actually talking with your children kill you?!)

Americans just don't seem to be happy unless they're buying more stuff – most of which they didn't need and will hardly use. We are the world's most wasteful society. Whether it's consumer electronics or food, war machinery or trailers for Katrina victims, we waste as much as many nations produce!

Since all the accumulated stuff has an impact on the amount of electricity we use, the amount of chemicals we buy to clean said stuff, the amount of time wasted in trying to keep the stuff looking nice while hiding it all in closets and dressers, armoires and cabinets, bins and buckets, I decided to lessen my family's personal impact on the planet.

Whether it's making my own cleaning products or just trimming my daughter's wardrobe down to a 'necessary' three weeks' worth, the changes I make now will – I hope – have a lasting impact on our lives and on Mother Earth.

This is an on-going project in my home – to reduce the amount of food wasted, space wasted, and time wasted. I'm going to tackle one room every weekend, stripping it down to the real essentials, leaving only those things that are truly necessary to daily living and those that have sentimental or personal value.

I hope others will feel inclined to do the same.

Oh here’s a surprise…

Guess what state wants to make the Bible a part of its curricula? Georgia, naturally.

From Newsweek:

Fresh from a bruising federal court fight over the teaching of evolution, Georgia marched back into the culture wars last week when Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill allowing Bible classes in public high schools. An estimated 8 percent of the nation's schools offer some form of Bible study. But the Georgia law is the first to set statewide guidelines and earmark public dollars for a Bible course.

[snip]

Last fall the nonprofit Bible Literacy Project published "The Bible and Its Influences," a textbook endorsed by moderate Christian and Jewish groups. So far, 30 schools are teaching the pilot program, and the group says 800 schools have shown interest.

Meanwhile, the National Council for Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, backed by a long list of conservative evangelicals, including Pat Robertson, says its curriculum is already taught in 353 school districts. However, if Georgia opts for either program it will be the first time that a state has officially adopted a Bible curriculum.

[snip]

State Sen. Tommie Williams, one of the Georgia bill's authors, used the council's curriculum as a guide when drafting his proposal. "We simply have to teach 'This is what happened—make your own judgments'," he says.

As a northerner, I hate to make catagorical judgements about people in the South, because I have a great many smart and sensible friends and family living below the Mason-Dixon. But, when they elect idiots who push this kind of crap….it makes it hard. Especially those who elected an idiot who says, 'This is what happened—make your own judgments.' 

Uhhh, Mr. Williams….prove it. Maybe that's what happened, but maybe the Flying Spaghetti Monster landed on the back of a giant turtle and declared it good enough. Or maybe…

I'm all for teaching the Bible in school – as long as it's part of the mythology section of Lit class where it belongs – with Greek and Roman, early Celtic, Norse, and Native American mythologies, among others.