MERRY CHRISTMAS!

NARNIA STRIKES BACK

The Christian allegory The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe has knocked the giant monkey off his perch and regained the top spot (my apologies for tasteless ads there) in box office gross. It's amazing what a well made, family friendly movie will do at the box office. One wonders if Hollywood might sometime figure this out.

In other news, apparently the touching story of two men and their sheep, Brokeback Mountain, is dropping fast. Don't be surprised if it wins best picture, though.

PRO-CHOICE: ISSUE OR DISTRACTION?

A regular theoebes reader, and in demand college administrator, has hit the big time at drlaura.com in the 'Letters From Readers' section:

Those that are for the taking of an unborn life hide under the guise of "Pro-choice." This title does not address the issue properly. It is nothing more than a straw man. The actual problem is that people are either unclear on, or choose to hide from, what the real choice is. The choice that is presented is the same one that has faced man since the beginning of time. The choice is to keep God's commandments or to sin. Simply stated the real choice is between right and wrong - murder and life.

Be sure to read it all.

OLD THINGS ARE NEW AGAIN:
BAPTISM IN PRISON REVISITED

A long forgotten post has suddenly attracted some attention. The original post dates from July 1, 2004, and deals with a California inmate named Ramzee Johnson who was being denied the ability to be baptized in accordance with his religious beliefs. Apparently someone connected to the sheriff's found the post yesterday and is quite defensive about it all. Make sure you read the comments.

WHY TELEVISION IS BAD, HOLIDAY EDITION

My wife had her piano students in for lessons yesterday, and in the process of conversation asked them what they wanted for Christmas. One conversation was instructive.

My wife: "So, what do you want for Christmas this year?"

Child: "A Ferby!"

Wife: "Oh, what do they do?"

Child: "I don't know."

Wife: "Well, aren't those the little furry animals that interact and talk?"

Child: "I don't know."

Wife: "Well, why do you want one, then?"

Child: "I saw it on TV!"

VAN GUNDY ON THE FAMILY

Miami Heat NBA basketball Coach Stan Van Gundy has resigned from his coaching position citing family interests. I liked his comments:

Van Gundy has always professed to being a family-first man, someone who abhors road trips and the idea of spending holidays away from his wife and four children. He said that because of travel, games and practices, he would have seen his children at home only 49 days out of 170 this season.

"That's just not enough any more for me. It's just not enough," Van Gundy said. "I mean, it's been like that for my kids' entire lives. I've got a 14-year-old daughter and it started to hit me when I started thinking about her birthday, which was last month. I've got four more years left with her. Four. And then she'll be off to college and I'm just not willing to sacrifice any more of those four more years."

Van Gundy said he began wrestling with the balance between job and family during the preseason, and told Riley after the regular-season opener at Memphis that they needed to talk about the future.

"I can't believe people have that big a problem actually believing that someone would actually want to spend time with their family," Van Gundy said. "I don't know why that's so hard for people to buy into."

Did the pressure of the job and his relative success at it factor in to his decision? I'm sure it did. But Van Gundy is right. Why can't our society accept that sometimes family actually may be important.

As a father of girls myself I can say he'll always be glad he had those four years.

THE LION, the Witch and the Wardrobe is out, and A.O. Scott at the NYT likes it. Despite the Times's endorsement it's still probably worth seeing.

PROM: CANCELED

The latest trend? Canceling proms as decadent

Underlying the concern seems to be a widespread uncertainty about the coming-of-age ritual embodied in the modern prom - the $500 to $1,000 spent on dress, limo and parties before and after the actual event. It has become not uncommon for parents to sign leases for houses, where couples room together, for post-prom weekend events or for parents to authorize boat excursions in which under-age drinking is not just winked at but expected.

Trumping it all, of course, is the uncertainty about sex.

"Common parlance tells us that this is a time to lose one's virginity," Brother Hoagland and other administrators of Kellenberg High wrote in a letter to parents in March, warning them that the prom might be canceled unless parents stopped financing what, in effect, the school considered bacchanals. "It is a time of heightened sexuality in a culture of anything goes," the letter added. "The prom has become a sexual focal point. This is supposed to be a dance, not a honeymoon."

Six months after the initial letter, administrators canceled the prom by fiat, citing not just sex and alcohol use, but also what they described as materialism run amok.

You don't say.

'TIS THE SEASON FOR...LIVESTOCK?

The library in Bartlett, TN (just outside Memphis) has decided, after a mayoral intervention, to put Jesus in their nativity scene. Oddly, they were going to have a nativity scene without the Child:

Brandi Chambless is one happy woman after hearing her nativity scene will be now allowed in the Bartlett Library. It took an order from Bartlett's mayor to put Christ back into this Christmas display. Chambless is thrilled, "It means so much and we're very thankful to the mayor for doing that." Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald heard the library had banned the religious figurines from a nativity display and would only allow barnyard animals to be shown.(emphasis added, nac)

Now how boneheaded is it to have a nativity scene with only barnyard animals?

CLASSY

A student athiest group at the University of Texas-San Antonio has organized a 'Porno for Bibles' exchange.

Mom and Dad must be very proud...and wondering why they're paying all this money for tuition.