This book, Methland, chronicles the crank-fueled decay of a small town in Iowa, Oelwein. The top three states, in order, for meth lab busts are Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois. But Missouri is the Yankees of this odious trend, with three times the number of homegrown destruction as its nearest competitor.

Let's not call it the "next crack epidemic" just yet. But as unemployment rises, so does meth use. Any church in a small town area or rural setting must include the meth industry in its local anthropology. I've heard stories of kids riding their bikes around with a one-pot backpack. I've long thought that Jesus is the only rational alternative to drug abuse. But will anyone go to our small towns with the Gospel?

This is just amazing.....I truly hope and trust Mars Hill was blessed and pressed to think through issues in a better way.

Rev. Robert Sirico delivered a sermon titled "Whistling Past the Graveyard" at Mars Hill mega-church in Grand Rapids, Mich on September 20. You can listen to his sermon in its entirety by clicking on the sermon title above. Mars Hill was founded by Rob Bell in 1999.

Rev. Sirico addressed Christology, mortality, atonement theology, and the problem of evil. In his remarks Rev. Sirico declared:

And the vision of that hill, there on Golgotha's bloody mount, is the answer to the riddle of human existence. There in the crucified Christ, we see one who not only suffers for us...but he suffers with us. He enters our grief, our solitude, our pain. And because the one who is suffering so is innocent, he has the capacity to subsume into himself, into his divine person, all of humanity's suffering, all the history of limitation and death.

One of the advantages of being a contributor in this space, is that I get the opportunity to write in long hand, my point of view regarding this very important subject that Anthony has touched upon, a subject that has profound implications for the Church in Latin America, for missionary efforts to and from Latin America and also for our understanding of why Socialism is creeping back to our region.

Let me please begin by profiling myself so you know where I come from. I am not your typical Guatemalan. I have been blessed with a wonderful education both inside and outside Guatemala, I have had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the world, I have lived in the US and Brazil and also come from a mixed cultural background. My father is from Nicaragua, most likely direct descendant of "mestizos" -i.e. a mix between Spanish and indigenous blood-. My mother was born in Guatemala, from a Guatemalan father with an italian last name (Aquino -Aquinas-) and my grandmother had a German father (Germans settled in Guatemala during the late 19th century to develop the coffee industry) and a Guatemalan mother -most likely mestizo-).

As a "ladino" (the term we use in Guatemala for all non-indigenous (Mayan) people), I have not suffered the effects of racial oppression in my own country personally, although I have seen them and have sometimes been guilty of racial prejudice against non-ladinos (blacks, indigenous, asians, gringos, etc.). I have also experienced prejudice towards me during my time in the US, being classified immediately as a hispanic, latino or wet back.

This is the vantage point from which I write.

Here is a critique of Asturias' work called "Remnants of Racism".remnants.doc

"William McDonough + Partners debuted their 100% Cradle to Cradle Flow House this past week. The Flow House is the first in a series of duplexes being designed by architects for the Make It Right campaign to revitalize the Lower 9th, an area in New Orleans which was devastated during hurricane Katrina. The Flow House aspires to follow the firm's Cradle to Cradle mantra, meaning that after its useful life, all materials in the house can be either recycled or returned to nature." Read more on the Flow House

This gets me excited. One of my favorite cities in the country advancing sustainability. Also check out the Make it Right site, a lot of good work. Hopefully they can teach the local community sustainable practices. Thus becoming the norm in NOLA.

I thought this church was exemplary, but maybe not for everyone:

...Anyone familiar with Redeemer knows that Asians constitute about 50% of the congregation. However, the leadership does not nearly reflect the Asian demographics of Redeemer. In fact, I am only aware of one Asian on the session - Redeemer's governing body - and two who are Teaching Elders, that is, part of the pastoral staff that reports to the session in a PCA church.

...Redeemer has recently fired a black pastor, Mark Robinson. This in itself may not cause alarm. Pastors get fired all the time for various and sundry reasons related to character and competency. But why did Redeemer fire him? Embezzlement? Moral scandal? Lack of competence? Some persistent character deficiency pointed out in an evaluation? No. None of these. He was fired for lacking 'fit'...

...To be sure, this is not to imply that any time a White organization terminates a Black employee the reason must be because Whites see a Black person as the problem such that their very existence constitutes the problem...

...[but] [y]ou simply do not fire a competent employee with "gospel character," especially without any warning or due process that the gospel (not merely corporate policy!) would seem to mandate. Is this the way grace-touting, gospel-driven people treat a person - a fellow pastor - with "gospel character?" The worse gospel-less corporate human resource department would not perform such activities...

I wonder if this episode will concurrently discourage black folks, including pastors, from associating with PCA and Acts 29 churches, and discourage these churches from hiring black pastors.

This is how it's done my friends....


More info here.

I was surprised to learn that the Supreme Court ruled against the City of New Haven's discrimination. One legal professor had this to say:

...[in the past] Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, "The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience."

That's profound.

...the way people think about Ricci - and this includes the justices - is in large part shaped not by logic or law but by their attitudes about the world. In particular, it depends on whether they think it is more likely that minority candidates were simply not as good as the whites, or more likely that there was some unintended bias skewing the results. What drives these attitudes, as Holmes knew, is experience. The facts of Ricci are an inkblot in which we all see the pictures life has drawn for us.

Sounds like Sowell's Conflict of Visions. It's obvious from the way this expert framed the two visions, i.e. the racist one vs. the scientific one, which side he's on. Has he framed it well?

Relations with Cuba....thawing?

The anti-Castro Cubans in Miami (remember Florida, that seemingly perennially-politically-important state?), purely out of an intent to harm Castro, certainly seem to be harming that Cuban citizen that I would gladly trade with, given the option. Apparently, they have an enormous amount of political clout. Given Florida's many electoral votes, and overall peach of a position for anyone seeking election, along with South Florida's immense Latino (particularly Cuban) culture/population, their opinion is incredibly powerful.

Sadly, however, it is misguided.

"Economic sanctions" are a load of bollocks. When 'trade' happens, it happens between me, an individual, and another individual. Washington and Havana have nothing to do with it. Obama and Raul (or Fidel, whichever) Castro have nothing to do with it.

I do hope that this happens, regardless of whether Cuba does not accept. Anything to foster relationships is a good thing, and anything that allows more and increased trade is an even better thing.

'The crossroads of trade are the meeting place of ideas, the attrition ground of rival customs and beliefs; diversities beget conflict, comparison, thought; superstitions cancel one another, and reason begins.' -Historian Will Durant

The Christian youth of Guatemala is organized and ready. No more passivity.
comunicado-asterisco.pdf

More info on the Joven Emergente website.

This has been a proud week for me as a Guatemalan. It has been a tragic week for the nation...politically, socially. On top of that, a professor of mine from college and a lady that worked there that helped me with organizing a screening of the Call of the Entrepreneur documentary at the school, where killed in a tragic airplane accident yesterday, along with 4 others.

Yesterday a fellow Twitter was arrested for his opinions on the case that has been occupying our headlines for the past week, with the complicity of local media....sold to government interests.

Why am I proud you may ask? Because we haven't backed down, we keep marching, protesting and signing a petition for justice. I am proud because this has been a cause for the entire nation against the forces of corruption and fear that have for so long kept us quiet. I am proud because we are taking our nation back, peacefully, freely and for justice.

A great time to be here!!!! God bless Guatemala!!!

People do not think clearly on the systemic level.

From Matt Perman, explaining Andy Stanley's DVD set "Systems":

...systems trump intentions and mission statements.

Here's what that means. You might have a great mission statement, but systems are what create behaviors. So if your systems are out of sync with your mission, then your results will be off-mission too.

This will be true in spite of the best of intentions. Even if everybody in the organization wants "change," the change will not happen if the systems are set up in a way that produces and rewards the opposite behavior.

Man, this insight explains so much. It's not just business organizations, but also churches and governments. If we include groups of people with implied mission statements, then this applies to families, cultures, etc. Keynesian economics, currently favored by our leaders, is a great example of a foolish system, but so is Monetarism.

Things like racism and poverty are systemic dysfunctions as well as personal problems. Sin works on both individuals and systems, so shouldn't the Church do the same? Have you been in an organization with nice leaders but a horrible system?

I have recently begun working on an organization called Me Importa Guatemala, an organization who seeks to pull together all the isolated efforts in Guatemala to move our nation from its current environment of impunity, injustice and fear to an environment in which freedom and justice drive our growth, progress and future.

I know, it sounds cheesy, but it is not until you are faced everyday with death, crime, impunity and injustice that you realize how important it is to lose your fear and indifference and actually do something.

That is what this video is about. Taken from the movie based on the Mayan civilization, Apocalypto, we have resolved to take our country back, to not let fear dominate us so that we may leave our children a nation with dignity, purpose and courage.

Name everything wrong with this true situation:

A bunch of third-graders were singing "...blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol..." in school. It got stuck in their heads upon hearing a teacher's ringtone, which interrupted the song that was playing over the cafeteria worker's radio for all to hear: "Birthday Sex".

The video cannot be embeded here, but please watch it here. (It's in English)

The Pope's recent visit to Africa has been quite controversial. In a very bold and brave move, the Pope reaffirmed the Church's position on AIDS, the use of condoms and marriage and the family. I applaud his effort and as Christians we need to seek to reengage in this discussion, not through cheesy morality-driven abstinence pledge guerrilla tactics, but by shining the light of the Gospel on this issue. AIDS is the result of a heart and sin issue, it is the result of a devaluation of the family, of the value and dignity of the human person and of the sense of life and the true meaning of sex. Only the Gospel can illuminate us through these dark alleys.

I just had to post this from Howard Lindzon

I was reading yesterday that AIG has approved $163 million in bonuses. I mean that seems fair because according to their attorney, they were promised..get this....CONTRACTUALLY.

Let's see here, the government owns 80 percent of your ponzi shithole company and we are allowing bonuses because of a contract. It would be cheaper to kill every lawyer and executive associated with the bonuses at this point. The company does not need to retain anybody. It needs to be unwound and quickly.Read the Rest

Our country has a two tier system when it comes to screwing up. One you mess up you go to jail. Thanks the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 when a person files bankruptcy his/her credit card debit does not get discharged and he/she carries it for life. Meanwhile the elite not only get their companies bailed out, but also keep their bonuses and to add insult to injury they keep running their walking dead companies. Lawrence Lessig talks about this and corruption in politics in the video below.

Look I benefited from this system of second chances. I was able to go to rehab, discharge my failing grades, retake my classes, and finish college. If I was from the lower middle to middle class, I would have been ask to "deal with the consequences of my actions".

I see a need for lower income communities to rebuild their much needed support mechanisms. To help people that are in transition or who have made poor decisions. My good friend Jasper told me the black communities in the 40's and 50's had strong support systems in place. Even though they where relatively poorer then white communities they functioned well. Then welfare and urban renewal wiped them off the map.

How many of our churches are helping their own in this time of need? Providing health insurance for those that have lost jobs? Provide food or shelter to those who are struggling? Help church members find much needed work?

No one is a success on his or her own. A community provides support. We need to recognize this as a good thing. We needed to rekindle it in our communities.

I have been following Van Jones career over the last few years.

Van Jones, one of the icons of the "green" jobs movement, March 10 was appointed by President Barack Obama as Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. According to an e-mail message Jones sent to his supporters on March 11, Jones' job "will be to help shape the administration's energy and climate policy, so that climate solutions produce jobs and justice for all Americans."Read the Rest

I have hope that he will be able to help the less privileged. We must bring the lower and lower middle class into new jobs in the green sector. The green movement historically has been ignorant of their needs. I include myself in the ignorant. To see a brilliant mind like Van Jones be an advocate for the less fortunate is a blessing. He has a strong track record in meeting his goals hopefully he can carry that record into his new job.

Good luck Van Jones.

A number of people expressed interest in my main man, Vishal Mangalwadi, so I got the hook up:

From his biography page:

Vishal Mangalwadi (1949-) is an international lecturer, social reformer, political columnist, and author of thirteen books. Born and raised in India, he studied philosophy at universities, in Hindu ashrams, and at L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. In 1976 he turned down several job offers in the West to return to India where he and his wife, Ruth, founded a community to serve the rural poor. Vishal continued his involvement in community development serving at the headquarters of two national political parties, where he worked for the empowerment and liberation of peasants and the lower castes.

Must the Sun Set on The West?, his series of lectures, is available for purchase. John Piper references these lectures in this sermon which contrasts mantra with the Gospel. Some contemplative people will be rocked.

I was introduced to him via a series of lectures available for free through The Maclaurin Institute called The Heretics Series. Warning: Although India was a British colony, Vishal doesn't hate Western Civilization.

He offers some full books and some excerpts for free on his webpage, including a great piece on corruption that traced the phenomenon of bribery to idolatry. Essentially, he says if you have to appease your god, you will demand others to appease you. This man spits fire.

This is my guy:

When we dare to reflect on what we have come to accept as normal, as "owed to us" and we couple that with the reality of a false gospel that has destroyed the hearts and souls of believers that have sold their souls to the "more is better" doctrine and way of life.

Whatever happened to contentment? God is enough. Do we believe this?

Check out Louis CK's thoughts on "Everything's amazing but nobody's happy"

After watching it, watch John Piper's famous remarks on the Prosperity Gospel

When I saw these old WWII posters (I understand that the historical context is completely different) and compared what is going on in Latin America with the new Bolivian constitution, Chavez going on for indefinite re-elections and our president flying to Cuba to bestow Guatemala's greatest honor, the Order of the Quetzal medal, to Fidel Castro and seeing at the same time what's happening in the US with this whole stimulus package frenzy, I cannot help but wonder if we are not on the brink of falling to these extremes again.

In Guatemala we have a saying: "El que calla, otorga" ("He who remains quiet, concedes"). Why aren't we taking the streets and denouncing all these outrageous policies, acts of corruption and impunity? I have a theory.....

Part 1: Guatemala Land of Impunity - some statistics to get the ball rolling on the discussion
1. 98% of all homicide cases remain in impunity.
2. 6,338 homicides in 2008 (+137% from 1999)
3. 3% of the National Civil Police resources are allocated towards investigation
4. 18 lynchings in 2008 alone - 15 resulted in deaths
5. Child pornography WAS NOT illegal in Guatemala until Feb 17th, 2009.
6. More than 722 violent deaths of women in 2008, only 5% reach the courtrooms
7. 1 investigator for every 20,900 inhabitants
8. 92% of all fiscal offenses remain in impunity
9. 2% of all cases entered into the justice system since 1997 have been resolved
10. The public defense system has interpreters for only 7 of the 22 indigenous mayan languages spoken in Guatemala

Thoughts? (this happens in a country were 40% of the population claims to be a born again Christian)

Needless to say...with all of that, it's still the best country on Earth! The Land of Eternal Spring...there is still hope!

"I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician." (Charlie Chaplin)

It's about time we stop taking ourselves too seriously. It is only when we are bold and humble enough to laugh at ourselves, and place ourselves at the mercy of others laughing at us that we can really begin to connect in true relationship with others.

What the Doctors of Joy do in hospitals is what we should do everyday on the street. Connect, empathize, laugh, cry and look at the bigger picture acknowledging the issues but daring to look beyond to hope with a smile, knowing that in the end, everything will work out when we go back Home.

Not sure if you can get the documentary in the US (it was produced in Brazil under the title "Os Doutores da Alegria" and it has subtitles in English). Here is a PDF presentation of their work: Doctors of Joy Presentation.pdf

The blog "We Are Respectable Negroes" recently won an award for the blog post proposing a CNN documentary to match the one they did about being black in America. Several of blacks are getting weary of the media's portrayal of America's pathologies along racial lines, and usually brown ones or some sort.

The writers actually do link up to data articles in the original post which may be why they won the 2008 "Best Post" award by the Best Black Weblog Awards. This post lit up the internet. You can read the whole thing, with the youtube clips here. It's provocative to say the least.

Segment 1 White Teenagers: Out of Control and at Risk

At a time when young people should be comfortably protected by their parents while also moving forward with their lives into adulthood, white teenagers are exhibiting self-destructive behaviors which threaten to undermine the fabric of white communities. White teens and young adults are most likely to binge drink, smoke, and at the college age, to have multiple sexual partners. STI's such as chlamydia, syphilis, genital herpes, and HPV are increasingly common among college age white women.

Segment 2
A Plague Upon the Land: White Men, Workplace Violence, School Shootings, Hate Crimes, and Dead Wives

White men have long struggled with a culture of violence. While the culture of violence which afflicts white men has been moderated over time, American society is still struggling with this pathological behavior. White men have long held a near monopoly on being serial killers (the BTK killer, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and domestic terrorists (e.g. the KKK, Timothy McVeigh, and the UnaBomber) but the violence seems to be shifting its focus to schools and the workplace.

During the last decade or so, from Columbine, to Northern Illinois University, to Springfield, Oregon, to a high school in Minnesota, young white men have killed dozens of people, and wounded many more in murderous rampages.

Segment 3
School is No Longer a Place for Just the ABC's: Female Teachers Are Preying Upon Their Male Students

Teachers have a sacred trust. They prepare the next generation for life and are tasked with broadening their minds and intellect. However, this sacred trust has been betrayed in High Schools and Middle Schools across the United States. In dozens of known cases, the actual count is suspected of being much higher, white female teachers are having sex with their male students. As noted here, out of the dozens and dozens of reported incidents, and with rare exceptions, most of these teacher rapists are white women in their 30s and 40s. Beyond mere experimentation or moments of weakness, these sexually exploitative relationships develop and continue over long periods of time, and subsequently do irreparable psychological harm to the young male victims they involve.

Segment 4
What are White Women to do? White Men, Down-low Culture, Cruising, Sex Cults, and to Catch a Predator

White men are indulging in sexually high risk and deviant behavior. While a cottage industry has been generated by the hysteria surrounding black men on "the down low," white men and white women have also been struggling with issues of sex, intimacy, and trust. In such high profile cases as the polygamist cult raid in El Dorado, Texas where 534 children were removed because their safety was at risk, to the lesser known bestiality and zoophilia cases in Oregon (where a man died from having sex with a horse), many white males have been exhibiting pathological sexual behavior.

Segment 5
No End in Sight: The Methamphetamine Plague that is Destroying White Communities

Methamphetamine is destroying the fabric of Red State America. This easy to obtain, highly addictive drug is tearing apart families and communities. An estimated 1.4 million people suffer from this addiction, almost all of them white, suburban and/or rural. In fact, meth is no longer confined to rural America, its reach is expanding to include every part of the United States. The rural culture of drugs is so pervasive that not even Amish communities are immune from its grasp. No longer will the suburbs offer protection from the perils of this dangerous drug, as it has already has, or will shortly be, making inroads into what were once safe, white, suburban communities. Just as some parts of the United States were almost destroyed by the crack epidemic of the 1980s, entire communities in the South and Midwest are been torn asunder by this cheap and easily obtained drug.

Maybe this means Christian colleges and seminaries need a "suburban" or "rural" ministry track. (BTW, the dude in photo burned himself processing meth)

"Last September that her captors lured her to a mobile home in a remote West Virginia town, where they beat her, stabbed her, sexually assaulted her and forced her at knifepoint to eat dog and rat feces while calling her racial slurs."

From BET News:

Posted Sept. 29, 2008 - The last of six White West Virginians accused of kidnapping, raping and torturing a 20-year-old Black woman last year has pleaded guilty.

On Friday, Danny J. Combs, pictured above, followed the five other defendants, which included a mother-daughter and mother-son pair, admitting his role in one of the most heinous racial crimes in modern history. The case not only shined a spotlight on the backwardness of back-woods West Virginia, but it amplified the vicious racial division that still exists in America some 40 years after the Civil Rights Era.

"Country road, take me home to the place where I belong, West Virginia. Mountain mama. Take me home, country road." Hmmm. This song doesn't apply to everyone.

This was one of the most heinous stories I've heard in my life and what's been amazing is that it's received very little (I'm mean very little) news coverage. I wonder why that is?

Three white teens were charged Friday in what officials said was an epithet-filled fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in a small northeast Pennsylvania coal town. Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation in the July 12 attack on Luis Ramirez.

A third teen, Derrick M. Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other offenses. All are from Shenandoah, where the attack occurred.

Additional charges are expected in the case that has roiled Shenandoah, a small, economically depressed town where police have reported friction between whites and a growing Hispanic population.

The suspects played football at Shenandoah Valley High School; Donchak, now enrolled at Bloomsburg University, was the quarterback last season. . .

The youths goaded Ramirez and the girl, saying, "You should get out of this neighborhood" and "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here," documents said. . All three suspects used ethnic slurs during the fight, which ended with Ramirez in convulsions and foaming at the mouth, authorities said. The attackers fled the scene; Ramirez underwent surgery but died July 14 of head injuries.

Here's the full story here.

Ok,

(1) Not surprised. The vitriol against Mexicans that I hear by people regularly is alarming (even in "Christian" settings). And many political conservatives seem to hate Mexicans for some reason. Much of the "immigration" rhetoric is really directed at Mexicans some people say. If we got a wave of Scottish immigrants would people care as much today (not in the past, but today)?

(2) He had a white girlfriend. Did that make them more upset?

(3) They probably didn't intend to kill him. More evidence of the century-old masculinity crisis.

(4) Who cares if they were football players. Several stories seem to highlight this, as if it matters.

(5) "Ethnic intimidation" is a silly crime. What matters is the violence not so much the fact these white teens saw a Mexican and their response was to beat him. Where did they learn to beat Mexicans? Watch, their friends and family are going to talk about how they were such "good kids."

Thoughts? I think I would prosecute murder 2 on this one.

"[Christian Socialist Movement] (CSM) is a movement of Christians with a radical commitment to social justice, to protecting the environment and to fostering peace and reconciliation. We believe that 'loving our neighbour' in the fullest sense involves struggling for a fair and just society, one in which all can enjoy the 'fullness of life' Jesus came to announce. And we want to work to make it happen."

The rise of the Christian neo-socialists has been quite surprising. These Marxists have been using the Sermon of the Mount and Beatitudes and "Jesus' teaching" to smoke screen the resurgence of a Christian Socialist agenda. It's amazing.

We see this clearly in socialist CSM-type redistributionists like Barack Obama, Jim Wallis, Wendell Berry, Shane Claiborne, Tony Campolo, Ron Sider (although he's moving more toward center), Brian McLaren, and many others I'd love to name.

At least in the U.K. leftist Christians are honest about being socialists. You will see no difference between this agenda and anything you'll find in Jim Wallis' neo-socialist organization Sojourners.

Here's part of the neo-socialist Christian manifesto from the U.K.'s Christian Socialist Movement. At least these folks are honest. It should sound familiar:

Our values

We believe that Christian teaching should be reflected in laws and institutions and that the Kingdom of God finds its political expression in democratic socialist policies.

We believe that all people are created in the image of God. We all have equal worth and deserve equal opportunities to fulfil our God-given potential whilst exercising personal responsibility.

We believe in personal freedom, exercised in community with others and embracing civil, social and economic freedom.

We believe in social justice and that the institutional causes of poverty in, and between, rich and poor countries should be abolished.

We believe all people are called to common stewardship of the Earth, including its natural resources.

Objectives

Christian Socialist Movement members pledge themselves to work in prayer and through political action for the following objectives:

* A greater understanding between people of different faiths
* The unity of all Christian people
* Peace and reconciliation between nations and peoples and cultures together with worldwide nuclear and general disarmament
* Social justice, equality of opportunity and redistribution economically to close the gap between the rich and the poor, and between rich and poor nations
* A classless society based on equal worth and without discrimination
* The sustainable use of the Earth's resources for the benefit of all people, both current and future generations
* Co-operation, including the creation of cooperative organisations

If you're going to be a Wal-mart boycotting, "fair trade" coffee protesting, "no more income gaps between CEO's and other employees" ranting, wealth-redistributing, minimum-wage supporting, socialist you are free to do so but please don't call it "Christian" or "consistent with Jesus' teaching," etc. Many of us are honest about being in tradition of Althusius, Wilberforce, Kuyper, Booker T. Washington, J. Gresham Machen, Michael Polayni, C.S Lewis, and others and continuing to battle the socialism that keeps people in generational poverty and I think the Christian socialists should be more honest to their allegiance to their own tradition of Marx, Lenin, Keynes, FDR, etc.

We live in a country where people are free to be socialists and that's the beauty of the whole thing but why hide behind "Christian Social Justice" lingo when it's really socialism proof-texted from the Gospels only. Why don't the Christian socialists in America confess it like the Marxist Christians in the U.K.?

Any thoughts on why the Wal-Mart boycotting socialist Christians don't just to come out and say, "We are socialists, who also love Jesus?" Why the secrecy? Any insights?