Be sure to stick with it to the end, philosophy fans.

Maybe now that the Vatican said this he’ll stop saying things like this.

Has anyone been getting 404 errors when they comment?  I have, even though my comment still goes up.   The WordPress plugin Bad Behavior just blacklisted me on my own site, so I turned that the hell off.  Now commenting and posting seem much faster.

Coincidence?

Most every time I lead a new member workshop, I ask if anyone found out about us by taking the Belief-O-Matic quiz over at Beliefnet.com.  Invariably, some folks sheepishly raise their hands.

I didn’t find out about UUism from it, but it did help push me over the “I’m not really UU, am I?” edge.  So many people have come to UUism via the Belief-O-Matic that some wonder if the quiz is a secret UU recruitment tactic.

So I’m disappointed to hear that Fox News purchased Beliefnet.   Let’s  hope that Fox News doesn’t remove Belief-O-Matic, or, if it does, that the quiz finds a new, well-publicized home.

A Southern Baptist minister in Enid, Oklahoma, (Silver Tongued Devil’s hometown) is airing the International Mission Board’s laundry on his blog, and the IMB has censured him for his posts.   Here’s the report in the local paper, and here’s his response on his blog.

Curiously enough, one of the IMB rules he is publicly protesting is the rule that IMB trustees should not publicly dissent.  It look from over here like a moderates vs. conservatives conflict—with some Bapticostalism thrown in—played out through some dirty denominational pool.  The powers-that-be seem to have rigged the game against his getting a public audience for his views.

Is this the sort of thing that’s behind the recent Southern Baptist condemnation of “certain bloggers?”

What’s the right response for ministers in this sticky situation?   Should they publicly dissent?

UPDATE:  Just saw that the Eclectic Cleric posted about a situation that speaks directly to this issue earlier today.

Chutney got his first work phone call yesterday.  Very cool.