A History Of The Culture Wars

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Find also to read

1. Andrew McWilliams-Doty looks at evangelicals
2. How the term Evangelical has grown to blur theology and ideology
3. Which Christians Actually Evangelize
4. Is it Time to Abandon “Evangelical?”

Jared Stacy

Culture War Christianity has long since ossified into the de facto expression of faith for many white American evangelicals. In Part One of this series (which you can find here) we introduced the American Culture Wars. As a whole, this series examines the historical & theological shape of Culture War Christianity in comparison to Jesus’ Kingdom through the lenses of these two camps, conscientious objectors and vocal advocates. We concluded last week with a descriptor: Culture War Christianity tends to make enemies, not love them.

This week, our second part examines the historical orgins of the Culture Wars. If you’re pressed for time, I present a TL;DR that takes 2 minutes, and you can return to read the article at your leisure…

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read Summary)

The key to understanding modern Culture War Christianity is the history of American race relations and Christianity. This article locates the birth…

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What Are The Culture Wars?

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Find also to read

1. Andrew McWilliams-Doty looks at evangelicals
2. How the term Evangelical has grown to blur theology and ideology
3. Which Christians Actually Evangelize
4. Is it Time to Abandon “Evangelical?”

Jared Stacy

The next four articles form a series to engage this question. We’ll examine the history & theology of “Culture War Christianity”. My goal is to locate the Culture Wars in American history, but also describe the shape of these Culture Wars so we can examine how they relate to the shape of Jesus’ Kingdom.

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What are the Culture Wars? Think of “culture” as a way of life. It is the sum total of all values, beliefs, and practices making up a communal existence. When God commissions newly formed humanity in Genesis 1 to “fill the earth and subdue it”, he sets men and women into the world with a cultural mandate. His plan was for a human society, united under his rule in the world, ruling with him over the Cosmos as his vice-regents.

With a technical and theological definition of “culture”, we can now imagine a “culture war” as…

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Thought on the birthday of an encyclopaedia

I have always been interested in the “what, how and why” of things and wanted to find out more about certain things or events.

Stimulated by the subjects we had in our formation as dancers, we had a class for each subject: history of ballet (or theatrical dance), history of music, history of culture and history of costumes. Though the practical classes were the most important, I loved those courses and later in life I also went studying anthropology.

Whilst I was a dancer I was interested in what went on all over the world and about ballet or theatrical dance (musical, classical and contemporary ballet or dance) I collected dance magazines and newspaper cuttings which after some years became the basics for my Dance Archive, which I gave out of my hand after my serious car accident in 1987, to the Flemish Theatre Institute.

When I was made redundant and I had to go into retirement, I was forced to find another job to provide for my family. In addition to this paid work, I continued to work (unpaid) for my church community and focused on tackling different topics on several blogs.

But by getting older, I noticed that my brain was failing me and that I had to resort to encyclopaedias even more than before to verify facts and dates.

Encyclopaedia means a system or classification of the various branches of knowledge, and whether under the name of “dictionary” or “encyclopaedia” large numbers of reference works have been published and are luckily at my disposal.

A lot has changed since the first alphabetical encyclopaedia was written in English in a work of a London clergyman, John Harris (born about 1667, elected first secretary of the Royal Society on the 30th of November 1709, died on the 7th of September 1719), Lexicon technicum, or an universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, London, 1704, fol., 1220 pages, 4 plates, with many diagrams and figures printed in the text. Such alphabetical order makes it so handy to search for things.

Hannah Ashlyn (or Hanashlyn) Krynicki also looks at such works that function as a second brain for us. She writes:

The Encyclopaedia is basically like the internet. It is a slave that reminds me of random useless things and keeps track of all the details that I would otherwise forget.

What should I do with this epic battle scene that didn’t make the cut? Encyclopaedia. Where did I record the laws of succession for Agran? Encyclopaedia. How much older was Sardar than Elkay? Encyclopaedia. {Why I Wrote an Encyclopaedia (and Maybe You Should, Too)}

This 1921 advertisement for the Encyclopedia Americana suggests that other encyclopedias are as out-of-date as the locomotives of 90 years earlier.

Regarding the dance, I had a huge deck of cards with thousands of cards arranged alphabetically. Everything was easy to find in there. But now that all those files have been removed from the house and are accessible to the general public in a specialised library, I have to start my search again at home.

Because everything changes so quickly, some dictionaries and encyclopaedia had to be replaced (or better: supplemented) by more recent contemporary editions. Otherwise, we will very quickly become out of date and unable to keep up with all the new inventions and events.

For lots of writers it is a blessing that we now have the internet to do searches, but to save time we need still those dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

Krynicki her encyclopaedia saves her from having to re-do the same research over and over or scramble through a heap of sticky notes to find where she wrote my main character’s birth year.

Having all the information written down and organized in a place where I can easily find it allows me to focus on writing the actual novel. {How to Stay Organized as a Writer}

This way we, who want to write, need to have our own system next to the provision of printed reference works, dictionaries and encyclopaedia.

Please find out how I find my way in this world of so much printed and published material on the net. > 253 years ago the first edition of my favourite encyclopaedia was published

The Age of Disinformation

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Preceding

Do Governments and Nations Lie?

Facts: Why they matter and how to check them

Consequences of our digital environment

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Additional reading

1. A busy 2017 #3 Fake, gossip and real news
2. To protect our democratic system #1 Danger of fake and malicious social media accounts
3. Here is the truth or the lie
4. Defeating populism in the EU by education of the young people
5. 2019 was #3 a Year of much deceit in the News World
6. Manipulated content on social media
7. Hollowness of democracy
8. Undermining security and democracy via the Internet
9. Safeguarding freedom of expression
10. Gossip and fake news, opposite fact checking and facts presenting
11. Conspiracy theories in plenty-fold
12. Media Literacy

Ava Henseler's blog

In our day and age, information can be accessed from any place or any time. The ability to look up the answers to our greatest questions, see news from around the world, and connect with friends and family from wherever has bestowed on our lives with the gift of connectedness and knowledge. But, it is not always a blessing. The internet can be filled with hate and misinformation. In a jaunting post from The Atlantic, “The Grim Conclusions of the Largest-Ever Study of Fake News”, it was found that in the last 10 years, fake news stories reached and impacted more users on Twitter than true ones. As alarming as this study is, I am not very surprised by the result. From a young age, I have always been taught to question everything I may see online. From fake news stories on instagram to major news sources with…

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Consequences of our digital environment

On “Some View on the World” there is given some attention to “fake news”.

It looks like we have arrived in the age of populism and of authoritarian tendencies, cultural backlash, economic anxiety, ideological polarisation, and widespread conspiracy theories, democratic malaise, support for own gain and popularity.

Concerning religious matters “fake news” and untrue messages is nothing new. Already many decades non-religious groups and  trinitarian groups do everything to keep people away from non-trinitarian groups. But concerning the way of living we got a new era with the treatment of the Corona virus.

The problem with all the news which gets to us is that it is not always easy to recognise a message is a valuable correct informative article versus misinformative or mendacious reporting.

For a few years we have had the blessing of the personal computer and by the years several groups and bloggers offering news and comments on the events of the day. The digital environment became huge and today can mostly come unfiltered in millions of houses. At the beginning people where pleased with the new medium and were loving to spread new serious articles and thoughts about many matters. After a few years, others saw in the internet a very good means to disinform or misinform people. Today this misinformation threatens real news that allows us to become informed citizens.

Today there is also a lot of sharing on social media which brings press releases but also frequent human fabrications up to our daily plate. Disinformation spread via messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Signal are becoming more difficult to track and intercept because of end-to-end encryption. We can call it a blessing but it can also be a curse how social media allows space for uncensored opinions/ concerns as well as a space for mass groups to convene to address these opinions/concerns. It is incredible how many youngsters receive fake news through private messaging apps regularly and do not mind checking the article but just goes by the title or just believes what is multiplied or liked the most. For lots of people, it has become really very difficult to recognise the truth and false messages. We are unable to determine falsehoods from the truth, and some are quick to believe anything that looks credible. When messages align with their held opinions or views, people much easier shall consider them trustworthy.

While it is definitely worth allocating resources to combating disinformation using AI, caution and transparency are necessary given the potential ramifications. New technological solutions, unfortunately, may not be a silver bullet. (The Conversation)

To remember

A free society depends on the free exchange of ideas and honestly, the most important issues are the ones that are most controversial.

 

 

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Please find to read:

1. A busy 2017 #3 Fake, gossip and real news
2. To protect our democratic system #1 Danger of fake and malicious social media accounts
3. Defeating populism in the EU by education of the young people
4. 2019 was #3 a Year of much deceit in the News World
5. Manipulated content on social media
6. Hollowness of democracy
7. Undermining security and democracy via the Internet
8. Safeguarding freedom of expression
9. Gossip and fake news, opposite fact checking and facts presenting
10. Conspiracy theories in plenty-fold
11. Media Literacy

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Additional reading

1. Here is the truth or the lie
2. Gates to different belief systems in this world
3. Non-religious opposing religious people
4. A convinced voice to debunk false allegations

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Related

1. The Age of Disinformation
2. Barnum Circus or European Parliament?Between Freedom of Speech and Stigma
3. Interview #15 – Going Negative: Causes and Consequences of Attack Politics
4. Populism in Power: Law & Justice vs liberal democracy
5. Interview #14 – The Strange Case of Dr. Populist and Mr. Corruption
6. Robert Fisk on journalism, fake news and truth
7. Dealing with Fake News: The Social Responsibility of Big Tech and Possible Solutions
8. Media Literacy
9. Can AI help in stopping the spread of fake news? May be not
10. New York Times Complains That Cat Videos Are Being Used to Spread “Misinformation”
    Fake news, zombie papers and fabricated evidence: A thoroughly modern pandemic?
11. Share This Now! How Conspiracy Theories Swamped North Macedonia
12. Two-thirds in North Macedonia believe COVID was created to control humans: study
13. Breaking: Marjorie Taylor Greene To Introduce Legislation That Would Hold Fake News Accountable – “The freedom of press is not the freedom to lie. And that is the biggest thing we have to focus on. There needs to be accountability, and I think that’s something we really need to look at.”

Ali's Almanac

The digital environment today allows a voice for all. While this gives us the opportunity to be agents of change, emerging from it are fake news, cancel culture, and outrage culture.

If you weren’t living under a rock during the years 2016-2020, you might’ve heard the term fake news. This misinformation threatens real news that allows us to become informed citizens. NPR names this time as a “post-truth era.” We are unable to determine falsehoods from the truth and some are quick to believe anything that looks credible because 1. sources take time to verify and it’s easier to believe what you see/hear without fact-checking 2. people will believe something right away if it aligns with their held opinions or views. This is problematic especially in such a polarized political landscape and a time where social media is an outlet for so much misinformation. Being skeptical is so important…

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Comforting Thought: Without darkness we wouldn’t see the stars

 

Content Catnip

Without darkness we wouldn’t see the stars, reach for them!

You might not grab them, but a least you won’t end up with mud on your hands.

Look for the beauty, it can be found in the most unlikely of places.

Googie McCabe

“Without darkness we wouldn’t see the stars, reach for them!” @googiemccabe

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Comforting Thought: Without darkness we wouldn’t see the stars – Googie McCabe

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Seeking Continuity in History

One of the most pernicious mistakes in thinking about history is to consider adjacent historical periods as diametrically opposed to each other and to paint an exaggerated contrast between them. In doing so, we fail to see the organic continuity of history, the way that periods and movements overlap and interact. The result is a dangerous oversimplification that distorts our view of the past.
Michael De Sapio

In a new article at the Imaginative conservative Michael De Sapio writes that historical periods are conveniences, subjective and sometimes arbitrary. He writes

Too often we reify the labels, deluding ourselves into thinking that they are as real as people and things in the world. “Middle Ages,” “Renaissance,” and many other historical labels are prejudicial in origin, carrying a bias with them. I often remember what a literature professor of mine said: “Ordinary people in Shakespeare’s day had no idea they were not still living in the Middle Ages.”

” historical eras are not monolithic, marked by a single prevailing mood”

“A good historical writer will seek out these sorts of precedents and continuing lines of development, instead of presenting history as a succession of massive blocks. One thing which I believe will help in this is to think about history in longer spans of time.”

Read more about it: Seeking continuity history, by Michael De Sapio

MoonDay Musings: the magic of storytelling

In a certain way it is a shame, the tradition of telling about the past of the family, does not exist anymore.

Probably, for some time, the Boom generation is the last generation where the youngsters sat on the lap of their grandparents listening to those very interesting stories of the past as well as to the many fairytales and fables.
As kids we could dream about wonder tales involving marvellous elements and occurrences, bringing us in dreamland. Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm ( Jacob Ludwig Carl and Wilhelm Carl Grimm) , were daily food for many of the generations born before 1960, who also grew up with several fables or parables.

In many industrialised countries there is no time given anymore to public storytellers or to public poets .It would not be bad to have again a bearer of “old lore” (seanchas) or have again recitals by bards, to bring the past back to life.
We may not forget that by telling about the past we can learn for the future and find ways to strengthen ourselves.

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Additional reading

1. To relive that what happened in the past
2. Stories of the beginnings, and one Main book composed of four major sections
3. The flood, floods and mythic flood stories 6 European myths
4. Dia de Los Muertos – Day of the dead
5. Allhallowtide with Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day

Inner Journey Events Blog

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash

We learn history in many ways — from school textbooks, non-fiction scholarly works, novels, television, documentaries and films, the nightly news and more — and some of those sources may even be accurate. 

But what of cultural lore and traditions, and family history?

In the past, these stories were shared at family gatherings, at times of celebration such as festivals like Samhain and Bealtaine, but also on special days for individuals such as births, birthdays or naming days, weddings, and —yes — deaths, as families gathered to celebrate the life of a loved one who had passed. 

In ancient Irish traditions — and many other cultures and places with strong oral traditions — families, villages, clans and tribes honoured the role of the story teller.

These were known as the fílidh (pronounced fee-lee) in Druidic and Celtic traditions, poet-seers who learned hundred…

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“Our World” Moving from Blogspot to WordPress

On April the 2nd 2005, Marcus Ampe, after having commented on several MSN Groups created his own chat group on MSN which would grow into the website “Christadelphian world” on Multiply. Like so many Microsoft users at that time, he too, had his Space on MSN. When Microsoft discontinued the MSN Groups, Mr. Ampe followed their suggestion to switch to Multiply, presenting its Multiply Groups and Multiply Spaces. Several groups did not do this, quit or switched to other systems such as Yuku, of Ezboard, Inc.‘s internet forums (Yuku Message Boards), or the content management system (CMS) WordPress. Both were also considered by us, but unfortunately not chosen at that time. But a few years later Multiply stopped with providing room for bloggers. This made that all the material had to be exported when one wanted to keep the material.

The hierarchy of labels in a fully qualified domain name

For that reason, Marcus Ampe wanted to save his writings and placed them temporarily on the other American online content management system (CMS) Blogspot, enabling multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. Though that, what seemed just for a “waiting time” to find a new place, came to run its own life on Blogger. From that time onwards online journals or Blogs could also be accessed from a user-owned custom domain, an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet, (such as http://www.example.com) by using DNS facilities to direct a domain to Google’s servers.

Christadelphian World

The Blogspot “Christadelphian World” received some further new messages and having received a new birth in 2014, having its name changed in “Our World“ it grew out, becoming an ‘adult’ presenting more than 4 000 messages in 2020. Google, that year, made several changes in its sites as well as in Blogger. From then onwards connections with the older blogs on Blogspot did not seem to work so well. The system became very slow to load down. In earlier computer days that would not have been such an abnormality, nor problem, but in present times the consumer does not like some time-consuming websites and leave them alone.

The World Wide Web had become a place where lots of lots home pages, functioning as a table of contents or index, with links to other sections of the site, called for the attention of the reader. Many companies also wanted to play host to present websites to the worldwide public. The public became also more interested in blogs that operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links. “Our World” its intention was also to do that and to show the public the connection of this world with the Highest Divine Source of this all.

Other blogs concentrate on presenting original material and wanted to go deeper into certain topics. Marcus Ampe for that reason brought his MSN Space over to a Multiply Space, and when Multiply stopped its service, transferred it to WordPress, with as title Marcus Ampe’s Space to present his own personal views and offer a look in his personal diary.

In addition, many blogs provided a forum to allow visitors to leave comments and interact with the publisher. Such interaction became the most important target and this provide a new ground for several platforms bringing social media as a new driver of the convergent media sector, into their core business.

The growth of the blogosphere has been nothing short of remarkable. By October 2005 there were 19.6 million blogs, a number that has been doubling roughly every five months, according to Technorati, Inc., a Web site and organisation dedicated to mapping and searching the blogosphere.  You can imagine how by this growth of approximately 70,000 new blogs being created each day — or, more vividly, nearly one every second, how difficult it has become to find the most interesting or complete one. Due to the abundance of material on the internet and the fact that people often cannot see the wood for the trees anymore, Marcus Ampe created in 2014 (03/26) “From Guestwriters” on WordPress as a platform where a selection of interesting websites could be presented. He also wanted to offer a platform for writers themselves to present their own website articles and to introduce people to more in-depth articles. But until now he does not seem to succeed getting enough writers willing to offer their services to talk about such subjects as history, nature, a.o..

From blogging is (in a way) expected that it might also be a conversational activity seeking to create a community or reflect an existing community. With “From Guestwriters” Marcus Ampe hoped to do so, but also with “Our World“, he wanted to open a view on the world, tough from a Christian viewpoint. He is still convinced such a viewpoint should have a place in our world, though he does not expect a lot of followers or interested people, because he is fully aware that there is not such an interest in Jehovah God.

As a Christian Marcus Ampe is convinced that it is part of the tasks given by God and by His son Jesus Christ, to go out into the world to preach the coming Kingdom of God. In many of his websites Mr. Ampe wants to bring some positive notes and want to show people that when things don’t work well, or are not working at all, although there’s plenty of sun, and when it’s starting to get annoying, there are ways to get out of that black or dark mood and to find sunshine in heaven. “From Guestwriters” want to contribute in such a way, and now you also may find “Some view on the world” bringing such a positive view on the world.

Please come to find this renewed website by Marcus Ampe:

Some view on the world (WordPress site by Marcus Ampe)

Where you shall be able to find some news updates, thoughts and reflections by different people (inclusive reblogs) and articles about man, history, faith, religions (in particular Christian religion), God, His world and His Word, the Bible and quotations from it.

Blog of Some view on the world

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Find also to read:

1. Do you have a writer or presenter in you?
2. Change of the Microsoft Network Spaces
3. Messages leading to an earthly utopia
4. From MSN Groups and MSN Spaces via Multiply to Blogspot now transferring to WordPress
5. Invitation to renew connection
6. Going to the end of our 5th year of presenting interesting views from different authors
7. A Classic Editor versus Block Editor
8. Notification and news feed for Facebook users

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Additional

1. Necessary to be known all over the earth
2. Need to inspire others
3. How To Get Started In Sharing Your Faith As a Christian
4. To find ways of Godly understanding
5. From house to house #2: Continuing to bring the good news right to the world
6. The untiring response of some Christadelphians
7. Taking as many opportunities as possible to proclaim the Good News
8. Reason to preach #5 Trained to do it God’s way
9. Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news
10. Witnesses of Christ and of his gospel
11. Preaching to an unbelieving world
12. A magazine with Each month a true story

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Related

1. What is an Internet Forum? Everything you need to know
2. Yahoo Answers is shutting down. Why are companies ditching discussion features?
3. Social media outage highlights how vital Facebook has become worldwide
4. ❣️The Message Boards Turn 21 Today! ❣️
5. Types of Content Management System
6. Facebook, Google Attribution, Chatbots
7. Your Singaporean Twitter History – Get to Know Your Country’s Social Media Trends
8. What’s Google Up To?
9. WordPress Training
10. Thinking Through: WordPress Border Controls
11. Launching & Managing your websites with CMS
12. W04 Reflection: Site Builder & Hosting
13. Best VPN for WeChat – Bypass Censorship & Chat Anonymously!
14. 5 Tips for Blog Post Ideas
15. Things That Make Me Wish I Wasn’t A Blogger
16. Joseph Pulitzer’s Retirement Speech & The Traits of Journalism
17. Reader Is Dead, But What About Writers?
18. When Bloggers Get Angry
19. Filter only coffee
20. Bloggers Who Write About Food!🍔
21. Translation and Social Media Language- A New Chapter
22. No Internet
23. Are we being controlled by unseen entities?
24. The Empathy Library
25. The bittersweet taste of traditional publishing

We live in hope

September 2, 2021, On the death of the Greek composer, a member of the wartime resistance, his concert music, including seven symphonies, four operas, ballets (including Antigone, 1959), and more than 1,000 songs, will remain deeply engraved in our hearts and echo throughout the world as a sign of the resistance that is always necessary to continue living in freedom of expression.

A la muerte del compositor griego, miembro de la resistencia en tiempos de guerra, su música de concierto, que incluye siete sinfonías, cuatro óperas, ballets (entre ellos Antígona, de 1959) y más de 1.000 canciones, quedará profundamente grabada en nuestros corazones y resonará en todo el mundo como signo de la resistencia siempre necesaria para seguir viviendo en libertad de expresión.

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Related

1. New book showcases work of persecuted Greek musician
2. Mikis Theodorakis
3. Sun and Time • album cover • Ηλιος και Χρόνος
4. Who was Theodorakis’ ‘laughing boy’?
5. O compositor e activista político grego Mikis Theodorakis morre aos 96 anos
6. El gran músico griego Mikis Theodorakis muere a los 96 años
7. Muere Mikis Theodorakis, autor de “Zorba el griego”
8. Sep 2, 2021; Composer Mikis Theodorakis dies
9. Muere Mikis Theodorakis, el compositor de “Zorba el griego” a quien Grecia tenía en su propio Olimpo
10. Remembering a Great Greek Composer: Mikis Theodorakis
11. Vicky Leandros pays tribute to Mikis Theodorakis, who died today aged 96
12. Mikis Theodorakis, Composer of ‘Zorba the Greek’ and ‘Serpico,’ Dies at 96
13. Antifascisten, forfatteren, musikeren og komponisten Mikis Theodorakis er død
14. Eurostars from Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal and Serbia farewell Mikis Theodorakis
15. Let’s Dance!
16. Autumn 2021 playlists : A selection of Mikis Theodorakis’ principal film scores…
17. Note on Mikis Theodorakis death
18. Mikis Theodorakis and Greece
19. Mikis Theodorakis : The Day The Fish Came Out [1967] [reblog]
20. ΜΙΚΗΣ ΘΕΟΔΩΡΑΚΗΣ : ΤΑ ΕΞΗ ΕΛΥΑΡ / ΝΕΝΑ ΒΕΝΕΤΣΑΝΟΥ [2000]
21. Μίκης Θεοδωράκης / Mikis Theodorakis : Τα Εξη Ελυάρ / Νένα Βενετσάνου – The 6 Éluard / Nena Venetsanou [2000] [reblog]
22. Final Goodbye/Τελευταιο Αντιο
23. Ο δικός μου Μίκης
24. Monteverdi : Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. Prologue [reblog]

CrippleCreak

A few days after hearing of the death of Theodorakis.

I lived in Evia, Greece, for a short time, in a small basic house on top of another building. It was on the edge of a town made rich by the lignite factory on its outskirts.

While my little house was on the outskirts the other way, it was convenient for long walks and a semi rural outlook.

The view from my house

I arrived in Greece a few years after the end of the junta, about which I knew next to nothing. I was extraordinarily lucky to discover that the second floor of ‘my’ building was used by a woman who taught after school mathematics. In those days, and perhaps still, Greek children who attended school between 8.30 and 2.30 (I think) also attended frontisterio – private schools like the one I taught at and my new friend owned.

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