Coming Soon to a Xmas Stocking Near You

This fake commercial so reminds me of some of the gifts my relatives actually give each other.



[Video Link]

Of course, what counts is the thought--and Jesus!

On the Bodaciousness of the Bible

From a card I just sent to my Godson:

"I've personally, ultimately found the Bible ... to be the most intriguing and engaging Story I've ever read of

murder and the meaning of life, creation and crime, Truth and treason, wars and worship, honor and brutal honesty, deception and destruction, action and adultery, envy and evil, violation and vengeance, suspense and seduction, the silly and the supernatural, sin and sacrifice, romance and redemption, edification and escapes, fighting and forgiveness--and most of that's just by the time you get through Genesis!"* *a couple years ago, I recall hearing Bishop N. T. Wright say something similar, but failing to track down the exact quote from him, I had to try to come up with something else.

Update on Life and this Whole "Blogging" Thing

Well, as I look back on what I've blogged so far, I see it's been MUCH more infrequent than I had originally envisioned.

This blog largely originated out of my having left four-and-a-half years of employment with the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) to begin a masters program at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) and missing the opportunity for the outlet I had had for public writing and commentary.

However, I've found grad school to be WAY too time-consuming to allow for as much blogging as I might like. I honestly don't know how others, like Methoblogosphere titan John the (other) Methodist manage to do it. While I expect future posts to continue to not be all that frequent, I am not completely giving up on the Lomperian Review.

If you would like be notified by e-mail when new posts are added to this blog, please e-mail me with "BLOG SUBSCRIBE" in the Subject line.

I also added an RSS-feed thingy on the side, though I'm still not sure how that is supposed to work.


With all of that being said, I suppose it's time for some more substantial post content.

Life in New England's been going pretty well. But here are a few things that have surprised me.

1. A lot of local people really DO talk with the stereotypical, replace-your-Rs-with-Hs accents. At first I thought they were just joking around, when folk were in fact quite earnest about pahking theih cah in Hahvuhd Yahd.

2. A rather disproportionately high number of women up here have tattoos.

3. Apparently, people in New England (at least the Boston area) have not yet gotten the memo that cars now have this awesome new invention called "blinkers" or "turn signals." This state-of-the-art technology turns on a flashy light that lets other cars know when you're about to change lanes, so that you can give fair warning before SWERVING RIGHT THE FREAK IN FRONT OF THEM!! If any readers know anyone who is now, has ever been, or ever may be a resident of New England, please tell them about this invention to make sure no one gets left out.

4. It's freaking cold up here! As the weeks go on this Southern boy's getting increasingly annoyed at those dang pilgrims for being too lazy to have pointed their ship just a few more degrees to the South.

5. Having lived in Chicago and DC and visited New York several times, the public trains in Boston are hands-down the loudest internally.

6. According to a recent tour, the community surrounding Harvard looks down on the University as a bastion of conservatism, since "only" 70+ % of the students voted Democratic in a recent Presidential election. (the number would be nowhere near that low if you singled out the Div school)

7. It's interesting to see theological liberals as well as theological conservatives around here say that there's not great differences between the numerous Unitarian Universalist congregations around here and so many of the mainline Protestant congregations in the area.

8. Regional reputations notwithstanding, even people here can be quite friendly. Though it's still not okay to say "hi" to people on the street you don't know like it is in other parts of the country.

9. While this region served as a key incubator for such heterodox movements as Unitarianism, Universalism, and Christian science, central seeds of the Holiness movement can also be traced to here.

10. If you're blessed to live in a city with a street-grid system, don't take it for granted. Boston/Cambridge's confusingly non-straight windedness has greatly heightened my appreciation for DC's well-ordered, oh-so-logical grid layout.


As for the theological environment of HDS, before I left I assured fellow evangelicals that I doubted I would encounter anything here more radical than the various crazy things I was sent around reporting on for IRD. So far, this prediction has held true.

Also, despite having been here over a hundred days since the start of this semester, the Bible still remains my final authority on matters of doctrine and morals, and I can still recite the Nicene Creed without crossing my fingers behind my back.! :)

UMC (today) on Beginning- and End-of-Life Ethics

Here's a somewhat belated review of the last General Conference of the United Methodist Church in terms of pro-life concerns, put in historical context.

I must have written this out of IRD Withdrawal Syndrome (IWS).

I wrote about the same topic in a couple other places right before I left that job for grad school. But this latest article isn't quite AS narrowly focused on abortion, and also says more about the Southern Baptist Convention's dramatic position change on abortion.

There seems to be growing recognition that despite its public claims to represent ALL American United Methodists, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) represents no more than a small minority in the positions it advocates in our name. (for more details on that, see here)

Predictions Part II: US Senate

I expect the Dems to win:
AR - the state GOP really seems to have problems recruiting strong candidates to send to Washington
CO
DE
IA
IL - the state GOP still hasn't seemed to recovered from the self-destruction wrought by its corrupt Governor six years ago
LA - a huge missed opportunity for the GOP
MA
MI
MT
NC - GOP incumbent Libby Dole's 11th-hour ad entirely focusing on one guy associated with the "Godless Americans PAC" holding a fundraiser for her opponent smacks of desperation, especially the way in which the ad's close seems to (falsely) present her Sunday school-teacher opponent as saying "There is no God!" While the merits of the ad could be debated further, the fact that it's been widely condemned in the state press indicates that a risky attempt by a trailing incumbent to shake up the race has only backfired.
NH
NJ
NM
RI
OR - Republican Gordon Smith's incumbency, centrist positions, and support from newspapers and Democrats across the state probably won't be enough for him this time to overcome the Democratic wave in this blue state
SD (another one that could have been a lot closer with a strong Republican candidate)
WV

and the GOP to win:
AL
GA
ID
KY
ME
MN - the largely left-leaning Independence Party candidate may attract enough anti-GOP voters wary of foul-mouthed-comedian-and-pundit-turned-Democratic-politician Al Franken to save incumbent Norm Coleman's political career
MS (x2)
NE - arguably a missed open-seat opportunity for Democrats
KS
OK
SC
TN
TX
WY

So the next Congress should have a Senate breakdown of 58D - 42R (assuming that Lieberman doesn't get expelled from the Democratic caucus).

Presidential Predictions

While I'm putting this up later than I had planned, here are the Lomperian Review's first quadrennial electoral vote predictions.

First of all, while there's been lots of speculation about many states potentially breaking with long-established partisan alignments, there have remained many that each camp has been able to easily count on without spending a dime, with interesting regional concentrations:

Obama's base = California, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont (200 electoral votes),

McCain's base = Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Wyoming (104 electoral votes, about half of Obama's starting point)


Now comes the prediction for the states that have ever been considered swing-able in the Obama-McCain contest.

Obama gets:
CO - the polling consistent showing Democratic wins here for President and the open Senate seat are remarkable for a state that in 2004 had two GOP Senators and supported Bush over Kerry
FL - though I would have initially thought McCain would have a natural advantage in a state whose primary he won while the Democrats didn't campaign there. By now he may be kicking himself for not asking the GOP Governor there to be his running mate.
IA - McCain's strong opposition to ethanol subsidies led him to sit out the famous caucuses of this purplest of states
ME - (including Maine's contested rural Congressional district)
MI - the McCain campaign's early pullout spelled end of story there, Palin's protests notwithstanding
MN - the GOP could probably get this bipartisan state with a strong national wind, but no such wind is in sight this year
MO - "As goes Missouri, so goes the nation" has held true for over a century with only one exception
NH - this last bastion of New England Republicanism shows no signs of stopping its decisive blue-state conversion since 2004
NE's 5th congressional district, which basically gets its own electoral vote - I read Obama had 15 paid staff on the ground to seek this single electoral college vote, and there've been signs it may be paying off
NM - despite the GOP's nominating its most pro-immigration candidate possible, the overall Tancredo-driven tone of its primary seems to have had a terrible effect on the entire GOP brand name, driving away this Hispanic-heavy border state
NV
OH
OR/WA - I've never been able to tell these Pacific Northwest states apart, but in either place McCain's hopes of reversing the GOP's decade of decline seems to have been dashed fairly early
PA - dumb comments by Obama and Murtha about "bitter" and "redneck" voters notwithstanding, for the forseeable future this seems destined to be one of those states that the GOP keeps trying really hard to get, only to come up short
VA - the state infamously divided between its "real" and "unreal" zones has a Democratic trend going back at least to 2001, which exploding growth in its most liberal areas outside of DC
WI
TOTAL = 295 electoral votes

McCain gets:
AZ - It's not common to lose your own state unless the candidate and the state are on far opposite ends of America's political spectrum (think Romney-Massachusetts, Gore-Tennessee)
GA - Former Georgia Republican Congressman Bob Barr's Libertarian Party challenge seems to have faded; see also SC comments about galvanized African-American voters
ID - remember that talk about how as the provoker of the largest political rally in the potato state's history, Obama may be the one who could convert this one party state? Me neither.
IN - I predict this GOP-leaning state will be close but no cigar for Obama
MT - I initially had this in the Obama column, given decisive Democratic statewide victories in the last three election cycles, and Obama's radio dominance in this driver-heavy state, but then concluded that this election is not dramatic enough to completely erase the roughly 20-point GOP advantage from 2004 in a state where the Democratic Governor has to run on things like bipartisanship and NRA support
NC - surprisingly close in the polls, but I doubt that as liberal a Democrat as Obama can win a state where even Democrats like John Edwards feel the need in their statewide campaigns to promise to not be too different from Jesse Helms. See also comments about that other Carolina.
ND - Obama may get so close, yet so far away
SD - ditto
NE (minus one - see above)
SC - I've seen punditry saying that this could be tipped simply by Obama galvinizing the state's significant black population. But the simple fact of the matter is, African-Americans constitute nowhere near to a majority of the population of this deep-red state, whose statewide Democrats of recent years have been notably to the right of the national Party mainstream.
WV - very Democratic state, but if Gore and Kerry were far too socially liberal for its voters then Obama should be as well
TOTAL = 243 electoral votes

Only time and Tuesday will tell how good of a political-crystal-ball-reader I am.

Prayers for Andrew Weaver

I have just learned that Andrew Weaver passed away last weekend after an extended sickness.

Weaver was an ordained member of the California-Nevada Conference of the United Methodist Church, and for a while was Associate Publisher of Zion's Herald magazine (now called The Progressive Christian). Within the denomination, he was best known in recent years for his campaigning against the Bush library/institute coming to Southern Methodist University and his numerous articles, speeches, and mass e-mails strongly critiquing the United Methodist renewal movement broadly, and those of us associated with IRD/UMAction (with whom I was employed until recently) particularly.

One can go elsewhere to read the details of these controversies.

But what is more important now is prayers for his wife and other loved ones during this sad time of loss.

Bigfoot Must Die for Man to Live!

A friend just sent me an interesting Wall Street Journal article entitled "Look Who's Irrational Now."

Basically, it notes the recent books and screeds by the militant "New Atheists" about how crazy and untrustworthy all religious believers are, but reports on a recent survey showing how those involved in more than weekly religious worship, especially members of conservative Protestant denominations, are much less likely than the non-religious to believe in such "paranormal" things as Bigfoot, Nessie, Atlantis, and haunted houses. Apparently, this demographic discrepancy has been noted at various times in previous years.

It also reports that Bill Maher, whose new movie coming out next week promotes his message that "The plain fact is religion must die for man to live," has himself recently boasted of not believing in Western medicine.

Wishing Ye a Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Avast, ye scurvy scallywags! This today be the International Talk Like a Pirate Day. This varrrry 'portant hol'daybe a-spreading the seven seas so that even ye landlubbers arrrrrrrr now obliged to be marrrrrrking today by such means as only a-googling with Google Pirate and answering the phone properly, if ye don't want an earrrrrrly date wit Davy Jones' locker!

Which Candidates REALLY Care?

With this election cycle yet again featuring opposing candidates challenging each other to publicly release their income-tax returns, the public is now privy to very interesting info about the various candidates' widely differing levels of personal generosity.

Here's how they rank in terms of percentage of gross adjusted income given to charity in 2006 and 2007:

-Sen. John McCain gave 27.3% - 28.6%

-Sen. Hillary Clinton gave 10.0% - 14.7%

-the Obamas gave 5.8% - 6.1%

-of the 89% of American households giving to charity, the average contribution is 3.1%

-since 1998, the Bidens have given 0.06% - 0.31%

-there appears to be no such public records (yet) from Gov. Sarah Palin


But how much could they each afford to give to others? The plot thickens:

-Sen. Clinton earned $20,400,000 in 2007 and $15,858,422 in 2006 (adjusted gross income)

-Sen. Obama earned $4,139,965 in 2007 and $983,826 in 2006

-Sen. McCain earned $386,527 in 2007 and $338,809 in 2006

-Sen. Biden earned $319,853 in 2007 and $248,859 in 2006

-According to the U.S. Census Bureau, median annual household income for 2006-2007 was $49,901



It's easy for politicians to be generous with other people's money. Self-sacrifice is another matter.



Hat Tip: Tax Prof Blog

Some Thoughts on the Bristol Palin pregnancy

By now, there's been a lot public discourse on the recently revealed pregnancy of a 17-year-old girl named Bristol Palin, who happens to be the daughter of GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

An initial observation I had was how much of the rhetoric seems to boil down to little more than: "SHOCK AND SCANDAL!! Somebody Related to VP Candidate has Pre-Marital Sex!!!!" (And that's amazing in this day and age because ... why?)

John the Methodist has a good post responding to the suggestion that this revelation may somehow "drive off Christian voters."

At another level, many of us have been impressed by the powerful pro-life witness of Bristol's decision to not "hide" it but rather keep the baby and marry his or her father. Many have also noted the obvious contrast with Senator Obama's groundbreaking extremism on abortion and his callously saying that he would support the killing of his own grandchild.


There's been a good deal of sometimes acrimonious debate over whether or not Bristol's pregnancy is "fair game" for media coverage related to evaluating Governor Palin as a VP candidate. While Republican talking heads have understandably been taking the line that this is a private family matter that is NOT fair game, I cannot help but recall how in the 2000 election (the first in which I voted), some conservatives seemed eager to make an issue of a run-in with the law by Al Gore's son, suggesting that it showed that the Democratic nominee hadn't raised his son right and therefore lacked the requisite character for the White House.

On the one hand, there is some biblical warrant for the behavior of children reflecting on their parents (though the context of that passage seems to be with younger children). On the other hand, how many of us would really want ourselves to be held personally responsible for mistakes our offspring may make in their late teenage years?

The election season is heating up with the majority of voting Americans having already decided who they will vote for. An inevitable part of this process involves making criticisms of the candidate who we plan to vote against. May this be a reminder of all of us to not do so without first asking ourselves: if folk from the other side were criticizing my candidate on similar grounds, would I consider this to be fair?

Quote of the Week

"The difference between a [theologically] liberal Baptist and a 'Christian Unitarian Universalist' is really not that big."

-a Unitarian Universalist (UU) seminarian, in a recent chat

IRD + MFSA to merge into new "Institute of Methodists Federated for Religion, Democracy, & Social Action" (IMFRDSA)

Well, not quite.

But one of the tasks I and others did for my former employer, the UMAction program of the Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) at the 2008 General Conference of the United Methodist Church was hand out copies of our daily GC newsletter to delegates and others as the entered the convention center.

Among those alongside us were many folk similarly handing out newsletters and leaflets from other United Methodist caucus groups with radically different perspectives like the Reconciling Ministries Network, the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA), and Affirmation.

While one of these, Jeremy! Smith, was always friendly and never rude during our few interactions (which is much more than what can be said for several of his fellow liberal hand-out distributors!), our worldviews appear to be about as far as the East is from the West.

So it seemed noteworthy that he recently made a point on his blog with which I actually happen to strongly agree, namely that a lottery amounts to "a tax on those who are poor that is disguised as a chance to achieve the American Dream."

The context of his post is a thoughtful discussion on the more complex ethical question of churches profiting from lottery money.

Quote of the Month

"If you see somebody wave to you, please wave back. If you see somebody flash you, please do NOT flash them back!"

-Instructions given on my double-decker bus tour of New York City last week

Welcome to My Blog!

So after much hemming and hawing, I, John Lomperis, decided to finally start my own blog. What better way to procrastinate in grad school?

Topics covered will probably include Abortion/Bioethics, Christianity, Denominational issues, Evangelicalism, Faith journey, German, Hogwash, Islam, Jesus, the Koran, Life, Methodism, Nicene Orthodoxy, Politics, Questions for discussion, Robots, Sino-American relations, Tintin, Unitarianism, fun Videos, Wesleyan theology, X-men, Young adult ministry and Zorro.

At this point I honestly have no idea how often I’ll post or how many readers I’ll actually get. I suppose that at least initially I might get a few hits from at least a couple friends/relatives, and perhaps some folk familiar with my writings from my recently concluded four-and-a-half years as a staffer for the Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD)’s UMAction program – which for those of y'all unfamiliar with IRD is essentially an unofficial caucus of evangelical United Methodists.

For the record, I have no intention of pulling a Scott McClellan on my former employer, so anyone with such hopes need read no further.

That being said, let me stress that this is a strictly independent blog. The views expressed herein (besides those of guest posts) are mine and mine alone, and should not be taken as representative of any employer, school, family, country, planet, or species with which I have ever been or ever will be associated with.

Also, while I imagine I'll eventually get around to linking to a good number of different other blogs and websites, my linking to them should not be taken as implying any sort of endorsement.

Civil comments of whatever perspective are more than welcome – even if you strongly disagree with every word I say. Being pretty new at this whole blogging thing, I’ll try moderated comments, at least initially. But for the sake of making this easier, I’d greatly appreciate it if folk simply refrained from trying to post any racist, sexist, hateful, pornographic, untruthful, or wildly off-topic comments.

Now with all that out of the way, I can start blogging on my A-Z list soon. Stay tuned...