BJORN LOMBORG in an opinion piece at the WSJ asks:

If you had a spare $10 billion over the next four years, how would you spend it to achieve the most for humanity?

This is an absolutely amazing article where eight of the world’s top economists identify the global challenges that can be solved most cost-effectively. Preventing terrorism? Not a great investment. Vitamins for children in Africa? Great idea.

The article also asks readers to think about how they would spend that kind of money to benefit all of humanity. I’ve had the privledge of working with philanthropists before so I’ve done my share of do-gooder daydreaming, but never at that dollar level.

Taking the “benefit all humanity” requirements to mind, I think my first inclination would be a major campaign of micro-investments and loans into developing countries coupled with a large push for the dissemination of prescription drugs.

I would also pour money into the arts, both here and in the developing world. I’ll never forget seeing a canvas painted by African orphans. They didn’t have many supplies so they had to work together on the painting, resulting in an incredibly interesting combination of styles and perspectives. Food, shelter and medicine only work to heal part of a person–the arts are integral for the health of souls.

Rod Dreher at Crunchy Con tipped me off to this article and also shared what he’d do with the spare cash. Here’s my favorite of his ideas:

I would also spend heavily on an array of Benedict Option pilot projects — providing land and seed money for various experiments in traditional, religious, self-sustaining communal life, to see what works and what doesn’t in a modern context. The idea would be to pioneer ways of preserving the best of our religious, cultural and agricultural traditions, and handing them down to the next generations.

What would you do with the money??

Good old Relevant magazine has this interview with the Democratic nominee for president.   Does it assuage all my concerns?  No.  Is it as good as I think we’re going to get.  Yep.

We’ll see if Jake still hides my voting ballot come election day…

I know my Orthodox readers won’t be shelling out any dough for this service, but I thought I’d inform the general Christian public that if you get raptured there’s now a company out there to make sure your friends and family get an explanatory email.  Yes, you read that correctly.  There’s a company that stands to make $40 from every believer in the rapture out there.  Youvebeenleftbehind.com is there for all your post rapture emailing needs.

Here are just a few juicy morsels from their website.  Take them as you wish:

“Programmed and run by Christians, for Christians “  I guess that means they didn’t outsource to Hindus in India?

“We have set up a system to send documents by the email, to the addresses you provide, 6 days after the “Rapture” of the Church. This occurs when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.”   No off the grid team building exercises I guess.

“You remember how, for a short time, after (9/11/01) people were open to spiritual things and answers. (We are still singing “God Bless America” at baseballs’ seventh inning stretch.) Imagine how taken back they will be by the millions of missing”   I remember how my church at the time doubled.  I still have never heard a baseball crowd sing anything but the national anthem or  “Take me out to the ball game”.

If you’re interested in the historical Christian perspective on the rapture, the end times and the whole Jesus coming back business, check out this podcast:

I’ve held off from blogging about the whole Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal because, frankly, I don’t know what to say.  I was planning on casting my vote for Obama for a variety of reasons and despite a variety of others.

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While Jake and I were glued to our media outlets (KFI and Fox News, respectively) awaiting Super Tuesday results, I know that many Western Christians were celebrating Mardi Gras.  I had never heard of the pancake supper tradition until we lived in Ireland, but here’s a link to a LA Times article about transforming the simple pancake to a beautiful buckwheat crepe.

Since our Lenten season doesn’t start for another month, I have many days to pretend I’m going to make these:

Katie Thomas at the NY Times has this fun story about the sisters at Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery in Arizona.

“In debt from the recent purchase of a nearby parcel, the Benedictine nuns are hoping to make a dent in their mortgage by converting their 10-bedroom spiritual retreat into a crash pad for Super Bowl fans this weekend. ”

Yes, you can pray for your team but there’s no alcohol or smoking allowed.

Scott Martindale, over at the Orange County Register, reports here on a lawsuit alleging a high school history teacher made intolerant remarks toward Christians in the classroom. I had the great fortune to take both AP Art History and AP European History from Dr. Corbett my senior year in high school at CVHS.

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It came out in the news today that Cardinal Mahoney, of Los Angeles, was attacked back in July.  It appears that someone who was upset about the abuse scandal (and who isn’t?) reccognized the Cardinal on his way to a mailbox and attacked him.

The Daily Breeze has the story here.

To be completely honest, I wasn’t surprised by this news.  When my husband and I were seriously searching for a church, just about the only place we ruled out were the Roman Catholic churches.  Not because we disagreed with their theology or style of worship, but because I knew I’d want children someday and refused to raise them  in fear of the priesthood.

It makes me so sick just to think about.   I’m certainly not advocating violence, but I think Mahoney has much more coming to him–even if it isn’t in this life.

The Wall St. Journal has this article called “The Backlash Against Tithing.”  This doesn’t directly fit in the sacred/profane focus of this blog, but it came up in my church this past week so I thought I’d post it.

This artlie is an interesting approach to the subject of money in churches.  While it skirts the differences between so called “prosperity gospel” movements and other Christian expressions, the article does a great job of showing how much money is required to keep the lights on in a megachurch.

Whether or not 10% is a hard a fast rule, this article offers some interesting perspectives.

Incidentally, my priest shared this weekend that the 10% rule is clearly old testament.  When we look at the New covenant after Christ, there’s no talk of 10%.  There is plenty of examples of selling everything you own…

No, I’m not talking about Walt Disney.

The LA Times has this article about the new Billy Graham museum. The 40,000 square foot facility is a shrine to America’s most famous evangelist. Billy Graham packed stadiums with a simple message of salvation. The museum uses a talking cow to do the same trick. The $27-million
museum
also boasts
a splash of
Disney, and
that’s troubled some
of Graham’s admirers.The $27-million museum also boasts a splash of Disney, and that’s troubled some of Graham’s admirers.

While Graham gave his blessing once he was persuaded that the museum would serve as a “perpetual crusade,” many followers, including family members, are wondering if the facility should be a little less gimmicky.

The Times quotes Graham as saying, “I’m humbled that anyone would want to honor me in this way,” he said in an e-mail interview. He added that he’d instructed Franklin and other museum designers “to point people to Christ rather than to make it too much about me.”

This brings to mind the Holy Land theme park, “Where Jesus Walked” that made the news in 2005. I don’t know the status of the proposed development outside of Jerusalem, but I do remember wondering if there was a way to make Christianity any more commercial.

Despite Billy Graham’s blessing, I fear a talking cow isn’t the best way to spread the gospel. But then, I go to a church where the services haven’t changed in 1600 years.