wrighters.net

There’s a very interesting article in this Sunday”s New York Times about an Evangelical church in Minnesota that has (somewhat) rejected the Republican party”s stranglehold on their church. The Senior Pastor, Greg Boyd preached a series of sermons on the hot issues (morality, abortion, taking back the country for God, etc – all of these are linked off the NYT article). The result? Maybe up to 1,000 of 5,000 members left, but those who stayed had interesting things to say. Some of the comments reflect the peer pressure that Christian Republicans place on other Christians to vote and think Republican – or else! It can be difficult to speak up and not agree with the current set of Republican talking points if you are in an Evangelical church today.

It looks like Greg Boyd has written a book based on the sermon series that the article is based on: The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church. I might have to get a copy. I wonder if this will be a start of a trend?

I got my eBible alpha/beta (their blog uses both terms) membership today, and spent a little time checking it out. There are some very impressive AJAX effects, including verse highlighting, side-by-side bible reading, and flyover commentaries for each verse. It was also pretty speedy, so hopefully they are ready for a full launch next week.

There are a few interactive features – like the ability to tag and search tagged verses, storing bookmarks, and seeing who last tagged a verse. However, I don”t see too much in the way of community building – it looks like more of a resource site that is trying to sell Christian literature (which is not a bad thing). The ads are not too obtrusive, and it looks like they have a few companies publishing ads now (and while they”re in beta, it looks like the ads are free).

I have 3 invites, let me know if you want one.