http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1151054639126190.xml&coll=2 – State Board of Education agrees to adopt policy to require that they and they and two-year college system staff members disclose relatives working in the system.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1151054633126190.xml&coll=2 – Siegelman jury reports that they are deadlocked, judge asks that they continue their efforts.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1151054526126190.xml&coll=2 – Ethics complaint file against Alabama House Minority Leader.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1151054345126190.xml&coll=2 – Alabama’s 25-year-old higher ed desegregation case headed back to court – trial set for early fall.

http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1151054220126220.xml&coll=1 – Editorial questions motives of Republican leadership in Congress’ continued efforts at ending estate tax.

http://www.dailyhome.com/opinion/2006/dh-editorials-0623-editorials-6f22v2446.htm - Editorial criticizes this week’s Senate action to refuse to raise minimum wage.

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060623/donation.shtml - Siegelman says that contributions to his efforts to bring a lottery to Alabama are similar to contributions that supported Riley’s ill-fated Amendment One effort.

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/opinion/editorials/060623b.shtml - Editorial calls for elimination of estate tax AND increasing of minimum wage.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060623/NEWS/606230306/1012/editorial1 - Editorial uses the state’s failure to remove racist language from constitution as evidence that Voting Rights Act should remain in effect.

FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:

Op-Ed Columns

Christ haunts our culture

By James L. Evans

06-23-2006

Southern literary icon Flannery O’Connor once said, “By and large, people in the South still conceive of humanity in theological terms. While the South is hardly Christ-centered, it is most certainly Christ-haunted.”

That’s a startling image to associate with Christ. A haunting is a disembodied appearance of a formerly embodied existence. Did O’Connor believe that Christ was disembodied in our culture?

It’s strange to even pose the question. The heart of the Christian faith is the incarnation — the belief that God became fully human in Jesus of Nazareth. Being fully human, he lived and died, after which he was raised bodily from the grave. Christians believe that with the risen Christ in their midst, they constitute the body of Christ in the world.

But embodiment is more than just theological name dropping. We can paste a “Christian” label on almost anything. But just because the outside of the box says Christian does not mean Jesus is on the inside.

For instance, there’s a coalition of Christians in Montgomery who, in the name of Jesus, religiously oppose any sort of tax increase — for any purpose. They believe it is a cardinal virtue to pay just as little tax as possible. These believers fear taxes as if they were a satanic ritual. Now, obviously this coalition is free to pursue whatever tax free state they want, but in the name of Jesus?

Nowhere in the Holy Bible will we find anything about the particular sacredness of not paying taxes. In fact, Jesus made it abundantly clear that if taxes are due, we should pay them.

Furthermore, this same coalition of Christians, along with some other faithful folk, is busy fighting to keep Alabama’s outdated state Constitution from being rewritten. They are afraid a new one will leave God out.

If ever there was anything Christ-haunted, it is this state Constitution. It certainly invokes God’s name in the opening pages. And supposedly it was written by godly men seeking God’s will. The end product, however, is one of the most ungodly social and economic systems ever devised.

The effect of a disembodied Christ shows up in other ways even more troubling than mere economics and politics. There is always just under the surface of our genteel hospitality a simmering anger. This anger shows itself frequently in a style of Christian preaching that seems to offer God’s love with one hand, while swinging the clenched fist of God’s wrath with the other.

In our Christ-haunted culture we forget that God said vengeance is not ours.

Truth is, we forget a good many things in a Christ-haunted world. We forget about loving our enemy, or even just our neighbor. We forget about forgiveness seven times seventy. We forget about the second mile, the other cheek and peace on earth. We forget about judge not and do unto others.

We also forget about the least of these. We forget about them a lot. This is the most telling clue of all that ours is a Christ-haunted culture. When we forget about the least of these our brothers and sisters, Christ is not embodied in our lives. At least that’s what Jesus said.

The only way to end this haunting is through a proper incarnation — a fleshing out of our theology, both private and public. It requires not only bearing Jesus’ name, but also his words and his way. Only to the extent that we are willing to do this will Christ be embodied in our world.

James L. Evans is pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church. He can be reached at faithmatters@mindspring.com.

Editorials

Maybe ‘super nice’ isn’t all that great

In our opinion

06-23-2006

Larry Powell, pollster and communications professor of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, looked at the upcoming gubernatorial contest between Democratic nominee Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley and the Republican pick, Gov. Bob Riley, and predicted that there would be little, if any, mud slinging. “We may,” he said, “come up with a super nice campaign.”

Well, that would be fine, if a super nice campaign were also one that confronted Alabama’s problems and proposed realistic solutions — which, at this point, seems unlikely.

Riley has announced that Alabama “is on the right track” and is promising more of the same. That track, says Baxley, is “warped,” and she promises to straighten it out.

But what does this mean?

It means that Riley is going to run as what you would expect a Republican nominee to run as — the champion of the Business Council of Alabama and, eventually, the rest of the GOP faithful. Forgiven by most for his attempt at tax reform, Riley can count on the Big Mules to pull him along and they, in turn, can count on him to act as their kind of Republican should act.

Meanwhile, Baxley has the support that a Democrat must have to win.

Recently, down in Mobile, the lieutenant governor (and lieutenant governor candidate Jim Folsom Jr.) were warmly greeted at the Alabama Education Association Leadership Conference, where AEA Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert told the assembly that “if Bob Riley had been the kind of governor that we wanted him to be, we wouldn’t have had to override the veto” of the AEA-backed teacher pay raise.

To underscore their support for the AEA agenda, Baxley and Folsom promised to protect the Education Trust Fund from those who wish to raid it.

And there it is.

Two of the biggest “special interests” in the state — education and business — choosing sides and squaring off against each other, while the candidates and the parties cheer them on.

That, unfortunately, is at the root of our problems today.

Rather than bring these interests together, our politicians thrive on the division. And Alabama loses as a result.

Democrats will denounce the governor as anti-education. Republicans will claim that if Baxley is elected, Alabama’s robust economy will collapse.

It is the same old song and dance. But at least this time, it looks like they will be “super nice” about it.