News 'n' Views Online

The Lost Truth of James Cameron

James Cameron’s movie, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, will once again stir the waters of controversy regarding the veracity of the Biblical accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God. My college buddy, John Rush, has done a good job of compiling information about the topic on his blog. Click here to go to his site.

Some "Inconvenient Truths" about Al Gore

An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s "documentary" on global warming won an Oscar at the Academy Awards Sunday night for "Best documentary feature." The failed presidential candidate—who still hasn’t gotten over his 2000 defeat (In the film, he declares, "I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States of America.")—has now become Hollywood’s current darling in the environmental arena.

It is not unusual anymore to hear on a fairly regular basis about another one of Gore’s headline grabbing "initiatives" to save the planet. One of the most recent was announced on the 9^th of this month when Gore and Sir Richard Branson (chairman of the Virgin Group) offered $25 million to the person who comes up with a way to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

The DVD of An Inconvenient Truth is advertised on the web site of Climate Crisis (the organization behind the "documentary"). In the interest of being ecologically friendly, we are told that:

The DVD will be packaged with no excess materials, so as to make the smallest environmental footprint possible. Packaging will include 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper, inks and coatings formulated to emit virtually no volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere, no inserts, no laminates and no plastic. The package was manufactured by Ivy Hill. The back of the DVD package will direct teachers to www.climatecrisis.net where a free downloadable educational guide will be available.

What the film "(in)conveniently" leaves out are some interesting details about Gore’s personal somewhat-less-than-environmentally-friendly personal habits in certain areas. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has done some investigating into Al Gore’s electric and natural gas bills and has turned up some interesting facts. In an article titled "Al Gore’s Personal Energy Use Is His Own ‘Inconvenient Truth’" we are informed that "Gore’s home uses more than 20 times the national average." Read on (emphasis is mine in the piece):

Last [Sunday] night, Al Gore’s global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.

Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES).

In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.

The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average.

Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.

Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.

Gore’s extravagant energy use does not stop at his electric bill. Natural gas bills for Gore’s mansion and guest house averaged $1,080 per month last year.

"As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk the walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use," said Tennessee Center for Policy Research President Drew Johnson.

In total, Gore paid nearly $30,000 in combined electricity and natural gas bills for his Nashville estate in 2006.

In the comment section of the Climate Crisis blog, one reader offers a number of suggestions on how to reduce the consumption of electricity (he and his family "were able to reduce our electrical consumption from 500 kw-hr/month down below 200 kw-hr."). I strongly urge that gentleman to take what he has learned and use that knowledge to educate Al Gore on conservation and kindness to the environment.

Slavery Is Alive and Well

Two hundred years ago today, William Wilberforce achieved the first major victory in his anti-slavery campaign when Britain’s House of Commons outlawed the slave trade. Even though slavery is now illegal in most countries of the world, it is probably safe to say that it is even more of a scourge than it was in Wilberforce’s day. World Magazine puts the issue into perspective with an article titled "Let my people go". In the story line preceding the article, the writer—Priya Abraham—makes the astonishing statement that the lives of modern slaves are "worth far less than any colonial era slave." Read on (emphasis in the piece is mine):

Premila’s parents sold their daughter for $18 on her 18th birthday. The buyer, from hundreds of miles away, said his Indian village had no good women to marry so he had to buy a wife. He took Premila as a concubine, then sold her into 10 grinding years of prostitution in two cities before rescuers returned the shattered woman to her home.

Premila is a modern slave, one of 27 million in the world today. Two hundred years ago, slaves were relatively scarce, expensive, and publicly owned by men holding title deeds to them. Today, they are plentiful and cheap like Premila—and much harder to spot.

This week Western countries celebrate the life of William Wilberforce, the pioneering abolitionist who labored 20 years to end the British slave trade, a fight he won on Feb. 23, 1807. Today’s abolitionists are no less tenacious but find their work is different: Unlike in Wilberforce’s time, slavery is illegal almost everywhere. Yet modern slavery flourishes because corrupt governments and law enforcers do not enforce the law.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) of the U.S. Department of Justice offers a number of incredible statistics regarding human trafficking and slavery:

• "Human trafficking is the third most profitable criminal activity, following only drug and arms trafficking. An estimated 9.5 billion is generated in annual revenue from all trafficking activities, with at least $4 billion attributed to the worldwide brothel industry."
• "Each year, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children are trafficked across international borders (some international and non-governmental organizations place the number far higher), and the trade is growing."
• "Of the 600,000-800,000 people trafficked across international borders each year, 70 percent are female and 50 percent are children. The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade."
• "Each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry."

May we not have the typical reaction of "Oh, that’s terrible!" and then continue our self-centered existence. Let us make our voices heard to those in government and lend a helping hand to those near us. Psalm 82:3-4 (King James Version) urges us to . . .

Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

Helping our fellow human being is not a political issue; it’s a Christian one. May believers realize that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit [relieve] the fatherless and widows [and, we may add, as does Psalm 82:3, all 'the afflicted and needy'] in their affliction" (James 1:27, King James Version).

Super Bowl XLI

With Super Bowl XLI set to take place this coming Sunday in Miami, a football related posting is in order. As most everyone knows, Lovie Smith’s Chicago Bears are set to take on the Indianapolis Colts of his friend and former mentor, Tony Dungy.

When the Bears beat the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship Game on January 21, Smith became the first black coach in history to lead a team to the Super Bowl. Later on that same day, Dungy become the second black coach to take a team to the Super Bowl when the Colts beat the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

Although much has been made of the color factor of these two coaches, another more important element must be emphasized: their faith in Christ. ESPN.com’s Michael Smith (himself a black man) makes that point in a fine article titled, "It’s character, not color, that separates Smith, Dungy":

So just how big a deal is it that a brotha (two as it turned out) finally led a team to the Super Bowl? Put it this way: a big enough deal to make black folk in Baltimore root for the hated Colts.

"We’re leaving Baltimore," Colts coach Tony Dungy recalled, "and the bus drivers, they were all black guys. They said, ‘We were rooting for you today [in the divisional-round game against the Ravens] and we’re rooting for you next week. Even though we live in Baltimore, we want you to win and get to the Super Bowl.’"

In the African-American community, the excitement of having Dungy and Chicago’s Lovie Smith – two of the league’s six coaches who happen to be members of said community – make history by becoming the first such coaches to reach pro football’s biggest game (played during Black History Month, no less) is similar to when Halle Berry and Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx won Oscars for leading roles. The difference is that awards and elections are subjective. Having two coaches whose skin happens to be darker than most of their peers lead teams to the Super Bowl simply is the inevitable result of equal opportunity.

"It’s just like we’ve said all along," Dungy said. "If you give enough people an opportunity, it’s going to be just like everything else – you’re going to have some guys that rise to the top, you’re going to have some guys that do well, you’re going to have some guys that have to change situations. We’re going to be no different than anybody else. Eventually there will be plenty of guys that get there."

For Dungy and Smith to get their teams here had nothing to do with where their ancestors originated. Just as a person’s ethnicity, ideally, should have nothing to do with ... well, anything.

So, then, why are we wasting so much (air) time talking about the colors of these men’s skin?

I’ve been guilty of it for six paragraphs, but no more. It distracts us from what’s really important: what’s inside these men. And, trust me, it would do people good to see more of that.

Dungy and Smith are role models, not just for coaches who look like them or men who look like them, but for all coaches and all men. They live their lives the right way, and as a result they do their jobs the same way. Their priorities are, in order: faith, their families and football. The outcome of the Super Bowl or any game does not define them. They personify words such as class, grace, dignity, honor and integrity. We all can draw inspiration from men such as these.

Dungy and Smith haven’t sold their souls in pursuit of the game’s Holy Grail, and yet here they are, reminding us that good men can do great things, that nice guys can and do finish first. Dungy learned from Dennis Green and Chuck Noll and passed it on to assistants Smith, Mike Tomlin, Herman Edwards and Rod Marinelli (all head coaches now) that it’s OK to enjoy life outside the facility. Dungy and Smith are family men. And they still win.

You won’t hear either utter a word of profanity. And they still win. They care about and foster relationships with their players. And they still win. They serve their communities. And still, somehow, they find time to do what it takes to prepare their teams.

Dungy can – imagine – spend the Saturday evening before the AFC Championship Game against the Patriots at the mall with his family. Or Dungy, Smith, Edwards and each of their wives can gather for dinner at P.F. Chang’s the night before Dungy’s Colts and Edwards’ Chiefs met in the first round of the playoffs. And yet it didn’t halt the Bears’ or Colts’ journeys to Miami.

Dungy and Smith are Christian men who serve the Lord first and spend nearly as much time serving their communities. Doesn’t prevent them from winning. And often. In just three seasons Smith, last season’s Coach of the Year, has helped build the Bears into a league power. Dungy has won more regular season games than any coach since 1999. Where does color factor into that?

After they won their conference championships, you heard Smith talk about his "being blessed" and Dungy give thanks to God. That isn’t just lip service with these guys. As Christians they believe it is their responsibility to let their light shine whenever they’re in the spotlight. Just as they have a game plan for each other come Super Bowl Sunday, both plan to use the global platform that the Super Bowl provides to speak words that could make an impact beyond football. At his oldest son James’ funeral last year, Dungy used the eulogy as an opportunity to teach lessons about manhood and fatherhood.

Neither man gets caught up in, you know, being the head coach. Talk about humility: Smith was seated among the fans at the RCA Dome for the Colts-Chiefs playoff game (the Bears had a bye) when a fan approached him for an autograph. Smith, who had been signing for several minutes already, politely told her "not right now" and said he would like to turn his attention to the game. But he watched as she returned to her seat, and during the next break he went over and gave her the autograph.

Regarding a coaching matchup between friends and former colleagues, these are the kinds of things we should be talking about exclusively leading up to the game, the class way in which Dungy and Smith lead their respective organizations. Not something as trivial as Dungy and Smith’s skin color. It seems as if every day we hear about players getting arrested or being involved in some embarrassing incident -- and failing as role models. When Dungy walks away from coaching he likely will devote more of his time to the prison ministry about which he’s so passionate. He and Smith are examples of what a strong man is. Never mind what they look like. They’re the perfect people to represent not just the African-American community but the NFL community.

On Jan. 15, the nation celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We could honor his dream by celebrating Dungy’s and Smith’s achievements not because of the color of their skin, but the content of their character.

There’s a lot of talk about hoping for a day when black coaches in the Super Bowl won’t be a big deal, when we won’t find it necessary to refer to a coach as a "black coach" (or any person by their race, for that matter).

What’s wrong with that day being today? Dungy and Smith have made history, and we happily acknowledge it. As for our practice of categorizing NFL head coaches, let’s make that history, too.