Today in The Punch, there’s an article I’ve written about atheism and ridicule.
It didn’t get the headline or picture I would have chosen (I would’ve used the title of this post!), but I’m thankful to The Punch for giving it a run.
Have a read: ‘God I’m sick of comedians laughing at religion‘.
A new video, available for purchase from Igniter Media:
As of this Friday, Easter is just 6 weeks away!
To help you plan for promoting Easter services at your church, here’s some links to explore. Also included are links to videos you might like to include in your services.
What’s your church doing this Easter?
These two heart-warming stories of forgiveness have one element in common – Facebook.
1. Guantanamo guard forgiven by ex-inmates
Brandon Neely was a prison guard for the United States military at Guantanamo Bay. After leaving the military to become a police officer, Neely was “still struggling to come to terms with his time as a guard at Guantanamo…He felt anger at a number of incidents of abuse he says he witnessed, and guilt over one in particular.” He got to know one of the prisoners (Ruhal Ahmed), and realised how much they had in common. It became clear that Ahmed wasn’t the fanatical terrorist all detainees were portrayed to be.
After his release, Neely’s guilt and shame prompted him to contact Shafiq Rasul – friend of Ahmed and fellow ex-Guantanamo detainee – on Facebook. He sent a message and acknowledged the wrong that had been done. The trio met in person at a studio on London earlier this year, and Neely was forgiven. Read more and watch the first meeting on the BBC.
2. Bank robber forgiven by teller
It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so terrible and illegal. Five years ago, two young Australian men rob a bank in a U.S. ski village. The pair, nicknamed Dumb and Dumber, could not have done a better job at botching the robbery if they’d tried. This week, one of the bank robbers and the bank’s teller were interviewed (separately) on Australian Story – a weekly documentary about Australians. Details are revealed about the relationship between the victim and perpetrator since the robbery.
Incarcerated and overcome by guilt, Anthony Price wrote to the teller who he had traumatised in the attack, apologising for what he had done. The teller, Jessica Cole Gunther, explains what happens next:
“It wasn’t until this year I thought okay, he’s done his time, he apologised in the beginning and I’m at peace with it. I want to let him go. Everybody messes up, everybody does bad things and I’m not perfect either and I know how terrible it feels when all you want is somebody to forgive you for something that you did. Then this spring I decided why don’t I look for him on Facebook? So I typed in the name Anthony Prince and I wrote him a very short message.”
In her message she wrote the following:
“Thank you for the letter you sent me several years ago. I’m writing to say that I forgave you a long time ago. I always thought that you were so kind and so at the time I was quite shocked. I pray for you and hope you are well. Jessica.”
You can also read some of the responses viewers have posted (after the episode) on Jessica Cole Gunther’s Facebook page. The difficulty of forgiveness is readily acknowledged in a number of the messages, as is the value and power of forgiveness.
Wonderful stories of reconciliation and forgiveness, all made possible by Facebook. Thank God for social media!
I discover a lot of interesting links that I like to share with my followers on Twitter (you can follow me here). This translates to me tweeting on average 7 times a day.
However, I don’t just want to tweet when I discover these links – otherwise I’d be very noisy at some times, and silent at others!
This is where scheduling tools come in handy. You can prepare tweets in advance, and then automatically post them at intervals throughout the day. For example, here’s the tweets scheduled to go out on Tuesday:
Here’s 2 tools I’ve used and recommend for scheduling social media posts.
Both tools support bit.ly as their link shortener, which (in my opinion) is the best link shortener available.
Australians lead the world in social media usage. But how does our understanding of God shape our use of this media?
If you’re in Sydney, here’s an event worth coming along to.
Here’s a blurb:
“Sometimes, it seems like something isn’t real until its been posted on Facebook. A friend’s upcoming party, an engagement, a baby’s first birthday… Until it’s on Facebook, no one wants to acknowledge it.” - a clever Gen-Y pundit
Facebook. Easy contact with our friends. A diary, blog, photo album, email service and advisory board, all rolled into one. At its best, it conveniently sustains relationships across time and distance. It’s likely to change forever the way we use the internet and keep in contact with people we’ve known.
But internet social networking has downsides. It fosters questionable habits of self-promotion. It can cheapen our friendships, creating shallow relationships with hundreds and deep relationships with none. It reminds us continually of what we do not have, yet believe we need. Even as we are meant to feel connected, we can feel alone.
Is there a better way?
How can we enjoy the good gifts of Facebook, Twitter and other such gizmoes, whilst avoiding the pitfalls? What does it look like to use social networking with discretion and wisdom? What habits have we collectively fallen into as we use social media that need to be identified and changed? What does it look like for theology to guide our way of being on the internet?
Please join us as we start to think more about it. We won’t be too simplistic. There’s more to it than either ‘It’s great!’ or ‘It’s evil and unnatural! We won’t be able to cover everything in a night. But we can make a start.
