Random thoughts

Here is proof that political ideology has an evil effect on people:

There's such a poignant and awful mix of conservatives and liberals amongst my online people. As a result, there are people who are flaming on the left and people who are ball and chaining themselves to the right. And the result is not always pretty. 

Anytime a shutdown-related news story breaks, I want to duck and run for online cover because I know that morning my news feed will be populated by 141 Republicans and 134 Democrats or 356 theological liberals and 299 theological conservatives who have made it their morning agenda to oust the other side.

-- Sarah Cunningham describing the politically divisive hatefest on Facebook

The money quote:

"They will know you are Christians by the way you use your ideology as an excuse to spew hate on social media," said Jesus NEVER.

Politics is toxic. Always. Claiming that God favors a political ideology, candidate, or party is pure evil. It is blasphemy.

+++

The locusts consuming God's creation are truly ugly human beings.

In golf clubs, gated communities and other housing developments across the United States, tens of thousands of families like the Davidsons have in recent years moved into new homes where their developers or homebuilders, with little or no prior disclosure, kept all the underlying mineral rights for themselves, a Reuters review of county property records in 25 states shows. In dozens of cases, the buyers were in the dark. 

The phenomenon is rooted in recent advances in extracting oil and gas from shale formations deep in the earth, fueling the biggest energy boom in modern U.S. history. Horizontal drilling and the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," have opened vast swaths of the continental United States to exploration. 

As a result, homebuilders and developers have been increasingly - and quietly - hanging on to the mineral rights underneath their projects, pushing aside homeowners' interests to set themselves up for financial gain when energy companies come calling. This is happening in regions far beyond the traditional American oil patch, which has a long history of selling subsurface rights. 

"All the smart developers are doing it," says Lance Astrella, a Denver lawyer who represents mineral-rights owners, including homebuilders, in deals with energy companies.

I never wonder why Jesus said we cannot worship God and materialism. The greedy seem to have no souls to lose.

+++

No kidding:

WASHINGTON – Christians in the United States have too often been only concerned about religious freedom for themselves, rather than fighting for religious freedom for all, Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, argued at a Thursday symposium, "Faith, Culture & Religious Freedom in the 21st Century."

-- Christian Post

Another word for it is religious privilege. By the way religious freedom goes beyond the freedom to worship as you chose. Attempting to impose your sexual morality on others is another common form of religious privilege.

+++

Wise beyond her years:

"I thanked President Obama for the United States' work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees. I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact."

Malala Yousafzai

Helping others is a virtue; killing them is not.