Least religious countries
Fascinating statistics in this article/paper on the levels of “organic atheism” & the like.
Somehow I think Bp. Giertz would be aggrieved by Sweden’s #1 ranking, and Scandinavia taking 3 of the top 4 spots…
The top 10:
1. Sweden (up to 85% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)
2. Vietnam
3. Denmark
4. Norway
5. Japan
6. Czech Republic
7. Finland
8. France
9. South Korea
10. Estonia (up to 49% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)
-ghp
Book Review: _Me, Myself, & Bob_
BOOK REVIEW:
Me, Myself, & Bob
by Phil Vischer
2006 - Nelson Books
ISBN: 0785222073
I am a Veggie Tales fan, and have been for darned near a decade. My kids were born & hit the video-watching phase right about the time that VT exploded in the late 1990s. VT were well-written, had a good message, great humor, and appealed to both kids and adults, much like the classic Looney Tunes and Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons. I bought the videos, the books, and the CDs… for my kids, of course. I happily admired the seemingly meteoric rise that Big Idea Productions (BIP) enjoyed. I also noted the oddity of the emergence of the 2-D Larry-Boy videos, when I took my son to the viewing party at the local Evangelical Bookstore. I noted it in passing when I read something in the mainstream press about some problems that BIP was having. I then noted with sadness what had really happened, when I came across Phil Vischer’s blog, in which he laid out the story of The Fall of Big Idea Productions. Most recently, I read Vischer’s book, Me, Myself, & Bob.
Me, Myself, & Bob works on several levels. It’s an autobiography by someone in my age cohort. It’s a business/management book. It’s a cautionary tale. It’s one man’s search for the theological meaning in day-to-day life. And it works on all of those levels. It really is a fine book.
As a “baby-buster” autobiography, I found the book to be quite entertaining, as I personally identified with much of what Vischer described about his interactions & experiences with 1970s & 1980s era pop-culture. As he vividly recalls his earliest exposure to MTV videos, so do I (Chris Ebert’s house during JV basketball tryouts in 1982, the video was Men At Work’s Down Under…). And, while my formative religious experiences were orthodox Lutheran, rather than revivalistic/proto-American Evangelical, it’s still something with which I can easily identify. Over the course of the book, Vischer revealed himself to be someone that I really think I could be friends with (and that doesn’t happen too often…).
The book also works, at least on a certain level, as a cautionary management tale, as well as a pop-history, insider’s view of the rise & fall of a unique & well-loved business. Even knowing the ultimate outcome, it’s exhilarating to watch BIP thrive & grow. Vischer also does a great job of letting us all see just what it was like from his seat at the helm of BIP. He enables us to thrill along with him, as the gambles pay off & the dream becomes reality. We begin to feel uneasy right along with him, as generally-accepted business “reality” begins to intrude & demand that compromises be made. And, finally, we share in his despair as BIP crumbles & is rent asunder by a baseless lawsuit & verdict. Vischer then summarizes some important business lessons that he learned as a result of the whole saga — lessons that are simple in nature, but insightful & useful nonetheless.
Most interesting, however, is the thread that holds the whole book together — Phil Vischer’s quest to understand the theological implications of day-to-day life. In the end, I would posit that Vischer arrives at a very Lutheran understanding of this topic as it is outlined in the Doctrine of Vocation. Specifically, the stuff that we do as we normally go about our daily lives is important because it is how we serve our neighbors. God uses even the most mundane (from our point of view) of our tasks for His good will. We need not have a job or task that is specifically linked to a “ministry” in order for that job/task to have merit & God-pleasing meaning.
Another important part of understanding vocation is to understand that we are called to be faithful, not to be “successful”. Vischer nicely sums this up in the following passage from the book’s penultimate chapter:
“So what’s the point?What should you take away from my first attempt at adult nonfiction, other than, perhaps an inkling that I should return to my day job?
Simple. First, God loves you. Not because of what you can do, or even because of what you can become if you work really, really hard. He loves you because he made you. He loves you just the way you are. He loves you even when you aren’t doing anything at all. We really shouldn’t attempt to do anything for God until we have learned to find our worth in him alone.
Second, when it is time to do something for God, and that time will come quickly if you’re listening, don’t worry about the outcome. Don’t worry about “10 percent more” or “30 percent less.” That’s his job. Your responsibility is simply to do what he asks.”
Vischer isn’t always 100% correct in his doctrinal underpinnings, but he does get a lot of core stuff right. And that’s more than can be said for a lot of the folks out there in the contemporary American Christian landscape.
This is a good book — well crafted, with a good message. Check it out at your local public library, or just pick up a copy at your favorite bookseller. You’ll be glad you did.
-ghp
[Note: This review will be cross-posted over at the Luther Library, as soon as I can get my posting process over there squared away. You'll want to check out the Luther Library, as many good, cogent reviews can be found there.]
Indeed, that is a good question
Army Sgt. Jim Wilt asks an interesting question: Why lower American flags for the VA Tech students, but not for American troops killed in action?
A general-type writeup on the whole issue raised by Sgt. Wilt can be found here.
It’s a fascinating issue, the whole VA Tech shooting, and one of particular interest & impact to me, working as I do in higher-ed on a university campus (as I have for most of the past 15 years). Even beyond the wide ranging national impact that this has had (thanks in no small part to the tragedy-whores in the media), this incident has been cataclysmic in higher-ed circles. It’s truly fascinating to see the types of reactions it has generated, as well as just where & who those reactions have come from. Oddness, angst, & hyperbole abound. As do genuine fear, sympathy, empathy, & caring.
All I can say is this: I know the fine security folks at my campus, and I thank God for their dedication to their duty in service to my university’s community. Knowing they’re on the beat makes me feel safe.
-ghp
Some background
This posting by Sandra “Madre” Ostapowich gives some really good background info on why the whole idea of ghetto-izing the “youth” is such a horrifically ill-advised thing, and why I’m so cranky about what’s been going on at/in my congregation of late.
I’m not prepared yet to wax verbose (much less eloquent) about this yet, but give the posting a read, and you’ll get a good idea of where I’ll be coming from when I do finally find the words (and not the anger/frustration) to describe why I find certain attitudes & practices so detrimental to the body of Christ.
Madre’s Missives - Why Higher Things exists…
-ghp
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