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Thursday, June 5, 2008
Death of Southern Baptist Convention?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Author Christine Wicker writes that the Southern Baptist denomination - evangelicals in general- are slowly fading away. “What Baptist leaders have known for years is finally public: The Southern Baptist Convention is a denomination in decline. Half of the SBC’s 43,000 churches will have shut their doors by 2030 if current trends continue,” she writes. “And unless God provides a miracle, the trends will continue. They are longstanding and deeply rooted. The denomination’s growth rate has been declining since the 1950s. The conservative/fundamentalist takeover 30 years ago was supposed to turn the trend around; it didn’t make a bit of difference.” She cites a long list of reasons why this is true, including the fact that many evangelicals are reluctant to proclaim that they are the only ones saved- and parishioners in today’s society are less likely to believe that.
“The idea that only one little part of one kind of religion has the only way to God has begun to seem more and more unlikely,” she writes. “It has begun to seem rude. Un-Christian, even. And evangelicals, who don’t like being boorish any more than anyone else, have become less and less willing to relegate their neighbors to hell.” Read column here.
Your comments?
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Big ideas from the Left
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Chris Satullo of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the left has created think tanks such as the Center for American Progress and journals such as the American Prospect that are coming up with a long list of Big Ideas - some of which could end up in an Obama administration. Some of the ideas:
-Medicare for long term care- including nursing home care- or Medicare as the reinsurance backup for long-term care insurance.
A progressive consumption tax. Citizens would report two numbers to the IRS; how much you earned and how much you saved. The more you save, the less your taxable consumption.
Tuition assistance to retrain retirees for work with social meaning such as in schools. hospitals and nonprofits.
Do these ideas have any merit and will Obama endorse them?
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Endowed chair for conservative studies?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That is what the University of Colorado is launching amid widespread allegations that the nation’s universities are dominated by liberal faculty. One Colorado professor found, for example that of 800 faculty members, only 32 were registered Republicans.
Crispin Sartwell, who teaches philosophy at Dickinson College, thinks an endowed chair for conservatives is a good idea, that universities really are loaded with liberals- particularly supporters of Sen. Barack Obama.
“Professors are as herdlike in their opinions as other groups that demographers like to identify- ‘working class white men“‘for example. Indeed, more so.”
Is he right?
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Grady the puppy deserved better
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He was sick when we got him, suffering from a respiratory infection that a cheap vaccine would have prevented. We thought we could nurse him through it.
At the time, I was writing extensively about Grady Memorial Hospital, which was in danger of closing because of financial bad health. Like the hospital, this puppy must be saved, we thought, so we named him Grady. (See photo below)
He had been just hours away from being euthanized at the Carroll County animal shelter outside of Carrollton, a hellhole of a place that was staffed —- at least the day we rescued Grady —- by jail trusties.
“You’ll need to get him today because today is kill day,” they told my wife when she called to inquire about him. Despite obvious signs of kennel cough —- “We don’t treat them, we just put them down if they’re sick,” we were told —- we paid the shelter $20 and took the puppy directly to our vet. The news wasn’t good. He had severe pneumonia. It could be distemper.
Thus began six weeks of intensive care last fall for a scrawny, 16-pound mixed-breed mutt —- a little guy, about 4 months old, who charmed my wife Anne and me by resting his weary head on our feet and cuddling in our laps as we felt every crackling breath inside his compromised lungs.
Using a crate borrowed from our vet, Paul Averill, Anne set up a vaporizer for Grady each night, then woke him early for daily nebulizer treatments. Because of the threat of distemper and other potentially infectious diseases, Grady was always treated by Dr. Averill in isolation, often in the front seat of our Grand Cherokee. He went through several rounds of antibiotics, each stronger and more risky than the last.
He had good days and bad. Anne fed him by hand, using an oral syringe filled with special dog food. The vet staff was great. Friends and neighbors joined our “Save Grady” campaign, donating time, love and —- in the case of one special person —- a significant contribution to offset bills that mounted for his care.
When Thanksgiving arrived, we decided to take Grady with us to a condo on Pensacola Beach, with our family and friends. He walked around the balcony and slept quietly in the sun. He began eating and drinking on his own for the first time. We thought he had finally turned the corner.
But on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, he crashed. The emergency vet in Pensacola said he wouldn’t make it back home, and was astounded he had survived as long as he did. We knew it was time. We asked them to put him to sleep.
I relate Grady’s story to you now because Carroll County’s animal shelter was placed under quarantine by the state on May 8. A few weeks later it had to euthanize every animal in its care.
As bad as it is, Carroll County’s shelter isn’t all that unusual in Georgia. Many counties spend the bare minimum on animal shelters, with the bulk of what little money they do appropriate going to animal control, not the safe keeping of the animals they pick up.
Infections at many shelters run rampant. Last week the Hall County animal shelter euthanized 77 animals after an outbreak of kennel cough.
Because of the distemper outbreak —- and persistent nagging of the county humane society —- Carroll County commissioners are considering more money for the shelter. Originally, the county planned to spend just $5,500 for medical services for the animals it takes in, most of which would go for euthanization. The new budget calls for double that amount. Additionally, the county has set aside more funds for cleaning and sanitation supplies for the aging shelter, which is due to be replaced in the next year.
Still, the Carroll shelter destroys an estimated 6,000 animals a year, the humane society estimates. No on-site vet services are available. It doesn’t provide vaccines or treatment for obvious health problems when it takes an animal in. It doesn’t scan for microchips that might help find the owners of strays. At a minimum, those services ought to be required of every shelter in the state.
Pet owners do have a responsibility to get dogs and cats spayed and neutered. It starts there. But Georgia residents should demand that county commissioners run shelters that treat animals humanely and give them a fair chance to live and be adopted, not just caught and killed. The cost of spaying and neutering can be built into adoption fees, as could reasonable costs for immunization. Counties will claim they can’t afford it, but they can.
It always bugged the hell out of us that for want of about $1.85 worth of vaccines, Grady could have been saved. Maybe now, months later, something good will come of it.
The humane society in Carroll County has a petition you can sign online at www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-carroll-county-animals.
Mike King is a member of the editorial board. His column appears Thursdays.
Check out ajcpets.com for pet news, blogs and photos.
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