Christian Carnival XLIV

is up at ChristWeb. It's subtitled "The Big One," and with 47 entries, it certainly is that!

Blogging has been light this week for me due to other priorities, so I sat out. Here are the highlights of the ones that did get submitted:

Cindy Swanson reflects on a perceived backlash to the "morals and values vote" in the recent presidential election:

After the first rush of satisfaction after learning that "morals and values" played a key role in the presidential election, I am now sensing a backlash.

We thought that good things would come out of this discovery, and for the first several days, I was hearing some good things. News media, political parties and even Hollywood seemed to be saying: "They want morals and values? OK, obviously we've been ignoring a sizable part of America. We will now endeavor to be sensitive to that part of the population."

Now I'm getting the feeling that these same prevailing cultural outlets are taking it a bit too far...on purpose?

OK, maybe I'm a bit paranoid. But maybe not, when I read quotes like Garrison Keillor's (albeit tongue-in-cheek) announcement that his new project is to take away born-again Christians' right to vote.

[Read Those stuffy Christians are spoiling all our fun!]

Allthings2all takes on postmodernism in the form of one of its founding fathers, Jean-François Lyotard:

Most people understand post-modernism to mean a type of relativism - truth is relative to each person or each different cultural group. In post-modernism my truth does not have to agree with your truth - but both are valid. It makes me smile to see relativity misapplied in this way. Einstein's theory of relativity never proposed that everything is relative - but actually states that some things are relative when measured against some things that are constant and absolute. The theory of relativity hinges on the constancy of the speed of light. Recently gravity was shown to contain a constant too. My point is that if we look for a universal principle of relativism, as post-moderns do, there isn't one to be found. Relativism only works when there is a constant which can be used as a yardstick.

[Read The Post Modern Explained]

Bryan at Spare Change followed up on Lifeway Christian resources survey of the top issues in the Church with his own top ten list of important concerns, in What Matters Most. He raises some good ones.

Dawn Xiana Moon decries the push to get the Christmas decorations into the stores even before the Hallowe'en ones are out:

I, for one, refuse to think about buying presents until the day after Thanksgiving. We need to stop the madness. Anyone else with me?

[Read Call Me Scrooge (for another two weeks)]

Pruitt Communications riffs off a recent series by the Jollyblogger on "bridging the chasm" between the Christian and secular world, adding his own appraisal of Christian media:

But in the areas of media, journalism and education the Christian tendency has been to create an alternative Christian form of the institutions. We don't read romance novels, we read "Christian" romance novels. We don't listen to radio we listen to "Christian" radio. Does these alternative forms of media reach-in or reach-out or is it just a quick way to make some bucks?

[Read Bridging the Chasm]

Last but not least, Brad at 21st Century Reformation posts on his experiences with the Kansas City Prophets:

I began attending the Anaheim Vineyard in 1987 while I was in seminary at Talbot Theological Seminary. In December 1988, the Vineyard invited Paul Cain to speak at the "Spiritual Warfare" conference at Anaheim. I remember getting a call at my work by a friend saying, "You gotta come to church tonight. This guy is amazing." For the next three years, the Vineyard, myself included, were completely engulfed by the prophetic movement.

[Read Weird or Winsome - A Look at the Kansas City Prophets]

Enjoy.