Not So Carrie’d Away

Guest bloggerette Kim responds to yesterday’s post with the following.

I’m not sure I’ve ever been able to say this to you before, but maybe (just maybe) you are actually taking something too literally. Stating that “Jesus Take the Wheel”, could mean someone completely gives up and does nothing on their own is taking it a bit too far. Taking the wheel of the car doesn’t give the person full control… there are still gas and break pedals that need working. You can’t drive using one and not the other, can you?

So… for those that believe in the real meaning of the song… Jesus taking the wheel simply means they are asking for Him to guide them and show them the way. Almost anyone that gives credence to that in their life, knows they still have a lot of work to do on their own, but are clearly just looking for guidance. And yes… there are extremists in everything, but I don’t think she (or whomever wrote the song for her) were going for that particular audience.

I do agree with your assessment of her though… I can hear and see her type of music any time I turn on a radio or TV station. But… I like the song. It doesn’t disgust me. Then again, I’m hoping Jesus has a firm hand on my “wheel”. He’s not such a bad one to give up SOME control to.

We may need to agree to disagree on this one. Although I will admit that perhaps I’m being too literal. However, in an icy spin, the gas and brake are pretty useless, and most usually dangerous. The wheel is 95% of the control. So to my mind, she gave up completely. But the beauty of art is that it’s subject to interpretation. Your mileage may vary.


A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

At first blush my reaction to this article was that trying to stop an elective course covering intelligent design, creationism, and evolution as a philosophy course was ill-advised. After all, it gets it out of science class and into a philosophy class. That makes good sense. We shouldn’t be trying to stop that sort of thing.

However, on closer examination, the course is hardly structured to be an objective a-religious survey of the cultural impact of creation mythologies. The course is centered on 24 videos, 23 of which were produced by religious organizations. There are 2 advertised evolution experts who will speak. Unfortunately, one has refused to come and the other has been dead for years.

In theory, having courses surveying religion and its impact on culture should be mandatory. In practice, they are impossibly hard to implement. The people who tend to feel these courses are important tend to slant them hard toward their own theology. The people who could deliver them objectively, largely don’t care to. And if they did, they would invoke the wrath of the religious right anyway.