I’ve been very busy this week, having already worked a few very long days, so I haven’t had a lot time to be online and/or posting. Since I have a few minutes of breathing room now, I thought I’d pass on a few articles and what I’m considering from eMusic when my downloads refresh next Monday.

What I’m reading

The Washington Times published an article a couple of weeks ago titled Militant atheists topping best-seller lists, featuring folks like Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. Here’s the quote that caught my eye:

[Fuller Theological Seminary President Richard] Muow said conservative Christians are partly to blame for the backlash. The rhetoric of some evangelical leaders has been so strident, they have invited the rebuke, the seminary president said.

“We have done a terrible job of presenting our perspective as a plausible worldview that has implications for public life and for education, presenting that in a way that is sensitive to the concerns of people who may disagree,” he said. “Whatever may be wrong with Christopher Hitchens’ attacks on religious leaders, we have certainly already matched it in our attacks.”

Speaking of Hitchens, Christianity Today has been publishing a debate between Hitchens and professor/minister Douglas Wilson titled Is Christianity Good for the World?. I haven’t read all of it yet (a 6-part series), but it’s worth checking out.

Last year I read Greg Boyd’s book The Myth of a Christian Nation and really enjoyed it, and it looks like Boyd is planning a follow-up. Myth was about what the church is not. His next book will be the other side of the coin - what the church is (or should be.) I look forward to it.

There’s a lot of truth in this particular article titled Hey, Wasn’t There Some Sort Of National Tragedy A Few Months Back? over at my favorite satirical news site, The Onion.

And, a more humorous article: Rocky II, III, IV Decisions Overturned After Stallone Caught With Performance-Enhancing Drugs. That just cracks me up. And, I’m sure there’s a lot of truth in that one, too.

eMusic

I have a couple still on my list from last month, which I ended up passing over for others. So, Achilles’ Heel by Pedro The Lion and A Blessing And A Curse by The Drive-By Truckers are still in contention this month.

I’ve always liked Ian Eskelin and All Star United. It’s nothing special or profound, but I’ve always liked their sound, so their newest, Love and Radiation, is available and a probable download either now or next month. I recently came across Jamie Randolph via my nephew’s Facebook page, and am liking his album Villian a lot, too.

I’ve been paying more attention to the music reviews in Relevant magazine recently and decided to check out albums by Andrew Bird (Armchair Apocrypha) and Arcade Fire (Neon Bible), and subsequently added those to my list.

And, I was a huge fan of The Smithereens in the late 80’s/early 90’s. God Save The Smithereens is a much more recent offering and is pretty good. It’s not on par with their earlier work, in my opinion, but I’ll have to get it eventually.

I’ll also be looking at some other albums by artists I’ve already downloaded as well, but likely not this month.

Any other suggestions?