"I blew my brains out."

Bob R, a roommate at Calvin College whom I wrote about earlier, once told me a story about his mom, who was an emergency room nurse (IIRC), and a boy who'd come in with a polyp in his nasal cavity.

During the exam, the boy sneezed so hard, he expelled the polyp - and a considerable amount of blood - into his hands. When he saw it, the boy began to cry, thinking that he had blown his brains out

[2013-03-11]

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You can tell that evangelicals are a little perturbed by the papal conclave and the attention it's getting. Evangelical Christian talk is reassuring folks that being a Christian is what you believe, not where you go to church.[1]

I have to say that I"m not crazy about the ostentation myself, but once you know the personalities behind it, it's less intrusive, like a suit and tie on Sunday morning, commercials during a movie, or Christmas decorations.

[2013-03-14: The new pope is more austere and we may see a papal emphasis on the poor and marginalized. That's a good thing.]

[2013-03-12]

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You can also tell that a lot of atheists and agnostics are a little perturbed, wondering why major news outlets are spending so much time on what color smoke rises from the Vatican when there are more important stories to talk about.[2]

[2013-03-13]

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We all balance reality against how we think things ought to be.

[2013-03-13]

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[1]
Well, yes and no, depends on how you define your terms. It also doesn't address the realty that you can be a Christian despite (some of) your beliefs and the church you attend.

The tone seems to be sort of "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," an effort to avoid distraction, discussion, or understanding.

There is also a little of "Hey, we're the real Christians over here, look at us."

[2]
Actually, I think I detected more negative coverage early on, which quickly became more even when (I presume) the networks discovered there was considerable interest from those that watch the news and buy the products advertised there. FOX and MSNBC have been conspicuously quiet. I presume in FOX's case because their base is largely evangelical. Maybe it's just me, but I thought Rachel Maddow over at MSNBC was dying to say something critical but was holding back, not in her typical sarcastic way, but in a "my boss told me not to" way. Hard to tell.

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