Okay, so Gawker caught my attention with this bit on the NYT’s editor’s wife (did you get that?) who keeps getting her novels and books highlighted in the NYTBR. I smell a bozo.
And experts claim they have solved the mystery of Stonehenge. Cool.
And a more personal bit about Sarah Palin. I read a book about her last week (a very quick read) and learned a lot about her. However, a friend found this article from Salon.com (which has actually been quite fair toward Sarah Palin) and it told me more than I wanted to know.
The International Association of Character Cities is a “secular” cover for Character First! Education, which is a secularized character training program developed by the Institute in Basic Life Principles and the Advanced Training Institute, headed by Bill Gothard.
I was a part of IBLP and ATI (my parents have asked my forgiveness countless times) and we’re done with that for good. We no longer subscribe to the IBLP/ATI version of submission to authority or grace or even salvation. However, I worked for Character First! as an editor for many years and for that part I must now publicly say I no longer support anything to do with IACC or CF!E as I no longer align myself with their definitions of character.
I don’t think Palin’s attendance at an Indianapolis Training Center IACC conference in 2000 turns me off completely, but I will say it gives me chills. IBLP/ATI was a powerful entity in the 1970s through the 1990s, but it has irreparably harmed many, many lives. So many that I know (me included) mistakenly believed Mr. Gothard’s “biblical” teaching as the Gospel and missed the true grace-filled message of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the powerful teaching of my pastors since then who have helped me dismantle those lies and see the love and grace that is free-flowing to all, no matter what they’ve done, who they are, how they describe themselves, or what they’re opposed to. This love and grace knows no bounds. This love and grace cannot be quelled.
This love and grace is more important than winning an election. I will vote my conscience and will let others vote theirs.
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