Alabama Pigfest April 2007

All worldviews, political slants, and nationalities are welcomed to our PigFest. They are more than just welcomed we seek them out to come and join us.

With 29 attending here are the topics we discussed this past week:

“The Don Imus debacle will serve as a watershed event to help re-establish the line between respectable news and journalism versus comedy and base entertainment.”

The overriding conclusion was that there has been a breakdown between what is considered legitimate news verses sensationalism for the sake of entertainment. For example, name one news agency that can seriously say that after the first day of coverage that the Anna Nicole story was still legitimate news. In an effort to have each story “top” the one before there are no restrictions as to what one might say about another person. Often times a considerable percent of a commentary is used to attack the character of the individual in opposition rather than focus on the issue at hand. Ann Coulter and Bill Maher could be described as some who use personal attacks to “win” an argument. In her article, “That’s Not Nice”, published in the Wall Street Journal on March 10, 2007, Peggy Noonan wrote, “Our country now puts less of an emphasis on public decorum, courtliness, self-discipline, decency. America no longer says, "That's not nice." It doesn't want to make value judgments on "good" and "bad." We have come to rely on censorship to maintain decorum. We are very good at letting people know that if they say something we don't like, we'll shame them and shun them, even ruin them.” I think she’s right and Don Imus is another recent example. We should demand more of people and rather than just rely on censorship let’s raise the bar for common decency and respect for the individual. Let’s encourage news organizations to have integrity when it comes to calling a story newsworthy and when it is commentary call it such. Let each argument, for or against, stand on its own merit, for truth has a way of making itself obvious to all.

“In light of the devastating massacre at Virginia Tech, we’re faced with the sad truth that evil exists at a profound level in our world. That being the case, God can’t possibly be both all loving and all powerful. He is either loving but not powerful enough to stop evil or powerful but not loving enough to stop evil.”

No one shied away from this one. There was a deep sense of sadness that everyone felt. (One person at our table asked that we stop for a moment of silence to remember the students and their families before the dinner began.) It was discussed as to whether or not people are more evil today than at any time in the past. The conclusion was, no. It was argued that human beings have a definite propensity to do evil and that time with improvements in education and technology haven’t lowered the propensity to do evil but rather just gives one the tools to be more efficient in carrying out the act. There was no conclusion as to whether God can be all loving and all powerful or if one attribute must negate the other. Just as there are things we do that an animal can’t comprehend (i.e. reading a newspaper or book.) there are things that involve God that we can’t understand because it is not in our scope of knowledge. One area of agreement was in the midst of evil, we can always find acts of love. One example remembered was the forgiveness and love shown by the Amish community towards those involved in the tragic murder of the Amish girls.

Other propositional truths debated included:

“We (the U.S.) have Military bases all over the world. Since the cold war is over, I believe we need to close the bases and send our troops either to Afghanistan or home.”

Both sides had equal representation.

“It is up to the wealthiest people of a society to insure that those who are disadvantaged are taken care of.”

Some argued that we do take care of the less fortunate through the taxes we pay to the government. Others argued that each person is directly responsible for helping the disadvantage. It was emphasized that those who are Christians are called to do so by Christ Himself.

Each one of these was discussed with the same persistence to uncover truth.

With cigar in hand, our last propositional truth offered; Second Hand Smoke (E.T.S. Environmental Tobacco Smoke):

It has been claimed that from 37,000 to 40,000 people die from smoking related disease caused by other people's smoke each year. Sounds terrible, doesn't it? Problem is ... It's Not True! Doesn't make sense, does it? Why would the government, knowing there is no association between lung cancer and ETS exposure, continue to scare the public into believing there is? The answer is simple: Money. If you knew the truth about ETS exposure, you would not voluntarily contribute your money to the government to continue funding their bogus studies. So, why do the government and the insurance industry make such a big deal about ETS when the research doesn't even support their claims? At the risk of repeating myself...it's because of money, control, and jurisdiction.

While no one really bought this argument neither did anyone put down his cigar.

While we take the evening’s topics seriously we also thoroughly enjoy the company of one another which makes each time we come together a memorable occasion.