I was really surprised last week when I learned that PBS, which was formerly the Public Broadcasting Service, now stands for People magazine Broadcasting Service.

Well, it doesn't really. But it should, now that Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s celebrity-worshiping show Faces of America became the flagship series on the only channel where I thought I was safe from smirking, inflated celebrity heads.

Here's what this rubbish says to me: "Hey everyone, here are some people who literally have everything in the world and are idols to millions. Let's esteem them some more by showing them how special their genealogy is, and how truly extraordinary they are, and that they were obviously destined to be better then the rest of loser America. Then we'll make ourselves feel better by posting some lame educational stuff on the website and squeezing in some crap about how we are all special and are likely descended from awesome people in the past just like these super-awesome celebrities. AREN'T THEY AWESOME!! AAHHHHH!! SEND US MONEY!!!!"

How about giving us a show where we learn that some depressed contractor stuck in Idaho (sorry to any Idahoan contractors reading this) is really a descendant of Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod and is thereby empowered to stake his own claim to immortality. Or whatever. Anything but more celebrity worship on TV.

With all the heavy-handed rhetoric that floods our airwaves, I’d like to point you toward one of the most intelligent, respectful arguments I’ve ever come across – an argument with far deeper roots than any political affiliation.

Is Belief in God Good, Bad or Irrelevant collects a series of e-mails between Preston Jones, a professor at a small Christian college, and Greg Graffin, lead singer of the notoriously atheistic punk band, Bad Religion (and Ph.D. of Biology from Cornell University). 

When I first stumbled upon this book, I regarded its very existence as a minor miracle.  You see, Bad Religion has been my favorite band since age 16.

Just as grunge was dying out and everyone was forced to turn either to jam bands or classic rock, I was privileged to hear BR blaring over the stereo of the old Ford Fairmont my best friend and I used to navigate our New Jersey suburbs. The first lyrics I heard: “Do what you want. Do all you can. Break all the fucking rules and go to hell with superman and die like a champion, yeah, hey!” Now that was punk rock. And I was hooked.

Strangely though, the music of these angry atheists did not send me spiraling toward the pits of hell. Instead it made me think, it made me question and ultimately, it solidified my faith and my resolve to live life differently.

Despite not believing in God, BR has a strict sense of morality. Their songs are fraught with righteous indignation (possibly my favorite emotion), calling out the hypocrisy and abuse of corporations, government and the church. Jesus did quite a bit of this himself, if you recall, and he was most critical of the church because it was doing a poor job representing God. At this stage of my life it was much easier for me to identify with lyrics illuminating superficiality and selfishness than lyrics about how awesome Jesus was (sorry, Newsboys).

Also, as angry and negative as Bad Religion gets, their albums are peppered with hopeful songs like Slumber or Sorrow, the latter of which limply professes to be sarcastic, but the melody and lyrics remain infused with a spiritual tone as Graffin repeats the gospel-like refrain, “There will be sorrow no more.”

I’ve often wished I could take Greg Graffin to task on these observations; ask him how he could embrace such a strict morality and sing so hopefully without any faith in an afterlife or higher power.  Thankfully, Jones does it for me in this book, and better than I ever could.

I don’t think I’d be giving anything away by telling you that Graffin does not get ‘saved’ in the end. But I do think his assumptions about Christianity and Christians are challenged by the thoughtfulness, respect and care that Jones puts into his correspondence.  It’s worth a read, if only to demonstrate how to convey beliefs intelligently and sincerely, while cultivating a genuine relationship with someone who thinks differently.  When all too often we send the hard oak trees of belief crashing down on peoples’ heads, Jones reminds us how to plant a seed.

Of the people I know who observe Lent, most do so loosely. They hurried on Ash Wednesday to get crosses at downtown Boston's in-and-out shrine. They remind each other to eat fish on Friday. They stand next to the office candy jar and discuss what it is they've given up this year. They may or may not go to Sunday Mass. 

They're cafeteria Catholics. Or Episcopalians. Or whatever. 

I, too, could be called a cafeteria observer. I grew up in a church where Christian ritual meant Sunday potlucks, and I discovered liturgy in college. That spring I decided to give up something during Lent. It felt good to demonstrate self-control. It felt refreshing to fast among others, to be part of tradition. Over the years, I've given up meat, lying, artificial sweetener, meat again, and other things I don't even remember.  

This year, however, I had no idea when Lent began. For anyone who needs an excuse, I'll blame it on officially becoming Quaker, since I now have a theologically legitimate reason not to observe outward religious signs. 

But here's the truth: I'm not observing, because it just didn't occur to me. And that's the thing about spiritual practice these days. I can choose to observe, or not. If there's something I forget, no matter. It probably wasn't necessary for my spiritual journey anyway. 

An amazing press release from Christian Eminem imitator rapper KJ-52, which needs no comment:

KJ-52 has an uncanny ability to reach the youth of today in a clever and hip manner. It may be through the subject matter of his music, his tech savviness that connects hims to his fans on a continual basis (twitter, blogs, etc.), or his ultimate mission to point others to God through his work. With the release of his new project "Five Two Television," his weekly video devotions, and currently touring on the "Modern Day Heroes" tour with Group 1 Crew, KJ-52 is continually staying busy reaching out to his fans. We are excited to announce KJ-52's follow up single to his hit "End Of My Rope" titled "Calling You" (Featuring J.R.). "Calling You" will be hitting the rock airwaves 2/26!

KJ-52 describes "Calling You" as a single, "filled with text message speak (LOL, TTYL, etc.) and is an analogy of God's text message (His word) and how God seeks to have us in a relationship and just like others try to get ahold of us with a text. God does the same thing with his text (The Bible)."

Don't miss out on this catchy and relevant single "Calling You"! Seeking add commitments for 2/26 at Rock radio!

The CCM Patrol has gotten so few tips lately that we were starting to doubt that shit like this was still being made. Alas. And yay.

College football star Tim Tebow and his mother will appear in a Super Bowl commercial sponsored by Focus on the Family urging respect for life, the Catholic News Agency reports. Tebow's mother, Pam, defied medical advice to abort him when she had a serious infection, and the new ad will feature her telling the story.

The Tebows were missionaries in Phillipines when Pam was pregnant with Tim. He has been outspoken about his Christian faith during his stint as quarterback of the Florida Gators, discussing his virginity and painting scripture references under his eyes. He said his mother's story has convinced women not to have abortions.

Prepare yourself for the craziness of the day. ABC News’ website featured a story Monday in which we learn that a Michigan-based weapons manufacturer, Trijicon, provided the U.S. Military with rifle sights inscribed with cryptic scripture references.

The references are imprinted on the scopes in the same font as the serial number and are abbreviated to look coded such as, “2COR4:6” or “JN8:12.” And, to save you the “sword drill,” those passages read:

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” And, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,” respectively.

Now, before we leap into how embarrassing this is for those of us who are Christians, never mind that much smaller group of us that are Christian pacifists, we should point out that this, of course, illegal.

We have been doing some substantial behind-the-scenes work to make the Patrol reading experience simpler and more natural. Our previous categorization system was relatively primitive, so most of the reworking has involved improving the way we categorize articles, and thus your ability to locate older content.

Ever wonder where fellow Patrol readers come from? A few miscellaneous geographical lists we picked out of our 2009 statistics:

Top Countries

1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Australia
5. Germany

Top World Cities

1. New York, NY
2. London, UK
3. Washington, DC
4. San Francisco, CA
5. Los Angeles, CA

Top U.S. States

1. California
2. New York
3. Texas
4. Virginia
5. Pennsylvania

Oral Roberts (1918-2009)

Last night, I went with some friends to The New School for a panel on “Evangelicalism and the Contemporary Intellectual,” co-hosted by the literary journal n+1 and Eugene Lang College. Panelists included Malcolm Gladwell, James Wood, Christine Smallwood, and Caleb Crain (who moderated, mostly).

Of course, off the bat, one sees that there are no presently-evangelical intellectuals on that panel. (They’re all ex-evangelicals, to one degree or another.) As it turned out, this may have been a wise choice. The panelists spoke about their backgrounds and how their evangelical upbringing contributes to their work today as intellectuals, and then took questions from the audience. I suspect that had a known evangelical intellectual been on the panel – a philosopher, a minister, whatever – the Q&A session may have devolved into ad hominem attacks. It stayed mostly respectful, as these are non-evangelicals who nonetheless do not believe that evangelicalism is the worst thing to appear in America.

After the jump, what each had to say about their former evangelicalism and it’s larger implications.