Perspectives

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Perspectives

PERSPECTIVE: Love is what yields culture change

March 19, 2012 Cardinal & Cream

We have all seen the Facebook posts and received the forwarded emails: The diatribes lamenting our backslidden culture, the outcry against Christians’ portrayal in the media.

Our society is one step away from Sodom and Gomorrah, they say, and the proof is in the scandalous top movie at the box office or the latest state’s efforts to legalize gay marriage. Some of these rants claim the end times are upon us; others call for Christians to fight back. Either way, the message is clear: Christians are being marginalized more every day, and if we call attention to this problem fervently enough, maybe we can regain our influence and reclaim the culture.
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Perspectives

PERSPECTIVE: Distraction, apathy characterize young people

March 2, 2012 Cardinal & Cream

“What gives your life meaning or purpose?”
Seated on a green lawn dotted with groups of university students enjoying the first spring days in Paris, I listened as my new friends responded to the survey folded in my hands. Glazed-over expressions accompanied each improvised response, and more questions usually revealed a general lack of concern for anything spiritual. Regardless of growing up in Catholic school or with devout Muslim parents, matters of faith had been tucked away in the back of their minds. […]

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Perspectives

PERSPECTIVE: Technology Limits Interaction

March 1, 2012 Cardinal & Cream

Several years ago a hurricane battered my hometown of Naples, Fla., knocking the power out for days. Lights flickered off, air conditioning stopped humming, TVs stopped working and computers and cell phones stopped charging. As the ominous clouds cleared and the winds calmed, the power lines lay lifeless. While inside things were dark and dead, outside, life bloomed and flourished. People found comfort in the fresh outdoor air and the presence of pleasant company. Neighbors who had not talked in years gathered on front porches catching up on life, while children who usually spent their time cooped up inside playing video games climbed trees, played tag and used their imaginations together. The neighborhood buzzed with life in a way it had not in years. […]

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Perspectives

PERSPECTIVE: Hip-hop promotes misogyny

February 28, 2012 Cardinal & Cream

Throughout the rise of hip-hop and rap, big names such as Bill Cosby and Gladys Knight have come out against its controversial content: a constant slew of racist remarks coupled with the demeaning of women, cheapening of sex and promotion of the gang­ster lifestyle of drugs and violence as a means to overcome impoverished pasts. But in the midst of their struggle to overcome, these artists are bring ing down — and keeping down — the perception of women nation wide. Injustice cannot be defeat ed with more in justice. […]