God's Politics Blog » Culture Watch

Some Final Reflections on Deadly Viper and Zondervan

Soong-Chan Rah — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:00:24 +0000

Mike Foster, Jud Wilhite, and Zondervan acted in a decisive manner yesterday. Zondervan issued a statement that boldly declared their intention to pull the book off the shelves. Their actions were courageous and buck against business conventions, but they uphold…

Tim Burton and Belief

Becky Garrison — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:00:26 +0000

While touring the press preview for the Tim Burton exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), I felt transported to a mythical land of whimsical horror and fantasy. This exhibit brought up memories of my Wittenburg Door interview with Daniel…

Deadly Viper Backlash: Doing the Right Thing is Only the First Step

Edward Gilbreath — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:50:51 +0000

In case you hadn’t heard, Zondervan made a major announcement yesterday regarding the Deadly Viper Character Assassins book that was the source of so much anger and controversy recently. Effective immediately, Zondervan undertook the courageous step of permanently removing all the books from…

Thoughts on Zondervan’s and Authors’ Statements After Pulling of Deadly Viper Products

Eugene Cho — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:00:27 +0000

As many of you know, several Asian-American leaders and I have been in dialogue with both the authors of Deadly Vipers and the publisher, Zondervan, over a controversy I’ve written about here and here. I know that many who have followed along…

Tremendous Act of Repentance by Zondervan

Soong-Chan Rah — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:30:38 +0000

Zondervan Statement Regarding Concerns Voiced About Deadly Viper: Character Assassins from Moe Girkins, President and CEO:

Hello and thanks for your patience.

On behalf of Zondervan, I apologize for publishing Deadly Viper: Character Assassins. It is our mission to offer products that glorify…

Unseen Privilege: The Overlooked Gender Dimension of the ‘Deadly Viper’ Conversation

Kathy Khang — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:15:46 +0000

In the eight years I worked specifically with Christian Asian American college students, I knew that my gender would get in the way. I was not a pastor – youth, English ministry, college, women’s ministry or otherwise. I was not a seminary…

The Locavore’s Dilemma: What We Eat is More Than Just a Personal Choice

LaVonne Neff — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:30:08 +0000

I’m a cradle vegetarian. Didn’t have even a bite of meat — red or white, fish or fowl — until I was maybe eleven years old, and then I lost my dietary virginity to a hot dog. Go ahead and…

Tools for Turning Your Travels into Pilgrimages

Becky Garrison — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:00:53 +0000

In my ongoing quest to turn my travels into pilgrimages, I keep discovering resources that help me along the way. Here are a few of my recent finds that I thought might be of interest to fellow pilgrims.

Bicycle Diaries. In…

M2EP Filmmaker Challenge Winner Goes to Africa

Martin Kittappa — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:00:11 +0000

Editor’s Note: In anticipation of The Mobilization to End Poverty, World Vision and Sojourners sponsored the first-ever Filmmaker Challenge. Filmmakers from around the country were invited to create a short video (less than four minutes) for YouTube that demonstrates “what…

Uwem Akpan’s Double Calling as Priest and Writer

Molly Marsh — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:00:21 +0000

While we’d love to think we inspired Oprah to choose Uwem Akpan’s Say You’re One of Them as her current book club pick, we are glad his collection of stories is getting lots of new readers. Last year we asked Sojourners contributing…

The Deadly Viper Conversation Moves from Authors to Publisher

Soong-Chan Rah — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:00:44 +0000

Last Friday, a group of Asian-American leaders (Kathy Khang, IVCF / Eugene Cho, Quest Church / Ken Fong, Evergreen Baptist Church and I) were on a conference call with three executives of Zondervan. They were trying to get an understanding…

Crossing the Lines: A White Reporter’s View of the Civil Rights Movement

Becky Garrison — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:00:06 +0000

In Crossing the Lines: A Novel, author Richard Doster enabled me to enter the world of Jack Hall, an idealistic white reporter based in the South during the late 1950s who struggled between his need to report the truth with…

Big Oil, Corporate Greed, and Social Sin

John Gehring — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:00:00 +0000

As an urbanite fortunate to live within walking distance of work and trendy restaurants, I rarely drive these days. But running late to a pickup basketball game recently, I was low on gas and quickly pulled into the first station…

An Apology from Deadly Viper Authors Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite

Multiple Authors — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:10:48 +0000

An update to an ongoing discussion with our Asian and Asian-American friends. We tried to apologize in some of our earlier messages delivered through texting, blogging and on the iPhone, but unfortunately those efforts were mixed in with some defensiveness on…

Three General Thoughts on Deadly Vipers, Mike Foster, Jud Wilhite, Soong-Chan Rah, Chuck Norris, Joyluck Club, Angry Asian Man, Wanna-Be Ninjas and Everyone Else

Eugene Cho — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:15:27 +0000

I don’t know if I have the energy or bandwidth to write this but it’s important so here goes…

Some of you may have already been aware of the controversy over the marketing behind a book called Deadly Vipers. The full title…

Deadly Viper Blind Spots: When Uninformed Intentions Have Hurtful Outcomes

Edward Gilbreath — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:15:03 +0000

One of the toughest parts of being the author of a book about racial reconciliation is that when the latest racial incident flares up, everyone expects you to chime in with your two cents. I’m feeling a bit penniless on…

How Deadly Viper Character Assassins Undermines its Message with Co-opted Culture

Soong-Chan Rah — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:15:51 +0000

An open letter to Zondervan and to Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite, authors of Deadly Viper Character Assassin: A Kung Fu Survival Guide for Life and Leadership.

Let me begin by stating that I applaud the intent and subject matter of…

Hark! Halloween Haters and Holiday Hype

Tracey Bianchi — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:15:08 +0000

Halloween is over. I was standing in the kitchen tonight pilfering through the bowl of chewy, crinkly wrapped treats that my children acquired last night. Poor things. They do all the work of running up and down the sidewalks, climbing…

Gran Torino Revisited

Ryan Rodrick Beiler — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:30:19 +0000

I had starting writing this post last night, before receiving Gareth Higgins’ latest post, which makes extensive references to Gran Torino. But now that my reflections will seem less out of the blue, I want to lift up some contrasting…

Why Clint Eastwood Can be Trusted with Mandela (and Why Glenn Beck Can’t be Trusted with MLK)

Gareth Higgins — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:00:33 +0000

It’s that time of year again — you know, when Clint Eastwood releases a trailer for a movie that looks fascinating and completely different from the last thing he did, and your trio of reactions run something like this: 1)…