Recommended Reading and Listening 10-7-16 edition

Regularly, if somewhat spasmodically, I share a list of things I'm reading, watching and listening to with my congregation.  If I remember to do so, I also post it here on my blog:

2016 Election

• For all my registered MO voter friends. Amendment 6 which proposes a 50 cent per pack tax to help education may sound good but since R.J. Reynolds Tobacco is funding this amendment you should rightfully be cynical about it. Read and be enlightened!!!!!
• "A circus of an election when people's lives are at stake" by Amy Butler--An important reminder, especially if you're like me and feeling cynical and so over this election.  
• "Debunking the Voter Fraud Myth"--Great KCUR program on Kris Kobach's farcical and unnecessary campaign to combat "voter fraud" in KS with Michael Smith ESU poli-sci prof and CCCUCC member

White Privilege

• Wow, this is really powerful writing by a "light-skinned" black woman who is often perceived to be white about the way she encounters racism depending on what "race" white people perceive her to be.

Black Lives Matter

• A conservative writer disputes VP candidate Pence's take on "implicit bias."  There's a lot I don't agree with in this article  (e.g. that you can draw a distinction between "implicit bias" against black people and racism) but at least it's nice to have a conservative voice taking "implicit bias" is real.
• "Doing Political Theology in an Election Season: Howard Thurman on Deception"--Great essay on the need for religious voices to preach to our tendencies towards self-deceit--especially those of us who are white, middle class and above. (e.g. the tendency to condemn affirmative action for non-whites but failing to realize that American history has always been about "affirmative action" for whites)

LGBTQ

• Interesting interview with a lawyer specializing in LGBTQ relationships that talks about issues such as taxes, social security and other legal issues. Although the law is the same for straight and same gender couples, she is helpful, especially to long-term same gender couples who may have been together for a long time but haven't thought before about the financial and legal dimensions of marriage.
• Central Baptist Theological Seminary (where our associate minister Bethany Meier is a student) has recently come under fire for its policies of fully accepting LGBTQ people.  Here is CBTS president Molly Marshal's response to the attack. 

You can find more stuff that I think is worth reading, watching and listening to by following me on Facebook and Twitter.