From the diaries by Erick.

I live in southern Illinois (real southern Illinois, not just south of Chicago), but found myself near Springfield this weekend. I had some time, so I decided to head out to the State Fair and see what was going on. It was a beautiful day, and my husband and I went on a search for the Illinois GOP tent.

We found the tent for the Democrats first. There were workers outside the tent talking to people. They also had a large sign posted showing their support for Obama. We were pretty impressed with the organization and general set-up of the tent that the Dems had, and were hoping for big things from our party.

It took us a while to find, but we eventually spotted the tent for the Republican Party. What struck me right away was how cluttered it appeared. The area in front of the tent was filled with yard signs for many of the state’s GOP candidates, and buried somewhere in there was a sign for McCain’s campaign. Surely this was not a sign of things to come.

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Apparently Mattel has made a new Barbie doll in the image of DC Comic superhero Black Canary that will be released in September. The doll has different facial characteristics than the typical Barbie, and is dressed in a black leotard, fishnets, leather jacket and mid-calf boots. According to this report a Christian group is up in arms over what they are calling S&M gear on the doll.
I get what they are saying. The doll is a bit risque, and I wouldn’t buy it for any of the little girls that I know, but that is my choice. My problem is with the response from this group.
Every time someone comes out with a product that could be considered offensive to Christian sensibilities, someone starts a tirade about it. Unfortunately for what is, I’m sure, a well-meaning attempt to lead the world in the right direction, the result is less than stellar. People aren’t persuaded by Christian groups whining and complaining about, sometimes, the strangest things. Rather, they are put-off by this behavior. It makes it much more difficult for Christians to get out their message of the faith when people are already thinking of you in a negative light.
Now I know that there are times when we, as Christians, need to stand up and make a statement. All I’m asking is that we be a little bit more choosy as to when that happens. If you don’t like the doll, don’t buy it. By running around and complaining to the press all that you succeed in doing is providing free publicity to the company. Good job!