 | Real Clear Religion: Chicago Plays Chicken With Christians
The Obama Left places believing Christians in the same moral category as racists. The bullying has escalated to the point that prominent liberal mayors, such as Chicago's Rahm Emanuel, now openly say that Christians are unworthy of even running a fast food chain in the public square. "Chick-fil-A's values are not Chicago values. They're not respectful of our residents, our neighbors and our family members. And if you're gonna be part of the Chicago community, you should reflect Chicago values," said Emanuel, backing alderman Joe Moreno's goal of preventing the chicken restaurant from opening its doors in the Logan Square neighborhood. This is a stunning doubling down in the left's war on Christianity by a prominent Democrat. Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff, has in effect told the religious across the country, in an election year no less, that traditional Christian values are not American values. Obama supporter Tom Hanks once said that opponents of gay marriage in California were "un-American," but Emanuel's comment spells this view out even more explicitly. The dictator- ship of relativism, to borrow Pope Benedict XVI's phrase, has never been more cocky. MORE | | | |
Atheism Is a Growing Presence In America
A leading Christian apologist says the effort by an atheist-lobbying group that is pushing for a political presence in all 50 states illustrates the growth of atheism in American society. Secular Coalition for America (SCA), a group that represents atheists and non-believers on Capitol Hill, is pressing for lobbying organizations in every state in the nation (see earlier story). The group has selected a well-known Republican strategist, Edwina Rogers, to serve as its new leader. MORE |  | Religion News:
Religion at the Olympics - A History
What began in ancient Greece as a festival to honor a single god, Zeus, has now become an almost Olympian task, as organizers of the games navigate dozens of sacred fasts, religious rituals and holy days. The London Olympics will try to accommodate religious athletes with 193 chaplains, a prayer room in every venue and a multifaith center in the Olympic Village. Athletes at the ancient Olympics believed their training honored the gods, and victory was a sign of favor from a deity. As contests like wrestling, boxing, and horse racing were added to the Olympic roster, they supplemented devotional sacrifices, hymns, and ceremonies. MORE | | | | |
| Monday, July 30th, 2012 | | | | NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS | In Israel, Romney Declares Jerusalem To Be Capital
Standing on Israeli soil, U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish state and said the United States has "a solemn duty and a moral imperative" to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability. | Report: US Sees Israeli Strike on Iran in October
A senior and widely respected analyst with Israel's Channel 2 News said in Friday's pre-Shabbat newscast that top American officials have become convinced that Israel will launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities in October, just one month before the US presidential election. | Temple Mount Closed To Jews
Jerusalem Police on Sunday closed the Temple Mount compound to Jewish worshippers following intelligence indicating intents to hold riots on the day Jews mark the Tisha B'Av fast. Police will consider reopening the compound as events unfold. No suspects have been arrested as of yet. | Christian, Muslim Villagers Clash In Egypt
An Egyptian security official says Muslim and Christian villagers hurled fire bombs at each other south of Cairo after a Christian laundry worker burnt a Muslim's shirt. The official says Muslim villagers set fire to Christians' homes on Friday, prompting authorities to deploy forces at the village of Dahshour in Giza province. | Romney Voices Strong Support for Israel
Mitt Romney would "respect" an Israeli decision to make a unilateral military strike against Iran aimed at preventing Tehran from obtaining nuclear capability, a top foreign policy adviser said Sunday as he outlined the strong posture the Republican presidential candidate will take toward Iran in a speech... | Ailing Iranian Pastor Being Denied Hospital Treatment in Jail
An Iranian pastor serving a six-year term in prison for his faith is being denied hospital treatment for severe bleeding due to stomach ulcers, a Christian rights group has said, warning he might otherwise succumb to the illness within weeks or months. | Youth Pastor, Church Charged in Fake Kidnapping
A youth pastor and his church in Pennsylvania were charged Friday for conducting a fake kidnap situation with a group of young students. | Taxpayer-Funded Vouchers Affect Enrollment of Religious Schools
Nine religious schools that will take in taxpayer-funded voucher students for the upcoming school year will more than double their enrollments with the subsidized students, receiving about $3.6 million in payments from the state. | | | | CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS | Tullian Tchividjian: So You Believe In Karma?
To conclude that suffering people have somehow heaped up trouble for themselves on the Cosmic Registry and that God is doling out the misery in direct proportion would be more than mistaken; it would be cruel. | Am Thinker: Recognizing Tragedy as Olympic History
....amid all the pomp and circumstance -- the cheering, the display of sportsmanship as the athletes take the Olympic pledge -- it was and will continue to be all too easy to forget that this is the 40th anniversary of the darkest moment in Olympic history. | Daily Telegraph: Europe Sleepwalks Toward Disaster
The euro has completely broken down as a workable system and faces collapse with "incalculable economic losses and human suffering"unless there is a drastic change of course, according to... | Peter Bogdanovich, Hollywood Reporter: What If Movies Are Part of Problem?
We made Targets 44 years ago. It was based on something that happened in Texas, when that guy Charles Whitman shot a bunch of people after killing his mother and his wife. It was meant to be a cautionary fable. It was a way of saying the Victorian violence of the past wasn't as scary as modern violence That's modern horror. At first, some of the people [at The Dark Knight Rises] thought it was part of the movie. That's very telling. | Arnold Ahlert: The Left’s Orwellian Assault on Chick-fil-A
One of the more blatant displays of progressive thuggery is playing itself out in Boston and Chicago. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino threatened to keep fast food franchise Chick-fil-A from opening any restaurants in that city because he doesn’t want any business operating there “that discriminates against a population.” In Chicago, Alderman Proco “Joe” Moreno announced that he will pursue... | Peggy Noonan, Wall St. Journal: The Dark Night Rises
...The people in the theater were jumpy, getting up and going out the exit, coming back. The movie itself is dark—murders, massacres, torture, weird sinister chanting, foreboding music. There's some sort of revolt, and Gotham is taken over by a small army led by a monster. They shoot up the floor of the stock exchange. The homes of the wealthy are ransacked. The thinking or motivation of the monster-leader, Bane, is never made clear. | National Review: The Chicken Inquisition
....Mr. Cathy, a purveyor of sweet tea and chicken sandwiches, has a better understanding of the American constitutional order than do the city fathers in Chicago and Boston, among other places, who also have threatened to use their municipal powers to punish Mr. Cathy and his company for this alleged anti-gay bigotry. | Am Thinker: How the Left Sabotages the Literary Right
....Having helped Lakin with his memoir, I am fully certain that none of these reviewers bothered to read the book. They, or people like them, occupy Amazon and haunt the pages of all conservative authors. On the subject of Barack Obama, "the back man in the White House," they are quick to impute racism even to people like Lakin who have not a racist bone in their bodies. | Giulio Meotti: How Europe Funds Israel’s Destruction
While the U.S. is home to many Christian supporters of Israel, the Christian groups more closely linked to global public opinion, bureaucracy, media and legal forums are all violently anti-Israel and anti- Jewish. This month, the Church of England voted to support the boycott movement against Israel. | W. James Antle, III: Chickens Have Come Home to Roost
....In Rahm’s world, a belief that marriage is between a man and woman should be no barrier to running the country, but it is a disqualifier for those serving sweet tea. | Mark Tooley: Methodist Church's Prohibition For Today
The smoke had barely cleared from the horrible Aurora, Colorado theater shootings when the Capitol Hill-based United Methodist lobby office issued its perfunctory call for gun control. | Der Spiegel: Circumcision Should Not Be a Crime In Germany
By now, it's an embarrassment to almost everyone in Germany that, in the grounds for one of its decisions, a regional court in Cologne almost off-handedly declared circumcision -- a religious tradition dating back thousands of years -- to be illegal. But the incident confirms a tendency toward rampant anti-religious prejudice and growing intolerance toward believers. | Eugene Volokh: Chicago's Blatant First Amendment Violation
Denying a private business permits because of speech by its owner is a blatant First Amendment violation. Even when it comes to government contracting — where the government is choosing how to spend government money — the government generally may not discriminate based on the contractor’s speech. It is even clearer that the government may not make decisions about how people will be allowed to use their own property based on the speaker’s past speech. | Mark Steyn, Nat. Review: The Left's Tolerance Enforcers
....The city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, agrees with the alderman: Chick-fil-A does not represent “Chicago values” — which is true if by “Chicago values” you mean machine politics, AIDS-conspiracy-peddling pastors, and industrial-scale black youth homicide rates. | Ec Clp: James Holmes Is Not Alone - 20 More Sickos That Are Overrunning America
There is much more to the collapse of America than just our economic problems. The truth is that the United States is like a beautiful house that may still look great on the outside but that has rotted and decayed very badly on the inside. In fact, the foundations of our country have rotted away so badly that our entire society is starting to collapse. Just look at James Holmes. | EAD: The UK Economy Tumbles Deep Into Recession
The economic crisis that is sweeping Europe is starting to hit Britain really hard. Over the last couple of years economists have been warning that we can't let the "contagion" spread from troubled nations such as Greece and Portugal to the rest of Europe. Well, it is too late for that now. | Ec Clp: 12 Signs That Spain Is Shifting From Recession To Depression
....The international community pressures the national government to implement deep austerity measures which will slow down the economy even more and hordes of violent protesters take to the streets. Check. All of this happened in Greece, it is happening right now in Spain, and mark my words it will eventually happen in the United States. | Japan Times: Japan's Quietly Dying Democracy
Sometimes it is hard to understand politics in Japan or who is really in charge. The official parliamentary inquiry into the terrible disaster at Fukushima sadly proves the point. Its findings shatter the myth of Japan as a modern, well-organized, efficient industrial democracy and paint a picture of a cozy corrupt club of old boys running the country for their own benefit. | Mona Charen: Can We Still Call Men Heroes?
If just one man had given his life by throwing himself atop his girlfriend to shield her from bullets in that Aurora, Colo., theater, it would have been cause for amazement. That three apparently did so is deeply affecting. People earn the Medal of Honor for such courage and self-sacrifice in the military. There is no equivalent in ordinary life -- or what should be ordinary life. | | | | MINISTRY, SCRIPTURE & LEADERSHIP RELATED ARTICLES AND ESSAYS | Jon Gleason: A Daughter of Pharoah
....Hatshepsut supports the credibility of the Exodus account. Whether or not she was the daughter mentioned in Exodus, she proves that at least one woman in the royal palace had the effrontery to do these things. She was willing to seize power, fill Egypt with her statues wearing the royal false beard, and put her name on monuments everywhere. She didn’t care about conventions or respect for authority — she did what she wanted. | Ron Edmondson: Seven Tips Tips for Leaving a Job Properly
Recently I received the following question. It’s one I’ve been asked several times and one I know is more common as an issue than even asked. I’ve omitted some details for obvious confidentiality reasons, but kept the intent of the question the same. | Kent Brandenburg: Lure Them In
....Luring in unbelievers to church has become the major if not unanimous church growth philosophy of evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Rick Warren isn't alone in that particular purpose that drives his church. What attracts unbelievers? Surprise. Carnal things. | Thom Rainer: How Many Churches Have New Member Classes?
...On the one hand, it is encouraging to note that four out of ten churches now have new member classes. On the other hand, the numbers are still a challenge because six out of ten churches don’t have any entry level class for new members. These new members are therefore not afforded.... | La Shawn Barber: I Am Like Jonah
When I hear about terrible things like a former Penn State football coach sodomizing young boys and other men covering it up for fear of bad publicity....I want them to suffer for what they’ve done and feel the same pain they’ve inflicted on the vulnerable and the weak. What I don’t want to do is to pray for the salvation of perverts or “cry out against their wickedness” so they can repent. Although God gave me the awesome and undeserved gift of eternity in His presence, I want certain sinners to be denied that gift. I am like Jonah. | Mennonite World Review: Planting a Church? Don't Quit Your Day Job
If you feel called to plant a church in these tough economic times, it’s a good idea to maintain another job. It’s likely that a small church of less than 100 members — Mennonite Church USA recommends having at least four households to begin a church — will not be able to support a full-time pastor. | Mark Pierce: Six Reasons Pastors Should Work A Month In Advance
It's Tuesday morning early in July. I sit down at my laptop computer and begin planning for the next worship experience at Church Requel. I'm not working on next weekend, five days away. I'm working on August 5th - almost a month away! Such working ahead does not come naturally to me. | Skye Jethani: Sunday -- Does it Matter What Day We Gather For Worship?
....e need to remember that there is a deeper reason why the church has worshiped on Sunday mornings--one that is still relevant today. When Jesus rose from the grave, he was doing more that conquering death. He was doing more than displaying the vindication of God. He was doing more.... | | |
////////////| Weekend, July 28th-29th, 2012 | Planned Parenthood '100 % Responsible' For Woman's Death, Says Activist
More information has surfaced about a 24-year-old Chicago woman who had paid Planned Parenthood a visit just before her death. Operation Rescue says documents show a horrifying picture of what she refers to as the "severely botched" second-trimester abortion on Tonya Reaves. MORE | | NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS | London 2012 Olympics Opens: 10 Christian Athletes to Watch
Team USA has garnered Christian athletes in multiple sports for the 2012 London Olympic Summer Games. Here, some of the top competitors in an array of different sports highlighted for their faith and testimonies. | Judge Halts Enforcement of Birth Control Mandate on Catholic Owned Company
A federal court ruled Friday that the Health and Human Services (HHS) birth control mandate will not go into effect for Hercules Industries while it waits for resolution of a lawsuit over the mandate. | AP:Americans Sound Off On Romney and Obama Religious Beliefs
Most of America doesn't relate to Mitt Romney's religion and many are divided over whether President Obama is a Christian or a Muslim. Those are the findings of a new Pew Research Center poll released Thursday, about a month before Republican Romney is set to become the first Mormon presidential nominee of a major political party. | Liberal Journalists Come to Defense of Chick-fil-A
Several prominent liberals are coming to the defense of Chick-fil-A after the fast food giant's president, Dan Cathy, voice his company's support for traditional marriage. | Roseanne Barr Wishes Cancer on Chick-Fil-A Customers
ABC's The View honored Roseanne Barr with a guest-host spot on July 19, which shows they probably aren't in the habit of evaluating her sanity based on her Twitter rants. Take her wishing cancer on Chick-Fil-A fans: "anyone who eats S--t Fil-A deserves to get the cancer that is sure to... | Poll: Most Voters Okay With Romney's Mormon Faith
A recently released poll found that most respondents are either comfortable with candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith or do not consider it an issue. | Joel Osteen Describes His Pastoral Approach as 'Less Hellfire'
Pastor Joel Osteen has recently spoken on his sometimes criticized approach to preaching, saying that ultimately the opportunity to impact his fellow man is the most important part of his ministry, as it is both "humbling and rewarding." | Georgia Law Confusing, Contradictory About Church Concealed Carry
Proponents of carrying concealed guns in Georgia churches are considering their options after a federal appeals court upheld the state's ban on bringing side arms into houses of worship. | Crimson Tide Rising for Students' Rights
A university in the South has changed its student policy to ensure that religious groups on campus can select leaders based on shared beliefs. | Military Recruiters at Gay Community Center In NYC
For the first time, military recruiters made an appearance Thursday at a gay community center on Long Island -- and even though the turnout was sparse, organizers hailed the significance of the event. | Amazon CEO Gives Millions to Pro-Homosexual Cause
Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie announced a gift Friday of $2.5 million to the campaign to defend Washington's same-sex "marriage" law. | Abduction, Forced Conversion in Egypt: 'Because We Are
Christians, We Are Slaughtered'
A report recently released showcases the dire circumstances that young Coptic Christians in Egypt face on a daily basis including abductions and forced conversions. The report, "Tell My Mother I Miss Her," was presented during a hearing at the Helsinki Commission which was chaired by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and was a follow up to a similar report released in 2009. | Baptist Church in DC Severs Ties With Southern Baptist Convention
A Washington, D.C.-based Baptist church once affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention has decided to sever its ties over differences regarding ordination and political matters. | Oregon Man Jailed -- for Collecting Rainwater on His Property
A rural Oregon man was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater. | City Shuts Down Boy's Hot Dog Stand
This summer, 13-year-old Nathan Duszynski wanted to make some money to help out his disabled parents—his mom has epilepsy and his dad has multiple sclerosis. So he opened a hot dog stand. | Federal Injunction Allows Georgia Church To Meet
A Georgia church's fight with county ordinances is on a temporary hold, and that means the church can use a building previously denied. | | | | CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS | Am Thinker: The Commie's Commie
The Communist who's the subject of the stunning new biography by Paul Kengor is Frank Marshall Davis. He's the black poet, journalist, and activist whom Barack Obama describes as his mentor in the latter's autobiography, Dreams from My Father. | Eric Metaxas: We Dare Not Chicken Out!
...The bottom line is that if you dare say you believe that marriage is between a man and a woman only, you run the real risk of being called a "homophobe," a "bigot" and a "hatemonger." If you own a business and take such a stand, you may be targeted. But my question is: So what? | Daniel Greenfield: The Great Muslim Cover-Up
Over in Toronto, a Muslim cleric with the unwieldy name of Al-Hashim Kamena Atangana had a great idea. Al-Hashim’s idea was for Toronto to pass laws forcing women to wear burkas. “Cover up or get raped,” was the implied message. Toronto only has an estimated 5.5 percent Muslim population ... | Richard Land: The Penn State Debacle -- What Now?
First, let me put my cards face up on the table. I am a very dedicated college football fan. Let's put it this way. My favorite sports are college football, spring football, and college recruiting. | Kelly Boggs: Trying (and Failing) to Make Sense of Postmodernism
...Space will not allow a detailed history of postmodernism. It is generally accepted to have been conceived in the early 20th century. Trickling down from the ivory towers of academia, it grew in popularity in the 1950s and saturated literature and art in the 1960s. Postmodern thought now influences almost every aspect of popular culture to at least some degree. | Baptist Press: What Makes Humans Distinct from Animals?
Jesus' human life in Scripture indicates that the divine image is a special relationship rather than basic qualities that particularly mark humans as distinct from animals... | Bell: Islamic Center Must Violate Our Laws in Order to Have Religious Freedom
...I personally have no objection to any group worshipping in peace, but I do take issue when that group refuses to abide by our laws | Mark D. Tooley: Recruiting Young Evangelicals for Climate Activism
Although global warming, which has morphed into climate change, has receded as a hot button issue, a new “Young Evangelicals for Climate Action” has emerged. Spawned by the Evangelical Environmental Network, it aims to capture a new generation for climate scaremongering. | Frank Crimi: Fleeing Public Schools
Sharply declining enrollment in half the nation’s largest public school districts spells bad news for the union-dominated monopoly of government-run public schools. | Jacob Laksin: America’s New Gun Control Consensus
Much to the chagrin of gun-control proponents, the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shootings have not triggered a new political push for stricter regulation of the right to bear arms. | | | | MINISTRY, SCRIPTURE & LEADERSHIP RELATED ARTICLES AND ESSAYS | Kevin T. Bauder: Lessons From Colorado
For the third time the state of Colorado has witnessed a murderer run amok.The most recent, and the bloodiest, has just taken place in the Century 16 Theater in Aurora. Given these episodes and others like them, certain lessons are worth pointing out. MORE | Sharper Iron: When Your Church Loses Its Pastor
After the initial shock of hearing the words, “and my resignation is effective…" confusion is bound to reign for a while. What do we do after our pastor resigns? ...the congregation needs to do more than just seek another pastor....the information that follows will help address needs of the congregation. | Cripplegate: What Happens to Infants Who Die? The NT Answers
...I hope you saw that the OT lays the groundwork for a category distinction: there are two kinds of sinners who die. This distinction is important to grasp because the NT does not reestablish it from the ground up but rather Jesus and Paul both teach in such a way that the distinction is reinforced. | Cripplegate: What Happens to Infants Who Die? The OT Answers
There is a tendency to think that the Bible is silent about the issue of what happens to infants who die. However, there are at least 26 different passages that address this issue. In all of them, the implication is that infants who die are returned to the Lord. | Chris Castaldo: Guilt's Hellish Scream
...In the deafening din of guilt, the human soul thirsts for deliverance. Minds are haunted on returning to past faults, remembering some dishonorable conduct or failure, perhaps a scalpel of a remark.... | Kevin T. Bauder: Baptist Church Planting
The United States may be the most densely churched nation on earth, but it still needs the work of church planters....the established churches in many communities have denied the faith and are little better than gatherings of heretics. Even if they retain some echo of the gospel, it is mixed with the proclamation of apostasy. Such communities need churches that proclaim the whole counsel of God... |
///////////////////| Friday, July 27th, 2012 | Billy Graham Says His Heart Aches for 'Deceived' America
The Rev. Billy Graham has posted a new prayer letter on his website where he addresses the people of the nation and tells them he is very much afraid of the damage that the American lifestyle is doing in the eyes of the Lord. The 93-year-old evangelist begins his letter by recalling... MORE | Churches and Pastors in Chicago's War Zone Respond To Violence
Whenever Rev. Ira Acree of Greater St. John Church, 1256 N. Waller, learns of a young life snuffed out as a result of reck- less gun violence that is now commonplace throughout Chi- cago urban neighborhoods, he can’t help but feel somewhat responsible. MORE | Chicago Woman Dies after Botched Abortion
Less than a week after the Obama administration pledged to continue funding Planned Parenthood, a woman died after having an abortion at one of the organization’s facilities. Chicago resident Tonya Reaves, 24, was pronounced dead on July 20 at Northwest Memorial Hospital just hours after going through a Dilation and Evacuation abortion at a local Planned Parenthood facility. MORE | | NEWS ITEMS OF INTEREST TO CHRISTIANS | Billy Graham Defends Chick-fil-A, Traditional Marriage Amid Uproar
Renowned evangelist Billy Graham – who has been among the top 10 of USA Today/Gallup poll's annual most admired people in the world list more than 50 times – issued a statement Thursday in support of Chick-fil-A's leaders and their public stance on marriage. | Drought Likely to Bring Higher Grocery Bills in 2013
The U.S. Department of Agriculture warned Thursday that this year's drought will likely cause higher grocery bills in 2013. | Chinese Buying U.S. Businesses at Record Pace
Chinese direct investment in the United States could hit a record high in 2012, according to a new research report released Wednesday. Total Chinese foreign direct investment in the U.S. is on pace to reach at least $8 billion this year, according to the report from research firm Rhodium Group. | 'Pandering' Politicians Piling On Chick-Fil-A
A family advocate in Illinois says it's "ridiculous" as more city officials are trying to ban Chick-fil-A over the biblical stance of the company president on traditional marriage. | Syria's Civil War Forcing Christians to Take Sides
Fighting has spread in Damascus and Aleppo, the country's two largest cities where many Christians live. Now, those Christians are being forced to take sides. | Gaza Christians Fear for Community's Survival
For the second time in two weeks, Gaza's Christians are publicly accusing Muslims of forcing members of their faith to convert to Islam. | Euro Crisis Worsening Despite Reforms
Recent actions by European leaders to mend Europe's financial crisis have failed to turn things around. Economists say the financial crisis in the eurozone continues to get worse. | Holy Land Tour Scam
A suburban Philadelphia man is heading to federal prison for bilking devout customers out of more than $400,000 by promising Holy Land trips that never happened. | Mother of 7 Suffers Complications After Forced Sterilization in China
A Chinese mother of seven has been hospitalized after suffering major complications from an earlier forced sterilization surgery. Zhong Xuexiang was treated in Guangzhou, China, for internal bleeding, months after doctors cut into her large intestine during a forced sterilization. | Chaplain Leaves SBC
A retired military chaplain is glad that an Air Force chaplain who attended a same-sex civil union earlier this summer has decided to leave the Southern Baptist Convention. | The Trouble With Girl Scouts...
Concerned former Girl Scout families have created a three-part video series exposing a troubling promotion of abortion and sexual information by the organization. | | | | CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS | Eric Metaxas: Squawking Over Chick-fil-A
In a better world, buying pens and eating lunch would be a politics-free experience. All that would matter is whether we're getting value for our money. Unfortunately, we're stuck with the one we have. | Research On Religion: Religion Gap Is Deep and Wide
With the election season heating up, we revisit the issue of whether religion plays a role in voting behavior in the United States. Prof. Gerald De Maio's research examines the “religion gap” in American politics and how the media and scholary community have overlooked this rather salient feature in electoral politics. | Robert Morrison: Counterfeiting Money and Marriage
Marriage works like that, too. In Northern Europe, researcher Stanley Kurtz found, when governments began to counterfeit marriage by forcing people to accept same-sex couplings as marriages, we saw the total number of true marriages dropping. Counterfeit marriages drove out true. | Get Religion: The Media & Chick-fil-A -- The Internet Often Honors Stupid Stories
Last week I saw Chick-fil-A trending on Google and thought there must be some delicious promotion, some sort of free sandwich you get for dressing up like a cow. Eager to get a freebie, I clicked through to find out why people were searching. Surprise! Chick fil-A’s president Dan Cathy says.... | Get Religion: Walking On Coals for No Particular Spiritual Reason
....This brings me to an interesting New York Times piece about one of the most famous non-religious prophets (Or is that profits, in this case?) in our media world today. That would be the capitalist guru Tony Robbins. The key non-religious religion words in the story are right there in the headline.... | Matt Hamilton: Christians Against an Islamic Invasion
Even though Muslim groups in Nigeria like Boko Haram have been murdering Christians in a campaign of religious cleansing for years, Nigerian Christians have demonstrated enormous restraint...Reality however is that Christians are under attack from a determined enemy that seeks an Islamic... | Cal Thomas: Dark Night
By now the script should be familiar. A bombing or a mass shooting occurs and the media immediately look for a simple cause. Invariably, they turn to talk radio or some other conservative pit of “intolerance.” Within recent memory are tragedies like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the 1999.... | Chelsea Kolz: A Mother’s Pursuit of Happiness
I remember the smell of my mother’s first briefcase. She carried it during my earliest years, the years from which I can recall smells most deeply. But my mother regrets carrying the briefcase and, according to her, missing so many of my moments. | LaShawn Barber: Saying It Out Loud
...The video is a commentary on the president’s support for redefining marriage to include two people of the same sex, disregard for religious freedom, and other issues. | | | | MINISTRY, SCRIPTURE & LEADERSHIP RELATED ARTICLES AND ESSAYS | Brian Croft: What Essential Quality Must Every Pastor Possess?
When this question is asked today, many qualities would most certainly be listed as essential, depend- ing upon who answers. Great oratory skills, a winsome personality, abilities to lead to name a few. Yet, I believe one essential quality that every pastor must possess is the quality Spurgeon said... | Tony Merida: Ranting is Not Preaching
...While we need to apply the text to a given congregation, does this mean we just use a verse to jump into some agenda of ours? No. That’s not preaching. I have one word for the ranters out there: Keep your finger on the text when you teach and preach. And I will try to do the same.God has not called us to rant, he has called us to preach the word - faithfully, consistently, pastorally, patiently, and.... | David Cloud: Beware of Soft Separatism
The separation that is practiced by many fundamental Baptist churches is “soft,” meaning it is insufficient and ineffectual. It is insufficient in warning, insufficient in education, insufficient in the actual practice of separation. Soft separatism is characterized by focusing on positive truth and.... | Susan R Fri: Homeschoolers are Consumers, Too
When a new demographic emerges, companies begin to find ways to market their products to this budding audience, and entrepreneurs jump at the chance to fill an unexpected gap in the free market. Home schoolers have been such a demographic. In the early days of home schooling, parents used... | Thom Rainer: Why Unchurched Go Unreached
I am often amused when I hear myself identified as an expert in any area. If I am a perceived expert, it is because I have had the wonderful opportunity to listen to thousands of people over the past few decades. They are the experts; I am little more than an interested reporter. | Cripplegate: What Happens to Infants Who Die? The Need for an Answer
...Entering the NICU, we found the child on life support, and the doctors were not optimistic. Pastor John called the family around him, and he opened his Bible. In that setting, John gave a devotional about what happens to infants who die. As he talked, it was obvious that the family was being comforted by the truths of Scripture. But in the background, something unusual was happening. | Clint Archer: Three Reasons Seminaries Exist
....The seminary began covertly with 50 students meeting secretly in the forest during the oppressive iron fist of Communism. As the iron curtain rusted and disintegrated in 1989, the thriving seminary simply popped up like a cork that had been held under water awaiting a gap to emerge. | Wyatt Graham: The Gospel and Language Barriers
Every believer is called to preach the Gospel (Matt 28:18–20), but sometimes language barriers can get in the way. I have been finding this obstacle more and more frequently. As immigration increases, many cities find themselves resembling a mini-United Nations meeting. | Ron Edmondson: Four Words of Advice for a Newbie Leader
I am consistently asked about the beginning days of a leadership position. In my opinion, the opening days of any job are some of the most important. Apparently others think so also. | Tyler Braun: Where Holiness Begins
The collective story of so many people can be summarized in one word: shame. Our own sin and the sin of others has inflicted large, gaping wounds that have pushed us away from God and others as we’ve hidden ourselves and our shame. | | | | GENERAL ARTICLES & ESSAYS | Boston Herald: George W. Bush Reflects on Being President
...Bush stressed the importance of a leader having a vision and principles that won’t be sacrificed for the sake of popularity. ”When that happens, organizations tend to fail,” Bush said. “A lot of my decisions were informed by a set of principles I had developed by the time I went to Washington.” Popularity is like a “poof of air,” according to Bush. ”Principles are enduring,” he said. | Mere Orthodoxy: When Your Social Media Feeds Get You Down
Through the mirror dimly all we see is the chronically disappointing person who never quite satisfies us: the blogger who is never quite popular enough, the billionaire superhero who still isn’t satisfied, the Facebook poster whose clever or provocative posts don’t ever change anyone’s minds. But in Christ we see more clearly the truth about ourselves: that we are the beloved property of the God... | Art of Man.: How the Cycles of History Shape Values, Manhood, & Your Future
...We are often struck, even sort of tickled, about how much the hopes, observations, and complaints of people decades, even centuries, ago sound just like the hopes, observations, and complaints of modern folks. It’s uncanny sometimes! It is often said that history repeats itself. But do these repetitions happen at random…or is some kind of regular cycle at work? |
/////////////// ///////////////////////////////////////// |  .... India is undertaking one of the grandest technology experiments ever attempted. In a massive, nationwide project, the government is attempting to collect the demographic information, fingerprints, and iris scans of all 1.2 billion residents. With this information, the government hopes to issue a unique 12-digit “Aadhaar” (which means “foundation”) identity number to every man, woman, and child. If successful, India will build a major new piece of technological infrastructure for a modern economy, while fundamentally transforming the way residents interact with their government. MORE |  As the nation grieves over the shocking and senseless murder in Aurora, Colorado, the conversation turns to how to prevent such violence in the future. Some wonder what role violent media play in motivating twisted killers. Others suggest that stricter gun control is a key step in curtailing such havoc. Some of these are suggesting that gun control is not only the only sensible measure but the only thing consistent with a pro-life ethic. MORE |  ...From the dawn of history until the 18th century, every society in the world was impoverished, with only the thinnest film of wealth on top. Then came capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. Everywhere that capitalism subsequently took hold, national wealth began to increase and poverty began to fall. Everywhere that capitalism didn't take hold, people remained impoverished. Everywhere that capitalism has been rejected since then, poverty has increased. Capitalism has lifted the world out of poverty because it gives people a chance to get rich by creating value and reaping the rewards. Who better to be president of the greatest of all capitalist nations than a man who got rich by being a brilliant capitalist? MORE |  The Rev. Billy Graham has posted a new prayer letter on his website where he addresses the people of the nation and tells them he is very much afraid of the damage that the American lifestyle is doing in the eyes of the Lord. The 93-year-old evangelist begins his letter by recalling an incident a few years ago when his wife, Ruth, who has since passed away, remarked that "If God doesn't punish America, He'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah," referring to the cities in the Old Testament destroyed for the sinful nature of their residents. MORE |  ...While direct acknowledgement of Jesus is rare in movies today, there are few epic trilogies set in modern times in which allusions to Christ do not appear at all. Yet during the entire 456 minutes of the Batman series, thousands of characters appear in a diverse urban landscape, and not a single image or symbol alludes to an awareness of Jesus. here are no priests or nuns, no Bibles or churches. In the one funeral scene in the film, the reading is not from Scripture but from . . . Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Nolan has scrubbed all references to Jesus-- -intentionally I believe---in order to present a pre-Christian pagan universe, a world in which Christ's earthly ministry has not yet begun.. MORE |  ...Well, it would certainly save lives and countless injuries if people didn't engage in mountain-climbing, hang-gliding, motorcycle-racing, trampolining, big-wave surfing, cave-diving, heli-skiing, and a host of other dangerous activities. And, like guns, knives and baseball bats are common murder weapons. Does it logically follow that these items and activities should be banned? The point is that we never treat saving lives as the only imperative when devising policy. If we did, we'd perhaps consider reducing speed limits on highways to 5 mph, since this might save most of the 43,000 lives lost on the road each year. MORE | /...............| EDITOR'S DISCLAIMERPlease do not assume that a link to an author or a ministry implies our agreement with, or support of, that entity. Even the article or item itself may not agree with the editor's views. We trust our readers to discern the truth for themselves. Our purpose here is to make known to Christian leaders the issues of the day, and point to articles that may shed light on what others are thinking about an issue or subject. You can find more about the Editor's beliefs and views by clicking on About This Site. |
////........................ |  About one-third of the colleges and universities in the United States are on a financially unsustainable path, according to a study conducted by Bain & Company and Sterling Partners. The Christian Post found 10 Christian colleges and universities deemed financially unsustainable along with a number of others considered at risk of becoming financially unsustainable. "The financially sustainable university," written by Jeff Denneen and Tom Dretler, looked at financial stability along two dimensions: expense ratio and equity ratio. Those with a high increase in expense ratio (expenses as a percentage of revenue) and a high decrease in equity ratio (total net assets, or assets minus liabilities, divided by total assets) are considered financially unsustainable. MORE |  ....Can any good from these crimes: crimes of personal assault and crimes of cover-up? I cannot be objective in my analysis. Any objectivity goes out the window when I think of the children. Emotions supersede calm logic. Nevertheless, I keep asking myself to focus, to learn what I can as a leader. I must force myself to learn something if I am ever to be the kind of leader to make certain this tragedy does not place where I serve. If nothing else, I must learn leadership lessons for the sake of these children and future children. In doing so, I noted seven leadership lessons from Penn State. MORE |  ....What Cathy is experiencing is the tip of the iceberg. Right now, people are in court and being severely fined simply because they wish to exercise their faith convictions in how they run their businesses. Elane Photography is in court because the co-owner of the small New Mexico photo company couldn't in good conscience user her artistic skills to beautify a same-sex "commitment" ceremony. Hercules Industries is in court in Colorado because the Obama administration wants to force its owners to abandon their faith convictions when it comes to providing health insurance that covers abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception.... The list goes on and on. MORE |  The Obama administration, through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a new policy directive to the states that would waive work requirements in the welfare program known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). This program specifies the work requirements that accompany welfare assistance and requires recipients to work or actively look for work. The new policy suggests that new flexibility for states to help families find and secure employment. Since the emergence of this presidential memo, the issue has been hotly debated on both sides of the political aisle. But are we asking the right questions? What does removing the work requirements do to the very nature of work itself, and how does it alter incentives for those receiving welfare? MORE |  In 2006, the Episcopal Church's presiding bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori, told the New York Times that Episcopalians were not interested in "replenishing their ranks by having children." Instead, the church "[encouraged] people to pay attention to the stewardship of the earth and not use more than their portion." "Stewardship of the earth" and having children are not incompatible, but if Schori's goal was a principled extinction, she's about to succeed. The Episcopal Church, you see, is in a statistical free-fall. Since 2000, the Episcopal Church has lost 23 percent of its members. At this rate, there will be no Episcopalians in 26 years. MORE |
 While the Bible praises marriage and demands that we hold it in honor, it gives very little guidance on how we get from single to married. The Old Testament provides many and varied examples, but the New Testament describes and prescribes nothing. Nothing in the Bible prohibits the use of a dating service or the use of any kind of media as a means of communication between unmarried men and women. Though the New Testament could have decreed certain patterns of courtship or certain means of communication, the Lord, in his wisdom, chose not to address the subject. This tells us that we have freedom before the Lord to rely on wisdom and discernment in the pursuit of a spouse. So here’s the rub: Any question about eHarmony or online dating is not a question of truth or error, but a matter of wisdom. MORE |  If a major emergency happened in the United States, do you have faith that the government would take care of you? Amazingly, even after all of the examples to the contrary that we have seen in recent years, a solid majority of all Americans actually believe that the government will be there for them when things hit the fan. According to a new survey conducted by the Adelphi University Center for Health Innovation, 55 percent of Americans believe that the authorities will come to their rescue when disaster strikes. Sadly, most Americans still view the government as a "nanny state" that has both the capability.... MORE |  The recent shooting massacre in Aurora, Colo., has fed into a perception that America is becoming increasingly violent amid a gluttonous gun craze. Actually, the opposite is true, Patrick Egan, assistant professor of politics and public policy at New York University, points out in a post for The Monkey Cage, a political science blog. In the wake of the national tragedy in Colorado, Egan wrote that pundits have reached for explanations, with some blaming weak gun laws or the power of the gun lobby, while others talking about a cultural decline. MORE |  ....We think if someone could only answer why---by finding fault with gun lobbyists, or theater security, or the Tea Party, or Batman---we might be able to snuff out the source of this violence. Then maybe we'd be safe. But right now, no one can promise you'll be okay tonight if you decide to see The Dark Knight Rises. One Aurora victim even escaped a shooting last month at a Toronto mall, only to die shortly after tweeting friends last night about her excitement for the movie to begin. This might be the scariest thought about this random killing spree, which follows many others in varied settings in countries around the world: Authorities will promise to do everything to ensure our safety. But in the end, no one can guarantee our security... MORE |  There is no way, short of a miraculous and full-scale changing of hearts and minds, for North American denominations to survive the homosexuality crisis. Denominations like the PCUSA, ELCA, RCA, UMC, and Episcopal Church will continue. They won’t fold their tents and join the Southern Baptists (though wouldn’t that be interesting!). I’m not suggesting most of our old, mainline denominations will disappear. But I do not see how any of these once flourishing denominations will make it through the present crisis intact. And the sooner denominations admit this sobering reality the better. MORE |  Those who doubted Obama's immersion in Marxism now have a perfect window into his soul -- namely, in the form of the stunning class warfare remarks he recently made in Roanoke, Virginia. We must grasp, however, what Marxism is and what it is not. Marxism is not a political philosophy to help the poor at the expense of the rich, and it is not a design for a utopian future. Marxism is simply a Heart of Darkness, a Siamese twin of Nazism, a curse on all humanity committed to three themes: (1) hatred, (2) misery, and (3) lying. Marxism is neither a science nor a system of belief. It is a rationale for seizing power and terrorizing all those who are not its cadres. MORE |  .....Despite a legacy of some two hundred million (and counting) deaths in his name, Marx remains the godfather of the left. Such perverse idolatry is perhaps symptomatic of the left's pathological lust for power to reshape the world into a "heaven on earth." Mass genocides in the name of "social justice" could come only from a seriously warped ideology. To know Marx is to know the contemporary left as well. Both rest on duplicity, hypocrisy, and nihilism...It's argued here that Marx's obsession with fomenting revolution can be seen not as a matter of compassion for the proletariat, but as a self-aggrandizing nihilism. Marx was fixated on revolution and the power he might inherit from it. MORE |  The news hit the airwaves like a sudden onslaught, and the truth began to sink in. It has happened again. This time, 50 people shot while attending the midnight premier of the last in the Batman sequence, "The Dark Knight Rises." According to press reports, a 24-year-old man burst into the crowded theater, wearing a gas mask and carrying an arsenal. After deploying what is believed to be tear gas, he opened fire with a shotgun, a rifle, and two handguns. At least 12 people are dead, and dozens are injured, many critically. Over 100 police officers responded to the scene in Aurora, just a few miles from Columbine High School, where in 1999 two high school students killed... MORE |  The president's Roanoke speech goes beyond mere insult to American entrepreneurs.Certainly his words are offensive enough to business builders and owners; however, they go beyond mere insult. They go beyond the implication that the collective trumps the individual. They go beyond the trampling of the American dream. They even go beyond a direct attack on personal achievement and the fluid hierarchy that have characterized the American middle class. His core message, combined with other red-light indicators of a radically leftist political philosophy which includes wealth redistribution, is the message of the almighty and sovereign State: "We own you." MORE |
 Author Richard Louv believes that America’s children are now suffering from a syndrome he identifies as “nature- deficit disorder.” In his recent book, Last Child in the Woods, Louv suggests that the current generation of American children knows the Discovery Channel better than their own backyards–and that this loss of contact with nature leads to impoverished lives and stunted imagination. Louv begins by recounting an anecdote involving his son, Matthew. When the boy was about ten years of age, he asked his father: “Dad, how come it was more fun when you were a kid?” The boy was honestly reflecting on his knowledge of his father’s boyhood. Richard Louv, like most of us who came of age in his generation, spent most of our playing time outdoors, exploring every.... MORE |  ...Yet instead of attracting a younger, more open-minded demographic with these changes, the Episcopal Church’s dying has proceeded apace. Last week, while the church’s House of Bishops was approving a rite to bless same-sex unions, Episcopalian church attendance figures for 2000-10 circulated in the religion blogosphere. They showed something between a decline and a collapse: In the last decade, average Sunday attendance dropped 23 percent, and not a single Episcopal diocese in the country saw churchgoing increase. MORE |  I believe in using social media for Kingdom purposes, having done online ministry for over 15 years. I’m thankful for the intentionality of ministries and Christian-based businesses helping us to do that well. Here is how to Promote Your Church on Facebook: Your church is having a great new band visit in a few weeks and you want to let everyone in your community on Facebook know about it. The problem: your Facebook Page only has 200 “likes.” The solution: create a Facebook page post ad—yes it’s a mouthful to say, but not too difficult to do. Why should your church create a Facebook page post ad? MORE |
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