There is an outstanding OP-ED in today’s New York Times declaring the bankruptcy of the Enlightenment and the atheism it spawned. In “Atheist Agonistes” Richard Schweder writes:
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Should College Administrators Blog?
The New York Times has an interesting story about college and university presidents who blog. The story is titled “Erasing Divide, College Leaders Take to Blogging.” The story explores the risks that a leader takes whenever he/she decides to keep a blog:
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Unholy Euphemism: “Induce Fetal Demise”
A euphemism is a figure of speech that substitutes a cultured or less offensive term for an offensive one. Everybody uses this figure of speech. It is so common that we hardly think about it. Every time you say “I am going to the bathroom,” you are using a euphemism that substitutes the report of what you actually intend to do with the room that you intend to do it in. There’s nothing wrong with euphemisms per se as they enable us to suffuse our speech with a certain decorum and respect.
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Grieving over and Praying for a Fallen Pastor
You cannot have missed the sad news about the former President of the National Association of Evangelicals and Pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I haven’t written about it until now because I simply could not have an opinion about a situation that I know so little about. The first couple of days of reporting included little more than speculation and the transmission of hearsay. But as of today, the picture has become fairly clear. The overseers at New Life Church issued a statement yesterday announcing the ouster of their pastor, and a letter from the pastor was read to the congregation today. Among other things,…
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Gay “Marriage”: A Debate about a Word?
A common misunderstanding about the debate over gay “marriage” is that this whole dust-up amounts to an argument about a word. The misunderstanding goes like this: “Conservatives want the word ‘marriage’ to refer to heterosexual unions, and liberals want the word to refer to heterosexual and homosexual unions.” If this were all that was as stake in this debate, then all that would be required is an updated edition of the dictionary.
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The Brilliance of Carter Beauford
Not many people know this, but once upon a time I used to be a drummer. I’m afraid the only time my drums get played anymore is when the worship band takes the stage at the Criswell College where I teach, and the guy playing my drums is definitely not me. This is for the best, since even when I was at the peak of my drumming powers, I wasn’t all that good.
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Where were you on September 16, 2001?
Where were you on September 16, 2001? Yes, you read the date correctly. I didn’t mean September 11. I am asking if you remember where you were five days later, Sunday, September 16, 2001.I remember where I was. I had just begun my Ph.D. studies at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY, and my wife and I were still visiting churches in thearea. That Sunday, we attended Clifton Baptist Church. Dr. Tom Schreiner, my doctoral supervisor and the pastor at Clifton, delivered a message from Luke 13 and reminded us of the sobering warning from Jesus: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish†(Luke 13:3). I heard a word from…
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Rosie O’Donnell: Christianity Is More Dangerous Than Radical Islam
Maybe you missed it, but Rosie O’Donnell made some outrageous remarks on “The View†this week. In an exchange with Elisabeth Hasselbeck, O’Donnell said that “Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have a separation of church and state.â€You can watch the video of O’Donnell’s remarks by clicking here. Hasselbeck countered O’Donnell’s comments by saying that, “We are not bombing ourselves here in the country. We are being attacked.†Even cohost Joy Behar was compelled to respond to O’Donnell’s outlandish claims saying, “Christians are not threatening to kill us. This group (radical Islamists) is threatening to kill us.†I think most…
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Bob Casey Betrays Pro-life Principles
I just finished listening to the latest “Meet the Press†podacast (see transcript), and I am profoundly disappointed in “pro-life†candidate Bob Casey. Democrat Bob Casey is challenging Republican Rick Santorum for his seat in the U.S. Senate, and it is one of the most watched races in the country. They met on “Meet the Press†this past Sunday to debate the issues.When Tim Russert asked Casey about his position on the so-called “morning after pill,†Bob Casey took a position that cannot be reconciled with his previously stated belief that life begins at conception. Here’s the exchange between Casey and Russert: MR. RUSSERT: The morning-after pill. You in favor…
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Stained-Glass Ceiling for Women as Pastors?
A recent article in the New York Times claims that even in more mainline denominations that ordain women as pastors, very few women are being called to pastor larger churches. Women now make up 51 percent of the students in divinity school. But in the mainline Protestant churches that have been ordaining women for decades, women account for only a small percentage — about 3 percent, according to one survey by a professor at Duke University — of pastors who lead large congregations, those with average Sunday attendance over 350 (source). So why is it that so few egalitarian/feminist churches actually employ women as lead pastors? Here’s my theory. God…