Watching an ultrasound of an abortion changed Abby Johnson forever. She is now prolife and has quit her job as director of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas. Johnson describes her conversion this way: “I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that’s it.” She also says that there was pressure on her to increase revenues for Planned Parenthood by increasing the number of abortions. She explains in The Houston Chronicle: “Definitely the most lucrative part of their business was abortions. One of the things that kept coming up was how family planning services were really…
-
-
N. T. Wright’s Response for CT Article
Colin Hansen’s report in Christianity Today last week suggested that N. T. Wright’s writings have influenced some Protestants to become Roman Catholic. Roman Catholic convert Taylor Marshall puts it this way: “If you buy into Wright’s approach to covenantal theology, then you’ve already taken three steps toward the Catholic Church. Keep following the trail and you’ll be Catholic.” The CT article only had a snippet of a response from Bishop Wright. Trevin Wax has Wright’s full response here.
-
Largest Church Building Program in Modern History
First Baptist Church of Dallas’ plan for a new building is said to be “the largest church building program in modern history,” the Dallas Morning News reports. There is a website that shows the plans for the building, and you can see extensive video renderings of what the facility will look like. The videos also include an historical piece on George W. Truett and W. A. Criswell.
-
The Myth of Monogamy
An article on CNN.com suggests that monogamy is on the decline and that serial monogamy and polyamory may be better alternatives. Serial monogamy is “a model in which people move from one committed long-term relationship to another and choose partners for different reasons at different stages of their life.” Polyamory is “the practice of having romantic relationships with multiple people at the same time with the full knowledge and consent of all involved.” This article is really sad for a lot of reasons, but I do think it accurately describes the decline of sexual mores in American society. What’s interesting, however, is that the author does not present any of…
-
The State of the American Woman–Part 2
CBMW hosted a short, informal discussion about feminism last week between Jim Hamilton and me. The article from TIME magazine that I wrote about last week is the point of departure for our conversation, and the video is above.
-
Evangelical Syncretism
I am astonished at how many evangelicals think that it is okay to observe a Ramadan fast with Muslims. Christianity Today has published remarks from ten evangelicals, five (or perhaps seven) of which think that it’s okay to fast with Muslims during Ramadan. Douglas Wilson is the last of the ten, and he sounds the clearest note against such a practice. He writes: “It is not appropriate to fast alongside Muslims. I wouldn’t make a point, if I were in a heavily Muslim state where everybody is fasting during the day, of fixing a hot dog and walking outside and eating it … but to observe Ramadan along with your…
-
Kids Pray the Darndest Things
We often snicker when my three-year-old daughter prays. She knows that she is supposed to kneel, to close her eyes, and to put her hands together. She has heard enough praying in her short life to know what kinds of words to include in a prayer. The only problem is, she hasn’t a clue how to put the words together in an appropriate way. For instance, she’s infamous in her Sunday School class for having prayed, “Lord, thank you for our sin.” Just this morning at the breakfast table, she prayed, “We thank you for God, and we forgive you.” Not exactly model prayers.
-
Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License
The Associated Press reports that a Justice of the Peace in Hammond, Louisiana has denied a marriage license to an interracial couple. The Judge says that he is not a racist, but that he has good reason for withholding the license: “I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house… My main concern is for the children… I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves… In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer… I try to treat everyone equally.”
-
Tebow’s Narrow Religion
Tom Krattenmaker has taken a whack at Tim Tebow in a recent article for USA Today. He complains that Tebow’s conservative Christianity has afflicted sports culture in general: “Jesus’ representatives in sports aren’t just practicing faith. They are also leveraging sports’ popularity to promote a message and doctrine that are out of sync with the diverse communities that support franchises, and with the unifying civic role that we expect of our teams.”
-
President Obama’s Revolution
On Saturday, President Obama delivered a speech to the Human Rights Campaign, one of the most ardent gay-rights organizations in the country. He promised to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to abolish the Defense of Marriage Act, and to sign into law the Matthew Shepherd hate crimes bill that was just passed in the U. S. House of Representatives. None of this is surprising, though it does seem inconsistent with his 2008 campaign statements affirming marriage as the union of one man and one woman. What was astonishing, however, was his open admission of what his real goal is. He’s not simply trying to change the law. He wants to…