The Nation magazine has recently published a provocative story that opens with this paragraph: ‘When one of America’s largest electronic surveillance systems was launched in Palo Alto a year ago, it sparked an immediate national uproar. The new system tracked roughly 9 million Americans, broadcasting their photographs and personal information on the Internet; 700,000 web-savvy young people organized online protests in just days. Time declared it “Gen Y’s first official revolution,” while a Nation blogger lauded students for taking privacy activism to “a mass scale.” Yet today, the activism has waned, and the surveillance continues largely unabated.’ The “surveillance system” in question is the ubiquitous Facebook networking site. Chances are,…
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Abortion and China’s Brutal One-Child Policy
The brutality of China’s one-child policy is infamous. Supposedly forced abortions no longer exist there, but this heart-rending report says otherwise. Read this. Weep. And pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” ‘A Chinese woman who was forced to have an abortion despite being nine months pregnant is suing the authorities for their actions.
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Hypocrisy in the Anglican Communion?
According to the Associated Press, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., Katharine Jefferts Schori, says that the only difference between gay clergy in the American church and those in other churches in the world is that the Americans are now open about it. Speaking of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Bishop to be elected in the Episcopal church, she says this: “He is certainly not alone in being a gay bishop; he’s certainly not alone in being a gay partnered bishop. He is alone in being the only gay partnered bishop who’s open about that status.”
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Normalizing Same-Sex “Marriage” through Divorce
The Washington Post has a disturbing article about the legal challenges facing same-sex couples who were married in Massachusetts but are now seeking divorces in other states. The basic quandary is this. Whereas states have laws providing for the division of assets, custody of children, payment of alimony, etc., states that do not recognize same-sex unions have no legal provisions for the dissolution of same-sex “marriages.” A case in point appears in the first paragraph.
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Lechery and Its Fruits
The so-called sexual revolution has given to the culture more than it bargained for. At least that’s what I thought as I watched Paul Janka being interviewed on NBC’s “Today Show” on Monday (see video, Rated PG). Janka is a case-study in sexual libertinism gone to seed. He is a self-confessed “Cassanova” who claims over 100 “conquests,” and now he’s telling other guys how to do the same. Here’s how Janka says he approaches “dating”:
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Programming Note: Luke’s Gospel in Prime Time
This is a programming note about a special television broadcast this evening. Tonight on ABC at 7pm (Central Time) there will be a one hour broadcast that culminates with the reading of Luke 2:8-14. The broadcast will consider the excesses of holiday commercialism and then conclude with the assertion that the real meaning of Christmas is to be found Luke 2:8-14. This program might seem to be sort of an odd thing to find among the banal offerings of prime time television in 2007. But the broadcast is actually an annual event, and I’ll bet you’re already familiar with it. The program is called “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” I’ll be…
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Two Thoughts on Thanksgiving
Today is a holiday, so my post will be brief. 1. Do not miss John Piper’s short essay “Ganging Up on Gratitude.” It’s an exhortation to an atheist and a liberal Bishop who have a chip on their respective shoulders when it comes to giving thanks to God. Piper engages them evangelistically, and it reminds me why I am thankful to the Lord for the ministry of John Piper. 2. There’s a hymn that I learned in church as a youngster that I don’t often hear anymore (Thanks, Mom and Dad for taking me to church. What a heritage of grace!). Maybe some of you remember it. It’s called “Count…
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TIME Covers Evangelicals and Divorce
A week or so ago, I directed your attention to David Instone-Brewer’s controversial cover story from the October issue of Christianity Today: “What God Has Joined: What does the Bible really teach about divorce?” In my original post, I noted the series of responses and rejoinders that resulted, chiefly from John Piper and Andreas Köstenberger.
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An Historic Election in Louisiana
A good thing happened in my home state over the weekend. The voters of Louisiana made history by electing the first Indian-American ever to serve as a state governor, Bobby Jindal. The result was good for a couple of reasons. First, Jindal ran on an ethics reform platform. Anyone who knows anything about Louisiana politics knows that if Louisiana needs anything, it’s ethics reform. Politics in the bayou state has a sordid history (think Huey Long, Edwin Edwards and David Duke), and Jindal represents a break from that checkered past.
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J. P. Moreland Tweaks Mainstream Media
One of our favorite evangelical philosophers tweaks the mainstream media’s coverage of the abortion debate in America. The criticism appears in a recent blog post titled, “Michael Vick, Dog Fighting and Media Hypocrisy.” He writes: “Why won’t the media show pictures or video of abortions and aborted babies when they show the carnage of the Iraq war and the hideous dog fighting surrounding Michael Vick? Answer: It’s pure hypocrisy. The media is overwhelmingly secular and pro-abortion. The widespread use of ultra-sound pictures during pregnancy is decreasing the number of abortions. Similarly, if people were given the chance to view an abortion or its results on television, much of the abortion…