Last week, I was at a meeting hosted by The Alliance Defending Freedom. There I was introduced to a Christian family who was ordered by the State of Washington to sell abortion-inducing drugs in their family-owned pharmacy (see their story above). This family and two other pharmacists believe that killing unborn children is wrong, and so they sued the state for relief. In 2012, a federal court ruled that the law violated the free exercise clause of the first amendment and that the law was “riddled with exemptions for secular conduct, but contain no such exemptions for identical religiously-motivated conduct.” In 2015, however, a federal appeals court overruled and said…
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Pope Francis says he agrees with Martin Luther about justification
It was about five hundred years ago that the Roman Catholic church excommunicated Martin Luther for the teachings that led to the Protestant Reformation. Chief among these teachings was the idea that justification is by faith alone (sola fide). That is why it is baffling to read Pope Francis’s recent remarks about Luther. In a recent interview, a reporter asked the Pope if he might consider lifting Martin Luther’s excommunication. While the Pope did not offer to remove his excommunication, he did have some rather remarkable words. There is one particular paragraph worth highlighting: I think that the intentions of Martin Luther were not mistaken. He was a reformer. Perhaps…
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A Meditation on Psalm 19
I thank You for this piece of sky Which often I’ve let fly right by Without a single thought from whence It came or by it what is meant. For day to day it pours forth speech In words within my soul’s short reach. And night to night its knowledge pours Of You Who reigns forevermore. Its line has gone through all the earth To tell Your glory and Your worth.
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I’m a single-issue voter on multiple issues, and so are you.
Election 2016 has presented evangelical voters with a real conundrum. There is no clearly pro-life candidate in this race. We know where the presumptive Democratic nominee stands. And even though the presumptive GOP nominee professes to be pro-life, we have good reasons to doubt that claim. He praises Planned Parenthood, supports the “health” exception, and names his pro-abortion rights sister as the kind of judge that would make a good Supreme Court appointment. Still, many evangelicals who met with Trump this week in New York are making a “single-issue” calculation, and it goes like this. We know what kind of justices we would get with a Clinton presidency. There’s a…
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Albert Mohler discusses Trump and character in public leadership
Albert Mohler says that if he were to endorse Trump, he would have to apologize to President Clinton for everything he said about character and public leadership during the 1990’s. This is a good word. Mohler is not going to endorse any candidate, but it is clear where he stands on the Trump candidacy. Download here or listen below. You asked: I did not attend the New York meeting today with Donald Trump. — Albert Mohler (@albertmohler) June 21, 2016 Jerry Falwell Jr. fires back at critics after posing with Trump in front of Playboy https://t.co/uoruKFSfIG pic.twitter.com/xL4YUs98sP — The Hill (@thehill) June 22, 2016
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Donald Trump announces new religious advisory board
RNS reports that Donald Trump has named a new religious advisory board. The full list of board members is as follows: • Michele Bachmann — Former Congresswoman • A.R. Bernard — Senior Pastor and CEO, Christian Cultural Center • Mark Burns — Pastor, Harvest Praise and Worship Center • Tim Clinton — President, American Association of Christian Counselors • Kenneth and Gloria Copeland — Founders, Kenneth Copeland Ministries • James Dobson — Author, Psychologist and Host, “My Family Talk” • Jerry Falwell Jr. — President, Liberty University • Ronnie Floyd — Senior Pastor, Cross Church • Jentezen Franklin — Senior Pastor, Free Chapel • Jack Graham — Senior Pastor, Prestonwood…
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Blaine Adamson’s Conscience: Convictions in the Workplace
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Are Christians “complicit” in Orlando?
I just read Jen Hatmaker’s viral Facebook post in which she says Christians are “complicit” in the hate that led to the Orlando shooting. Among other things, she writes: Anti-LGBTQ sentiment has paved a long runway to hate crimes. When the gay community is denied civil liberties and respect and dignity, when we make gay jokes, when we say ‘that’s so gay’, when we turn our noses up or down, when we qualify every solitary statement of love with a caveat of disapproval, when we consistently disavow everything about the LGBTQ community, we create a culture ripe for hate. We are complicit. We cannot with any integrity honor in death…
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Southern Baptists address Orlando massacre
All of us are still reeling from the news of what happened in Orlando on Sunday. When I went into church Sunday morning, I had read that 20 people were killed in a mass shooting in Orlando. After I left church, I read that the number had risen to 50. I could hardly imagine the scale of such a horror. It was even harder to contemplate what the victims suffered. Who can bear even to think of it? As I mentioned on Sunday, every person in that night club was an image-bearer of Almighty God and had lives of inestimable worth and value before God. Their murders are an unmitigated…
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The Confederate Battle flag and Southern Baptists
I got a lump in my throat today watching what unfolded on the floor of the Southern Baptist Convention. The messengers considered a resolution against the Confederate Battle flag. People spoke for and against. But it was Dr. James Merritt’s speech that proved to be the seminal moment. Among other things, he told Southern Baptists, “I rise to say that all the Confederate Flags in the world are not worth one soul of any race.” Amen. Dr. Merritt’s speech and the subsequent vote are not going to be forgotten by those who witnessed what happened. Russell Moore has put this into historical perspective over at his website. I recommend that…