Dangerous Times: America will Survive Obama. Ask yourself why liberation from slavery has dominated Jewish and later Christian thought for three thousand years? Jesus' Last Supper was a seder ceremony. Black churches used the Egyptian slavery of the children of Israel as a model for their own experiences of slavery and liberation. So have other liberation movements, including the Abolitionists and the American founders. The Jewish flight from Egyptian slavery was a model of human liberation in the West, until Karl Marx twisted liberty into tyranny. Now we have a president who confuses slavery and liberty, most obviously in the case of the Islamist Spring, which is certainly not an Arab Spring, since in Syria alone nearly 100,000 Arabs have killed each other by now.
To make the results clear beyond question, the Morsi regime in Egypt has just imposed a Sharia constitution that drops the provision against slavery. In Islam it is not freedom but complete submission that is emphasized. I think America will survive and ultimately win. State of the Bible in 2013 [Infographic. As we think about and retell the story of our crucified and resurrected Lord, I found this infographic particularly interesting, today. It answers a few questions, such as: What do Americans believe about the Bible? What role does it play in their lives?
And more. Take a closer look and give me your thoughts: [Click for Larger] The Bible, the Gospel, the Good News, what ever your favorite term may be, the Word of God is pivotal and foundational for all we believe and act-out in our daily lives. What’s your interpretation of these statistics? [via American Bible Society] Related Bible Bloom iPhone Bible App [Editor's Note: We're giving away 5 copies of Bible Bloom!]
In "Bible" Technology, Teens, and The Church It's Sunday morning and Church is about to begin. More Americans Than Ever Before See the Bible as a Book of Myths. What Do Americans Really Think About the Bible? April 18, 2013 – No matter what’s happening around the world, leadership takes center stage. Kim Jong Un is leading his nation to the brink of war. A group of Senators is directing their Senate compatriots to adopt new policies about illegal immigration. People speculate where the new Pope and the new Archbishop of Canterbury will take their respective churches. On a daily basis, the cable news talking heads either applaud or excoriate the leadership of President Obama.
Concern over leadership is, it seems, everywhere in church and culture. But that also makes it difficult to define. The Traits that Make a Leader What’s the most important quality in a leader? Among evangelical Christians, who are a subset of the larger group of self-identified Christians, the results are largely the same with one notable exception—more than eight out of ten (83%) evangelicals listed “passion for God” as an important trait for leaders, compared with the 31% of all Christians. Your Calling or Just a Job? Priebus and his 'Old Testament heretics' Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus sat down with USA Today around the same time marriage equality was being discussed at the U.S.
Supreme Court, and the paper reported that the GOP’s “absolute opposition to same-sex marriage” is unchanged, though Priebus intends to “welcome” those who disagree. “We do have a platform, and we adhere to that platform,” Priebus said in an interview Monday on USA TODAY’s Capital Download video series. “But it doesn’t mean that we divide and subtract people from our party” who support the right of gay men and lesbians to marry. “I don’t believe we need to act like Old Testament heretics,” he said, saying Republicans “have to strike a balance between principle and grace and respect.” I’m not sure Priebus is using “heretic” correctly. Was he trying to say Republicans don’t have to act like Old Testament absolutists? Purists? In any case, I find the RNC chairman’s larger point fascinating. Reince Priebus: No ‘Old Testament heretics’ - Breanna Edwards.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus isn’t changing his own views on same-sex marriage, but is encouraging his party to not act like “Old Testament heretics” on the issue. “My position is that marriage is between a man and a woman, but my other position is also that you treat people with dignity and respect and love and grace and so I think that they’re all compatible with each other,” Priebus said in an interview Monday with USA Today’s Susan Page. “I don’t believe we need to act like, you know, Old Testament heretics either.” Continue Reading SCOTUS pundits: Courts divided When pushed to explain what he meant by “Old Testament heretics,” Priebus said that striking a balance in what you believe and still respecting people is key.
“I think that you have to strike a balance between principle and grace and respect and that’s what I’m just trying to do,” he said. Religiosity and wealth. Are Journalists and Academics Purposefully Re-Writing the Bible to Make It a ‘Tool of Progressive Social Change’? The mainstream media’s handling of issues pertaining to religion has always received a fair bit of scrutiny from conservatives and people of faith, alike, as outlets are generally perceived as lacking understanding about these important cultural structures.
And academics and entertainers, too, are frequently accused by conservatives of being biased against both religious sentiment and right-of-center perspectives. Believing that these sectors work diligently to expand left-leaning policies and ideologies, an intriguing, yet controversial, question has arisen: Are journalists, academics and Hollywood elite purposefully re-writing the Bible to make it a tool of progressive social change? Written by Paul Wilson, a fellow at CMI, the report charges that these parties — regular targets of conservative angst — have been reworking holy scriptures in an effort to drive home liberal ideals. TheBlaze was given a sneak-peak at the report before its release later this afternoon.
Rewriting the Bible: The Gospel According to Liberals. When liberals and their media allies have an agenda to push, they’ll use any tool at hand. The left often rails against the presence of religion in civic life, mocking conservative Christians as “Taliban” agitating for theocracy. But other times, they find faith to be a handy weapon to bludgeon conservatives. And they’ll go so far as to reinterpret and rewrite the Bible to justify any liberal cause, no matter how outrageous. In 2010, MSNBC anchor Melissa Harris-Perry summed up this strategy in her call for “re-imagining the Bible as a tool of progressive social change.” Huffington Post contributor Mike Lux embraced Harris-Perry’s advice, writing that the Bible embodies “all kinds” of “liberal, lefty, progressive values.” Story Continues Below Ad ↓ The Media Research Center’s Culture and Media Institute analyzed the various ways liberals and the media have used and abused the Bible to mock religion, attack conservatives and justify left-wing policy.
Thou Shalt Adopt Radical Economics Dr. Ralph Reed Attacked for Using Bible in Immigration Debate. (Photo: Faith and Freedom Coalition via The Christian Post) February 22, 2013|5:15 pm Conservative political activist Ralph Reed is taking a lashing from liberal blogs and media organizations for applying biblical principles to the immigration reform debate, which he wrote about in a recent op-ed for USA Today.
In the op-ed, Reed suggests that politicians can and should refer to the Bible for guidance on difficult issues, such as illegal immigration, when writing laws that affect the citizens of the United States, and those who are applying for citizenship. To support his position, Reed cites historical events from the Bible that reflect the values modern-day Christians should exhibit in response to immigration: Deuteronomy 10:19, Hebrews 11:9, Matthew 2:14, Exodus 12:49 and Ezekiel 48:22. "In our own time Mexicans, Indians, Koreans and others come to the U.S. for the same reason: They hunger to be free," said Reed, who supports Sen.
Follow us Get CP eNewsletter ›› In Politics, Is the Bible Enough? February 24, 2013|7:42 am The Bible is not sufficient for evangelicals when they address public policy issues, participants agreed at a Wednesday conference at the American Enterprise Institute called "Is the Good Book good enough? Evangelical perspectives on public policy. " Tackling issues as diverse as poverty, immigration, criminal justice, economic regulation, nuclear proliferation, and human rights, the panelists demonstrated how evangelical traditions could make, or have made, unique contributions to public policy debates. Most of the participants were contributors to an edited book of the same name, first published in 2011. Read more at. Right Wing Bigots Claim Immigration Reform Path to Citizenship Violates the Bible. Religious bigots have a difficult time understanding that the United States is not Israel; that the law of the land is not Leviticus or the Ten Commandments or even the Bible, but the United States Constitution, which prohibits the establishment of a state religion; that their God, their Bible, and their Ten Commandments, do not even get a passing nod in said Constitution.
Ralph Reed, a huckster if there ever was one, took the op-ed pages of USA Today to demonstrate how geographically and constitutionally-challenged he is, opining that, “As politicians seek to solve the thorny problem of U.S. immigration policy, they should sit down with the faith community and perhaps open their Bibles.” In Scripture, the obligation to care for the alien carries a corollary responsibility for the immigrant to obey the law and respect national customs. In the Old Testament, immigrants who followed the law shared in the inheritance of Israel. Amnesty violates this principle. This is a crazy jumble.