Does the Slippery Slope Always Go to the Left? Umm…. No

Again, a slippery slope? Is that really a real live thing or just a fear?

In this video Conversation, Peter Enns asks author and theologian N.T. Wright to respond to a question from a BioLogos Forum reader about the implications of the relationship between politics and religion within the evangelical movement.

The reader notes that presently in the world of evangelical Christianity there seems to be a great suspicion about becoming too politically liberal but not about becoming too conservative. There seems to be a “slippery slope” argument toward the left, but not toward the right. This environment may lead to those on the left side of the evangelical spectrum to think about leaving the Church altogether—or for them to keep silent and not have any influence. Enns asks Wright for his thoughts on this issue.

Does the Slippery Slope Always Go to the Left? | The BioLogos Forum.

I know…you look at me and say ‘yes’, but I know of several who would reverse your viewpoint, those with more liberal theology than I (I still consider myself conservative here) and extremely more conservative politics.

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Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:46 pm by Joel · Permalink · View Comments
In: Religion and Politics · Tagged with: , , , , ,

Glenn Beck’s Generic American Civil Religion

Dr. Cargill, while pointing us to a great article on what is happening with Beck, writes,

Beck attempted to craft together an American civil religion that equates belief in God with belief in country – specifically, belief in political conservatism.

The author article starts by writing,

Fox News host Glenn Beck muddled biblical references with fragments of American history, recreating a pottage of civil religion that says America has a divine destiny and claiming that a national revival is beginning.

Yeah, I’d say muddled – muddled with Mormonism, American Exceptionalism, Revisionist History and political grandstanding. Great article, give it a read.

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Posted on September 2, 2010 at 12:39 pm by Joel · Permalink · View Comments
In: Mormonism, Religion and Politics · Tagged with: ,

Free Access to SAGE until October 15, 2010

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Posted on September 2, 2010 at 11:04 am by Joel · Permalink · View Comments
In: Technology · Tagged with: 

Flip Benham doesn’t speak for me or Jesus

This is a story from before the Muslim Community Center

About a dozen right-wing Christians, carrying placards and yelling “Islam is a lie,” angrily confronted worshippers outside a Fairfield Avenue mosque Friday.

“Jesus hates Muslims,” they screamed at worshippers arriving at the Masjid An-Noor mosque to prepare for the holy month of Ramadan. One protester shoved a placard at a group of young children leaving the mosque. “Murderers,” he shouted.

Police arrived on the scene to separate the groups, but said no arrests were made.

Flip Benham, of Dallas, Texas, organizer of the protest, was yelling at the worshipers with a bullhorn.

…but it shows what is happening out there almost daily…

Do you really like that Jesus hates Muslims? Or do we stand with the Scriptures and read as Paul wrote,

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Rom 5:8 NLT)

Now, I’m not sure about others, but as a sinner, I was worse than a Muslim… because I pretended to know Christ, pretended to speak for Him, and used His name as weapon, all the while being nothing more than a sinner. This is not the model of Christianity that I seek to know, or seek to instill in myself, my children, and others.

A group of western New York teenagers have been accused of harassing members of a mosque in Carlton, New York, during their evening Ramadan prayers, according to authorities. The teens allegedly yelled obscenities and insults at members of the mosque on Monday, and sideswiped a worshiper with a vehicle and fired a shotgun outside the mosque last Friday. The Times says it is “unclear” whether there is any connection between these incidents and that other little mosque story in the news these days. The county’s D.A. says these provocations are more intense than any they’ve seen before: “We’ve had minor incidents, but nothing of this magnitude in the past.” The teens have been charged with disrupting a religious service, a misdemeanor.

Teenagers Charged in Harassment at Mosque [NYT]

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Posted on September 1, 2010 at 3:48 pm by Joel · Permalink · View Comments
In: Islam · Tagged with: ,

Register Muslims in time of War

Seems that a radio station is polling their listeners about ‘registering’ Muslims in time of war, (here)

In telling a story, the Rev. Norvell writes of Roger Williams and the freedom of conscience,

In 1657, the Quakers arrived. Williams despised them, but opened the colony to them nonetheless. In the last years of his life, Williams happily rowed 30 miles from Providence to Newport for the express purpose of arguing with the Quakers. For Williams, liberty of conscience did not mean tolerance, agreement or even admiration; it meant mutual respect — respect deep and appreciative enough to encompass debate and disagreement.

Are we going backwards or forwards?

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Posted on September 1, 2010 at 2:37 pm by Joel · Permalink · View Comments
In: Religion and Politics · Tagged with: , ,

Biblioblog Rankings – August 2010

Thanks to Jeremy for all of his precious time….

1 Jim West Zwinglius Redivivus 67444
2 Joel L. Watts Church of Jesus Christ, The 108937
3 John Loftus Debunking Christianity 122834
4 Matthew and Madeleine MandM 131985
5 James McGrath Exploring Our Matrix 157741
6 Marc Cortez Scientia et Sapientia 192470
7 Stephen Smuts Biblical Paths 210494
8 Dan Wallace Contra Mundane 240563
9 Todd Bolen Bible Places 251402
10 Neil Godfrey Vridar 255299

Posted on September 1, 2010 at 2:00 pm by Joel · Permalink · View Comments
In: Biblioblogging · Tagged with: 

30 Bloggers, 30 Days, $30,000 – O Me of Little Faith

Imagine a crowd of 42,000 people. Now, imagine that 9 out of every10 of those people in that crowd are children under the age of 5. Those people, those children, you are imagining don’t have clean drinking water. They will die within one week. All 42,000 of them because unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions cause 80% of the world’s diseases, especially among children.

This is something than needs to be, and CAN BE fixed. There are a group of 30 bloggers trying to raise $30,000 in 30 days. You can read more about this and have some of your questions answered here, 30. 30. 30K

Our goal is to raise $30,000 for Charity:Water.

$30,000 will provide clean water to 1500 people in Africa.

$30,000 will provide clean water to 300 families in Africa.

$30,000 will provide clean water to six entire communities in Africa.

You think your small donation won’t help? Think again.

$20, for example, provides clean water to one person for 20 years. That’s four trips to Starbucks for you…or 20 years of water for them.

Posted on September 1, 2010 at 10:41 am by agapeton · Permalink · View Comments
In: Other Posts