The Lukewarm Generation


First Things | by W. Bradford Wilcox | 3/8/2010

Sociologist Christian Smith began his ambitious, multivolume effort to plumb the religious lives of Americans across the life course in his 2005 with Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. In that book—aimed at an audience that the author hoped would include general readers as well as clergy and scholars—Smith painted an incisive portrait of religion among America’s adolescents. Especially insightful was the way Smith explained why the more sectarian religious traditions in the United States, such as evangelical Protestantism and Mormonism, were achieving greater success than more churchly traditions such as mainline Protestantism and Roman Catholicism in transmitting their faiths to the next generation. Also notable was the way Smith explained how the guiding religious ethos of American teenagers—what he aptly termed “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”—seemed so suited for our culture. [Read more…]

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Opposing the Homosexual Agenda: Religious Bigotry or Science and Justice?


Catholic Online | Sonja Corbitt | Feb. 16, 2010

To claim that by opposing the gay agenda the Church is acting in an unloving manner is patently untrue.

It is considered negligent to allow or actively support action, drug abuse for example, that you know is both dangerous and destructive. Imagine being accused of bigotry after forbidding such action in one of your children. Yet Church opposition of the homosexual agenda draws angry criticism from those who claim her stance on homosexuality is based solely on religious bigotry against homosexuals. [Read more…]

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The Faith of the Founders, How Christian Were They

BreakPoint | by Gary Scott Smith | Feb. 23, 2010

One of today’s most contentious culture wars is over the religious commitments of our nation’s founders.

Were most of them orthodox Christians, deists, or agnostics? Scholarly books, college classes, radio talk shows, and blogs all debate this issue, and the Texas Board of Education recently joined the fray. Because of Texas’ large number of students, its huge educational fund, and its statewide curriculum guidelines, this board strongly influences what textbooks are published in the United States. Last month the board reviewed the state’s social studies curriculum, and its conservative Christian members injected more analysis of religion into the guidelines, including assessment of whether the United States was founded as a Christian nation and how Christian were the founders. [Read more…]

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Theism and Belief

Townhall | by Mike Adams | Jan. 25, 2010

What kind of education are we providing when professors are teaching courses aimed at indoctrination into atheism? And what are we to do about it? […]

I think a new definition of the liberal is in order: A liberal is someone who only wants to be free from the consequences of freedom. This tendency to seek freedom from the consequences of one’s free choices is seen in a lot of areas of liberal policy making. Here are some of the more obvious areas: [Read more…]

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Miracle at Planned Parenthood

BreakPoint | by Chuck Colson | Jan. 26, 2010

People often ask me if I believe in miracles. Of course I do! I see them every day. Because a changed heart is nothing short of a miracle.

If your conscience required it, could you turn your back on the job you’d dedicated your entire adult life to?

That’s what Abby Johnson did. After nine years as director of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas, Johnson left in October to join the Coalition for Life, a group that holds prayer rallies outside that same clinic—and a group of which she had once been a vocal critic. [Read more…]

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A Petition of Christian Conscience

BreakPoint | by Chuck Colson | Jan. 22, 2010

One of my all-time favorite movies reminds me that it often takes a bold act to awaken the conscience of a nation. It’s one of the most dramatic scenes in a really great movie. The movie is Amazing Grace. The scene is the House of Commons in the latter years of the eighteenth century. William Wilberforce stuns his parliamentary colleagues by unrolling an enormous scroll down the aisle. On the scroll were the signatures of 390,000 Englishmen, demanding that Parliament abolish the slave trade—the greatest moral issue of the day. [Read more…]

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Thomas Hopko: Darwin and Christianity – Part 1


Speaking the Truth in Love | Fr. Thomas Hopko | Jan 21, 2010

What is the relationship between the concepts of natural selection and Christian theology? Fr. Tom begins a series of reflections on Charles Darwin and what he has learned in his research may surprise you!

Darwin and Christianity – Part 1 – 1/21/2010 http://audio.ancientfaith.com/hopko/stt_2010-01-20.mp3|titles=Darwin

[Read more…]

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Ten Steps to a Better Prayer Life

OrthodoxyToday | by Fr. Hans Jacobse | Jan. 11, 2010

If you want to improve your prayer life, the time to take action is now. These ideas may seem of little significance, but can help you make leaps and bounds in the intensity and consistency of your prayer.

1. Designate A Prayer Space
Whether it is in the corner of your desk or a little stand in your room, it is important to have a place where you can put your Bible, Icons, etc. Dedicate the use of that space for God alone.

2. Acquire A Time
Incorporate prayer in your routine and set time aside to center your thoughts to God. [Read more…]

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What’s Islam? Don’t Ask Google

Fox News | Jan. 8, 2010

Google’s search engine returns common results to most queries as you type. But the “don’t be evil” company appears to be censoring its results when it comes to Islam.

Type “Christianity is” into Google and you’ll get a list of common searches. But the engine appears to suppress results for “Islam is.” [Read more…]

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If You Can Find a Better Deal, Take It!

Human Events | by Ann Coulter | Jan. 6, 2010

Someone mentioned Christianity on television recently and liberals reacted with their usual howls of rage and blinking incomprehension. On a Fox News panel discussing Tiger Woods, Brit Hume said, perfectly accurately:

“The extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So, my message to Tiger would be, ‘Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.” [Read more…]

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