European, Not Christian
Wed 01 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
Jay Tolson at U.S. News & World Report has written an article on the spiritual climate of Europe.
“European, Not Christian: An aggressive secularism sweeps the Continent” (30 May 2005). It looks generally well balanced, including discussion of causes and consequences and alternative spiritualities that are arising in the wake of the decline of organized religion. Jumping off from the Buttiglione debacle and a similar case experienced in Britain by Ruth Kelly, the article’s thesis is expressed here:
While Kelly survived the mini-tempest, her experience captures what many say is the prevailing attitude of European elites toward religion, particularly traditional religion and particularly in the public sphere. From the ban on the wearing of visible religious symbols in French public schools to the refusal of the EU to include specific mention of Christianity’s influence on Europe’s distinctive civilization in its first constitution, a mountain of anecdotal evidence suggests that an aggressive form of secularism--what the British religion writer Karen Armstrong calls “secular fundamentalism” --is afoot in Europe.
“Secular fundamentalism”? I’m a harsh critic of the misuse and recent overuse of the term “fundamentalist,” but Armstrong’s term seems fitting. Perhaps the rejection of the EU constitution by France and the Netherlands will be an opportunity to revisit the issue of the historic contributions of the Christian faith to Europe and moderate some unfortunate excesses.
U.S. Supreme Court Unanimous on Religious Liberty
Wed 01 Jun 2005 by Peter Edman
I’m very pleased to see news of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Cutter v. Wilkinson, upholding a section of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ("RLUIPA") that protects the religious exercise of prisoners.
There is commentary and further information at The Becket Fund.
The Becket Fund drafted and filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in Cutter on behalf of over fifty religious and civil rights organizations, ranging from People for the American Way to the American Center for Law and Justice. Denominational groups on the brief included Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, Sikhs, and others.
Useful commentary also from Notre Dame professor Richard Garnett on National Review Online, including a commendation of Justice Thomas’s concurring opinion.
Cromartie Edits New Book on Religion and Politics in America
Tue 31 May 2005 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellow Michael Cromartie has edited a new book of essays on religion and politics in the U.S., with particular focus on the role of journalists.
The book is titled, appropriately enough, Religion and Politics in America: A Conversation.
The current national discourse has brought faith and its relationship to public policy to the forefront of our daily news. Since 1999, the Ethics and Public Center, through the generosity of the Pew Charitable Trusts, has hosted six conferences for national journalists to help raise the level of their reporting by increasing their understanding of religion, religious communities, and the religious convictions that inform the political activity of devout believers. This book contains the presentations and conversations that grew out of those conferences.
Cromartie’s introduction is available here. We hope this contributes to better understanding of this critical issue.
Loconte on Religious Freedom in the Middle East
Tue 31 May 2005 by Peter Edman
TF Moderator Joseph Loconte has an article out in the 28 May 2005 issue of The Weekly Standard, “The Unmentionable Freedom: A new report on reform in the Arab world ignores religious liberty.”
[M]ost Islamic leaders and institutions--and now the scholars of the Arab Human Development Report--seem to have sworn an oath of silence about the problem of religious oppression, especially the plight of Muslims who challenge state orthodoxy on religious grounds. The lack of religious liberty prevents debate over the meaning of Islamic texts--a crucial step in offering a progressive interpretation of Islam. For all the talk of a "freedom deficit," the authors of the U.N. report fail to recognize the unique status of religious expression. They thus see no connection between the denial of religious rights and the political and economic stagnation of most of the world's 22 Arab states. Their two previous reports, which examined economic and educational issues, were similarly silent on the point.
The full text is for Standard subscribers only, but I will send a text version to interested Trinity Forum alumni .
Social Research: Science or Story?
Fri 27 May 2005 by Peter Edman
In preparing for our new curriculum on technology, I’ve been reading Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by the late Neil Postman. Am particularly struck by his (hopefully famous by now) discussion of “scientism” in chapter 9, which talks about the way current Western societies tend toward the presumption that the only legitimate knowledge is scientific knowledge.
The effect of this presumption is to deny the possibility of meaningful knowledge resulting from such human activities as literature, religion, and myth— “scientific hubris” is the term he uses. Postman particularly notes this effect in the rise of the “social sciences”, which he suggests are less science than storytelling. They never produce falsifiable findings. At best their studies rediscover “facts” that were obvious to traditional human wisdom (James Taranto, please call your office). Worse, their stories are packaged in a manner that is frequently boring and generally self-deceptive.
Welcome to Findings
Thu 26 May 2005 by TTF Staff
Findings is the old name of a weblog and online journal on faith and life from The Trinity Forum.
We are under active development this summer. You can see our new home page here.
We will feature items by and about our Senior Fellows, reviews of books and films, snippets from our ongoing research, and other items that will help leaders address the issues of their daily lives (public and private) in light of the great ideas of Western civilization and the perspectives of faith.
This is also the place we will post reading lists to help you dig deeper on topics related to our interests and our other resources.
Our primary goal here is to provide fodder for thought and conversation. We also intend to include practical ideas to help you apply our materials in different contexts as well as models for what the examined life can look like in practice.
Disclaimer: Postings on Implications are the responsibility of the poster or author and any opinions therein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Trinity Forum or its Trustees, Fellows, or Moderators.
Bookmark or syndicate us and come and join the conversation.
Tradition, Technology, and Wine
Thu 31 Mar 2005 by Peter Edman
An article from Wired News introduces a contentious theme in an approachable way. New technologies often interfere with traditional cultures and belief systems. The case study here is the vineyards of France.
In this case, new biotechnology and vintnery techniques are threatening the market dominance of traditional French vineyards. Interestingly, the development of the technology is driven as much by a new way of looking at wines—a change in worldview even—as it is by new advances in science.
I Beg to Disagree
Tue 22 Mar 2005 by Peter Edman
The eminently sensible columnist and economist Thomas Sowell raises a helpful point in a recent column.
Too many people today act as if no one can honestly disagree with them. If you have a difference of opinion with them, you are considered to be not merely in error but in sin. You are a racist, a homophobe or whatever the villain of the day happens to be.
Disagreements are inevitable whenever there are human beings but we seem to be in an era when the art of disagreeing is vanishing. That is a huge loss because out of disagreements have often come deeper understandings than either side had before confronting each other's arguments.
Oddly, I see this syndrome crop up with people who tend to downplay the reality of ultimate differences between religions (to take an example not at random).
Guide: To Change the World
Sun 23 May 2004 by TTF Staff
A discussion guide for the Trinity Forum Briefing “To Change the World” by James Davison Hunter.
You can also
A World Safe for Diversity
Mon 23 Oct 2000 by Os Guinness
Religious Liberty and the Rebuilding of the Public Philosophy
In this lecture from 2000, Os Guinness makes a case for the public role of faith as necessary for preserving diversity against tyranny and argues for ways to live together with our deepest differences.
