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Items on religion in public life and social discourse

Not on Sale: “The free-market ideologues take one instance of spontaneous order, and erect it into a prescription for all the others. They ask us to believe that the free exchange of commodities is the model for all social interaction. But many of our most important forms of life involve withdrawing what we value from the market: sexual morality is an obvious instance, city planning another. (America has failed abysmally in both those respects, of course.) Looked at from the anthropological point of view religion can be seen as an elaborate (and spontaneous) way in which communities remove what is most precious to them (i.e. all that concerns the creation and reproduction of community) from the erosion of the market.” (Roger Scruton, quoted by Rod Dreher )

Mon 14 Apr 2008 • Responses: 0 • from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

The Pope Comes to America: “Well, it set the dialogue in which those people have been engaged back. But that dialogue was going nowhere and the Pope knew it. An inter-religious dialogue that is an exchange of pleasantries – aren’t we all wonderful; wouldn’t it be nice if everyone else was as wonderful as we are – there are no real issues here. That’s not dialogue and that’s not tolerance.” (George Weigel, on Benedict, Islam, and Christianity, at a recent Pew Forum seminar. (h/t Insight Scoop) )

Wed 09 Apr 2008 • Responses: 0 • from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Both Read the Same Bible: ‘On the crest of this historiographical wave comes The Civil War as a Theological Crisis, the latest work from the nation’s premier historian of Christian thought. In the opening pages, Mark Noll explains that his goal is not primarily to shed light on the causes or course of the war but rather “to show how and why the cultural conflict that led to such a crisis for the nation also constituted a crisis for theology.” That crisis centered on two questions: what the Bible had to say about slavery, and what the conflict seemed to suggest about God’s providential design for the country. Although “both read the same Bible,” as Lincoln famously observed in his second inaugural, Protestants North and South discovered that “the Bible they had relied on for building up America’s republican civilization was not nearly … as inherently unifying for an overwhelmingly Christian people as they once had thought.” In the end it was the force of arms, not the Word of God, that would resolve the sectional dispute.’ (Robert Tracy McKenzie in Books & Culture )

Wed 09 Apr 2008 • Responses: 0 • from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Politics, God, and Blue Devils: “Areas of overlap likewise exist between presidential candidates’ religious commitments and their ability to serve in political office. After all, churches are no strangers to issues of membership, leadership, authority, budgets, and the struggle for consensus—and politics, at its root, is about making moral judgments. A robust national conversation would include room for exploring how religious commitments shape a candidate’s leadership ability and policy stances. Yet it would not allow that discussion to overshadow the many other factors that contribute to an effective presidency.” (Ryan Messmore, National Review Online )

Wed 02 Jan 2008 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Benedict on A Common Word: Very helpful news item with commentary and background links that put the Muslim statement into a larger perspective. Why has Benedict been so slow to respond publicly to the Muslim letter? “Because the kind of dialogue he wants is completely different. The pope is asking Islam to make the same journey that the Catholic Church made under pressure from the Enlightenment. Love of God and neighbor must be realized in the full acceptance of religious freedom.” (Sandro Magister, La Repubblica )

Mon 26 Nov 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Loving God and Neighbor Together: A response to the historically unprecedented statement from Muslim scholars and leaders, “A Common Word Between Us and You.” May both bear much fruit. “What is common between us lies not in something marginal nor in something merely important to each. It lies, rather, in something absolutely central to both: love of God and love of neighbor. Surprisingly for many Christians, your letter considers the dual command of love to be the foundational principle not just of the Christian faith, but of Islam as well. That so much common ground exists—common ground in some of the fundamentals of faith—gives hope that undeniable differences and even the very real external pressures that bear down upon us can not overshadow the common ground upon which we stand together. That this common ground consists in love of God and of neighbor gives hope that deep cooperation between us can be a hallmark of the relations between our two communities.” (Yale Center for Faith and Culture )

Mon 26 Nov 2007 from Peter Edman • Link & Comments

What Matters About Romney’s Religion: Must-read. “Romney, however, should not make Kennedy’s mistake and assert that all religious beliefs are unrelated to politics. What Mormonism shares with other religious traditions is a strong commitment to the value and dignity of human beings, including the unborn, the disabled and the poor. This conviction is unavoidably political, because it leads men and women to act in the cause of justice, not in order to impose their religion, but to protect the weak.” (Michael Gerson, op-ed, The Washington Post )

Fri 03 Aug 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Atheism Redux: Marty offers some helpful perspective on responding to the “new” atheism of Dawkins, Hitchens, & Co.:  ‘Send cards of thanks. These authors bring up differences in an age of indifference. Don’t sneer. Many of these authors sneer. Where does that get us? I quote William Paley: “Who can refute a sneer?” . . . Converse, don’t argue. No one wins arguments—which are determined by one’s knowing the answer—about the existence or nonexistence of God, but everyone can profit from a conversation that tries to pose good questions and respond to them.’ (Martin E. Marty, The Christian Century )

Tue 31 Jul 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Memory eternal, Pastor Will B. Dunn: Cartoonist and comic Doug Marlette has died in a tragic accident. May he rest in peace. “We don’t need constitutional protection to run boring, inoffensive cartoons. We don’t need constitutional protection to make money from advertising. We don’t need constitutional protection to tell readers exactly what they want to hear. We need constitutional protection for our right to express unpopular views.” (via Terry Mattingly, GetReligion.org )

Fri 13 Jul 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Europe’s Christian Comeback: “In fact, the rapid decline in the continent’s church attendance over the past 40 years may have done Europe a favor. It has freed churches of trying to operate as national entities that attempt to serve all members of society. Today, no church stands a realistic chance of incorporating everyone. Smaller, more focused bodies, however, can be more passionate, enthusiastic, and rigorously committed to personal holiness. To use a scientific analogy, when a star collapses, it becomes a white dwarf—smaller in size than it once was, but burning much more intensely. Across Europe, white-dwarf faith communities are growing within the remnants of the old mass church.” (Philip Jenkins, Foreign Policy )

Tue 12 Jun 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Continental Drift: “Is it possible, then, that the writers who have spent the past few years predicting Europe’s collapse could be wrong? The short answer is: no. Even a corpse has been known to twitch once or twice before the rigor mortis sets in. The longer answer is provided by Walter Laqueur in The Last Days of Europe, one of the more persuasive in a long line of volumes by authors on both sides of the Atlantic chronicling Europe’s decline and foretelling its collapse.” We can still hope. (Gerard Baker, The Times (London) / Wall Street Journal)

Tue 05 Jun 2007 from Peter Edman • Link & Comments

Religious Tolerance and the Common Good: Must read. “God made you for a purpose. The world needs the gifts he gave you. Adulthood brings power. Power brings responsibility. And the meaning of your life will hinge on a simple, basic choice. Will you engage the world with your heart and brains and faith, and work to make it a better place—not just for yourself and the people you love but also for people you don’t even know whose survival depends on your service to the common good? Or will you wrap yourself in a blanket of noise and toys and consumer junk, and stay a child?” I hadn’t realized he is on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom with Mike Cromartie.  (Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, On The Square )

Fri 25 May 2007 from Peter Edman • Link & Comments

Ceremonial Deism?: Good thoughts. “Ten or fifteen years ago it would have been unimaginable, but the natural unitive force of Christianity, ironically set free at last by the cultural solvent of radical secularism, has caused us to set the family quarrels aside for future resolution—I am not saying we should be indifferent about them or should whip up our denominations into an ecclesial souffle—and treat one another as the brothers and sisters we really are.” I commend the sentiment behind them to the shameful know-nothing branch of the Evangelical Theological Society.  (Anthony Esolen at Touchstone's Mere Comments blog)

Wed 09 May 2007 from Peter Edman • Link & Comments

Closing one door, opening another: On the retrenchment of Coral Ridge Ministries: “Politics is about compromise. The message of the church is about Truth. One has to look no further than the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons—who long ago gave up speaking of another kingdom and another King (if they ever did) in favor of faith in the Democratic Party—to see how quickly the church and its primary message can be blurred when it enters into a shotgun marriage with politics. . . . Nothing in the Bible commands believers to reform or redeem society through government and politics alone, or even mainly. Neither is there any expectation that non-Christians will be converted to the Christian point of view, which can vary on some topics, through politics.” (Cal Thomas, syndicated column )

Mon 07 May 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments

Al Gore’s remission of sin: “While I have my own religious thoughts, I will not disdain any man's search for the transcendent. But a religion should be understood by both its adherents and others for what it is—a religion. The trouble with global-warming believers is that probably most of them delude themselves into thinking they are practicing science—not religion. And yet, the signs of religiousness are readily to be seen. Al Gore and his Hollywood coterie have almost comically manifested one aspect of their new religion in the last few weeks—the sense of sin and the search for remission of such sin.” (Tony Blankley, The Washington Times, March 7, 2007)

Fri 09 Mar 2007 from TTF Staff • Link & Comments