The tide was going out on religion back in 1867, when Matthew Arnold wrote: "The sea of faith was once, too, at the full ... But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar." But tides ebb and flow. As that wise old atheistic cynic Philip Larkin put it, people will always surprise themselves with their yearning for something "more serious", seeking it in "a serious house on serious earth" -- which is how he describes the church.
Read moreMy village had two churches, the Anglican parish church and the Baptist chapel. In the nineteenth century, both were central to village life. The current primary (elementary) school was founded by the Baptists in the nineteenth century when their children were effectively excluded from the Anglican school because of their theological beliefs. Religion may have created a fault line, but it was also a deep source of identity and community.
Read moreLifeway found that 63% of surveyed Protestant pastors said their churches also have "a similar increasing dread specifically about the future of Christianity in the U.S. and around the world."
However, the report noted that the numbers represented a decline from past years, as 76% of Protestant pastors reported "a growing sense of fear" in 2010, and 74% reported the same in 2014.
Read moreFirst, we live in a childish age, where immaturity is lionized, whether it be the spoilt-brat behavior of some celebrity or the cheap tantrums of Joe Public on Twitter. True, Jesus commands His disciples to have the faith of children, but there is a big difference between serious childlikeness and silly childishness. Leading worship as a pair of giggling cartoon characters can only be described--and that with charity--as the latter.
Read moreWe need honest, accurate, comprehensive sex education, which is one reason CSE horrifies me. It is not remotely comprehensive; it is not very educational, nor, ironically, even very informed on the actual sex/orgasm aspects! [2]
I remind the reader of several resources which explore these matters more fully, including Laurence Fox' excellent '#Groomed: How Schools Sexualise Your Children' and the Family Watch International's classic, 'War on Children'. [3]
Read moreMany of us know that earlier generations of Christians tried to make the Scriptures support eugenics, persecution of Jews, and racial segregation. All three of these dastardly practices were popular with cultured elites in their day. Today we condemn those Christians who misused the Bible for those purposes, and in principle reject any misapplication of Scripture to suit the latest dominant mores.
Read moreIn his video marking the first anniversary since the gathering, Welby looked back and remarked that those gathered at the Lambeth Conference had "offered and received hospitality from one another".
Read moreAs sheep do, the animals allow themselves to be blindly guided by the canine, which drives them off a cliff to their deaths. The dog meanwhile remains safely at the top of the precipice, impervious to the fact that it has destroyed everything his master has worked so hard to achieve.
Read moreA new book, written by Jim Davis, a pastor at an evangelical church in Orlando, and Michael Graham, a writer with the Gospel Coalition, draws on surveys of more than 7,000 Americans by the political scientists Ryan Burge and Paul Djupe, attempting to explain why people have left churches--or "dechurched," in the book's lingo--and what, if anything, can be done to get some people to come back.
Read moreNot so long ago, I could comfort American audiences with a contrast: Whereas in the Middle East, politics is war by other means--and sometimes is literal war--politics in America was less existentially fraught. During the Arab Spring, in countries like Egypt and Tunisia, debates weren't about health care or taxes--they were, with sometimes frightening intensity, about foundational questions: What does it mean to be a nation? What is the purpose of the state?
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