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Text of the page (random words):
ows how major media can drastically downplay what christians actually think while in pursuit of the sexy narrative that traditional religious belief is in dramatic decline exemplifying the misleading pull of this narrative one graphic charts the rise of atheism in iceland but the two mutually exclusive responses plotted are religious believers and non religious where the latter includes atheists and non religious people like a cheap off brand hot dog vendor some editor has allowed this chart to puff up atheism with filler that includes agnostics and non religious people this probably counts many spiritual theists who for whatever reason don t self identify with a religious tradition so all told don t believe a headline when it says literally no young icelanders believe in creation photo credit travfotos via foter com cc by nc share this email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x like loading filed under all posts apologetics tagged with atheism christianity creationism iceland media bias news science democrats and identity politics dishonesty january 14 2016 leave a comment fox news is a venue more fit for exchanging sound bites than exchanging measured arguments yet there is value even in analyzing sound bites because those still should be backed by honesty and integrity over two consecutive nights on megyn kelly s the kelly file democratic national committee chair debbie wasserman schultz and then democratic strategist robert zimmerman dutifully dropped their d bombs diversity and discrimination to drive home a tired narrative that republicans are mired in a racist misogynistic and homophobic past whatever else those bombs were loaded with it wasn t honesty or integrity democrat zimmerman twice asserted that republicans were stuck in the 1950s but democrats seem to be mired in the 1960s for that was when equal pay for women was enacted by legislation under john f kennedy he s been dead for more than 50 years but democrats keep exploiting the senseless women s pay equality meme to keep doing so without substantiating evidence is politically dishonest and that dishonesty goes all the way up the chain to president barack obama and former secretary of state hillary clinton zimmerman also alleges republicans of wanting to discriminate against lgbt americans but this is just an empty smear when social conservatives are amply justified to support policies based on natural law and common sense the charge that they want to legislate jim crow animus against sexual minorities does not stick do republicans really have a problem with minorities generally they do have a disproportionate lack of support among minority voters but arguably that is more due to the stereotypes those voters hold of republicans than the substance of republican policies indeed when it comes to republican officeholders the problem vanishes for example susana martinez and nikki haley are both nonwhite female twice elected republican governors democrats really need a new playbook and contrary to what wasserman schultz said to megyn kelly haley has had a very sunny approval rating in south carolina making her one of the most popular governors sic in the country debbie wasserman schultz is emblematic of what s wrong with politics today she is a con woman whose rhetoric is totally disconnected from reality zimmerman and democrats right up through the president have this same disconnect to be sure they don t monopolize this problem to the exclusion of republicans inasmuch they blame immigrants for the econimic hardships of america s working class they partake in the disconnect too but democrats seem to be the masters of spewing identity politics nonsense http video foxnews com v 4703064148001 did dnc chair make sexist remarks about gov nikki haley playlist_id 928378949001 share this email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x like loading filed under all posts tagged with debbie wasserman schultz democrats identity politics nikki haley politics republicans arguing about race and justice an apologist s perspective january 5 2016 1 comment intervarsity christian fellowship drew critical attention for a talk on racial justice delivered at urbana 15 its recent student missions conference after plenary speaker michelle higgins called out pro life activism and explained black lives matters to evangelicals intervarsity issued a clarifying statement many conservative christians struggle to understand where higgins message comes from but it is not a new one in the christian church or even for intervarsity what she said is important to understand because everyone should know and speak truth and act justly what higgins says most people will find things to agree with and disagree with in what higgins says in an online video of her talk she shares her personal story or her narrative for her this includes the brutal killing of a mixed race man by white authorities in 1837 not far from where higgins lives and the urbana conference is periodically held disappointed that evangelicals don t want to talk about racial justice in the wake of several high profile police killings of young black men higgins asserts that her fellow evangelicals have edited and blanked out parts of their own story she believes evangelicals have inherited a burden of white supremacy that says white is right higgins affirms that god alone gives people their dignity and that christians should give control of their narratives to him practically this means standing in solidarity with black lives matters rather than remaining comfortably indifferent finally she asserts that we have the means to end racist and classist oppression but we need the will to end it insight from an apologist as a mixed race son of a white american father and an immigrant thai mother i have long questioned personal identity claims i don t fit neatly inside many boxes having come to christian faith in adolescence i was deeply involved in an invervarsity community all through college and for years after but like many others i wasn t adequately equipped to interact with some of intervarsity s views on racial justice it took a few years before i learned to critically examine worldviews through my involvement with christian apologetics like i suspect higgins does i believe christians should speak and act truth in love and this extends to race and justice telling truth carefully in the face of those who deny it michelle higgins correctly exhorts students at urbana to tell the truth the whole truth but she overgeneralizes when she ascribes denial to north american evangelicals for example higgins reports the evangelical heart attitude this way we re not ready to talk about the fact that black bodies are grotesque to us we don t want to admit that that s a part of our story we ve blanked out i can see this as an appropriate expression of righteous anger over a particular harm i can see this as rhetoric to alert evangelical imaginations to some overlooked truth but to assert that a whole group is in denial about something is a broad brush stereotype and a stumbling block to mutual understanding evangelists know that people bristle when they are told they are guilty of some sin they are unaware of so why do social justice christians speak so cavalierly to so readily peg another s heart attitude easily comes off as a manipulative and bald assertion prophetically speaking truth to power is appropriate for those who stand guilty but it is far from established that evangelicals individually or collectively are guilty of all that higgins lays before them at another point in her talk higgins says evangelicals have inherited a dominating eurocentrism from the first missionaries arriving on the continent she sums the inherited attitude this way i will not translate my bible into their language i will teach them what my bible says according to me and have them learn what i believe christianity to be any christian who is familiar with missions work knows that for centuries missionaries have diligently translated the bible into native tongues and for decades missionaries have been sensitive to the error of transmitting cultural non essentials to people groups being reached out to these perhaps more so than the arrogant errors of four or five hundred years ago are also evangelicals inheritance in the face of broad rhetorical accusations many evangelicals have legitimate and unanswered questions speaking for intervarsity greg jao acknowledges the dissonance students experienced after higgins talk this was the first time many of them heard a message like this and they were really wrestling with the implications what does white complicity look like what s my responsibility as a member of the majority culture and how do i know that what they re saying is true advancing agreement through argument the rhetorical questions jao asks are familiar to me as an intervarsity alum i ve heard asked many times what does it look like this is not a bad way to proceed from established truths but white complicity is controversial it isn t established in the church the academy or north american society that the crime of whiteness implicates any particular individual in any historical or systemic transgression this is not denial but careful truth telling merely finding that one s values and tastes come from europe rather than africa doesn t make one guilty of dominance social justice christians who want to assert otherwise need to do more than just start conversations with open ended questions requests for clarification and making distinctions aren t always excuse seeking or the mere side effect of feeling uncomfortable instead they are often crucial steps toward having constructive arguments that help lead to agreeing upon publicly shared truths christian apologists do this in the broader culture keeping in mind peter s advice to always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have but do this with gentleness and respect 1 peter 3 15 an attitude of charity rather confrontation and a disposition of credulity rather than suspicion is required in helping others to see a truth that you see across the belief spectrum it feels good to stand prophetically speaking truth to power but invoking imaginative sympathy and standing in solidarity aren t enough to love god and neighbor we must carefully speak the truth in pursuit of a deliberative consensus human imagination doesn t just motivate feelings of sympathy and acts of solidarity but enables acts of accurate understanding if we can speak charitably rather than mislabel each other in the church we will be closer to fulfilling jesus words in john 13 35 that by this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another share this email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x like loading filed under all posts apologetics tagged with apologetics black lives matter christianity intervarsity christian fellowship justice racism urbana christians and self sacrifice do we have to december 31 2015 leave a comment talking about ethical controversies in terms of we easily leads to confusion and misunderstanding unfortunately this is all too common when drawing ethical guidance from the bible there s a tendency to assume that a passage can be read as one size fits all such that it supplies an absolute guiding principle for all times places and situations but not all prescriptions are absolute and accordingly we should not blindly follow them rather look at a passage s context who is the message intended for and in what circumstance and if there is a principle to be had take it for a test drive to see if any absurdities arise a couple of recent social controversies exemplify the problem of taking biblical prescriptions absolutely in both cases people are concerned about what christians should not be doing but in the end i don t think these proscriptions are absolutely authoritative for anyone 1 christians and guns earlier this month john piper offered a charitable and scriptural corrective to jerry falwell jr s admonition that liberty university students should train to carry concealed weapons in his post piper acknowledges that god ordains the state to wield the sword for the purpose of justice however he hesitates to affirm that ordinary christians should be so armed drawing from paul and especially from 1 peter piper relates correctly that god intends to reveal the supreme worth of his son and his salvation in the special grace of a christian people who have the miraculous power to entrust themselves to his care while suffering unjustly further the new testament produces a heart that trusts in the help of god in every situation finally piper asks what is the moment of life threatening danger for is it for showing how powerful and preemptive we have been is it to show our shrewdness that we have a gun in our back pocket and we can show you something that is a response learned from jason bourne not jesus and the bible that response appeals to everything earthly in us and requires no miracle of the new birth i agree that god intends to use christian suffering to testify about christ but does this imply that christians should never prepare for life threatening events and instances of suffering i m not sure piper means to say this yet this absolute interpretation gets defended in daily conversations before we take this view for a test drive let s gain some insight from a second recent controversy 2 you don t get to make that move this fall christians voiced strong reservations about taking syrian refugees into the united states not at all unlike john piper s response to jerry falwell jr one christian blogger expressed dismay at the tone and impression other christians were giving in the course of debate the blogger rightly tilts against hysteria fear and bigotry accepting that non christians might display these traits but demanding more from christians but if you name jesus as king well then i m sorry christian but you don t get to make that move he goes on to tell us things christians don t get to do including we don t get to hunt around for excuses for why we don t need to include those people in the category of neighbour we don t get to look for justifications for why it s better to build a wall than open a door we don t get to label people in convenient and self serving ways in order to convince ourselves that we don t have to care for them and we don t get to reduce the gospel of peace and life and hope to a business as usual kind of political pragmatism with a bit of individual salvation on top we don t get to ask as...