Does your church offer multiple worship services, each with a different style? One traditional, one contemporary? Plus a children’s service? An option of contemporary services, with one featuring “praise music” and another being more “emergent”? Lots of large congregations offer this kind of variety. But evangelical church musician Jonathan Aigner raises a warning. He has written a post at his Patheos blog entitled How Offering Different Worship Styles Contributes to Church Decline. His criticism is not that all of those different… Read more
Congress Shall “Regulate Commerce with Foreign Nations”
July 11, 2018 By Gene Veith
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Now that our trade war with China and other countries is under way, we will see if President Trump’s new tariffs on imports will help our economy by protecting American workers and businesses or whether it will hurt our economy by sending up prices and cutting off American farmers, manufacturers, and other exporters from their overseas markets. In the meantime, we might wonder why a president has the authority to set tariffs and thus regulate foreign trade. Isn’t a tariff… Read more
Might U.S. Episcopalians Get Written Out of Anglicanism?
July 10, 2018 By Gene Veith
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The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) broke away from the Episcopal Church in the USA because of that denomination’s extreme theological liberalism. But the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has recognized ACNA as the legitimate Anglican body in the United States, removing recognition from the Episcopal Church. This raises the possibility that in the 2020 conclave of the world’s Anglicans, the Lambeth Conference, the Episcopal Church USA might get booted from the world-wide Anglican Communion. At the 1998 Lambeth… Read more
The New Supreme Court Nominee: Brett Kavanaugh
July 10, 2018 By Gene Veith
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President Trump nominated Appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. You can read about his background here. Considered an eminent and “brilliant” conservative jurist, Judge Kavanaugh, age 53, has nevertheless prompted a few qualms from some conservatives. David French has said his prospective nomination would be a home run, but not a grand slam. Read this in The Federalist. The gist of the criticisms is that while Judge Kavanaugh usually ends up ruling correctly, he sometimes gets there in questionable… Read more
How Committed Are Churchgoers to Their Congregations?
July 9, 2018 By Gene Veith
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What would make a member leave a congregation? How committed are churchgoers to their congregation and to its beliefs? New research from LifeWay delves into such questions and comes up with some answers that one might not expect. Read the report from Bob Sietana, in Christianity Today: Most churchgoers will put up with a change in music style or a different preacher. But don’t mess with a church’s beliefs or there may be an exodus, according to a new study… Read more
The Sexual Revolution & Big Government
July 9, 2018 By Gene Veith
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My former colleague Stephen Baskerville has published a powerful book on how the sexual revolution and its revolutionaries (including feminists, the LGBT movement, no-fault divorce advocates, etc.) have contributed to the growth of big government and state power. The book is entitled The New Politics of Sex: The Sexual Revolution, Civil Liberties and the Growth of Government Power. Read the review in The Federalist by Paul Rowan Brian, ‘The New Politics Of Sex’ Explains How Sexual Libertinism Grows Government: If you’ve been looking for… Read more
Death Comes for the Archbishop
July 6, 2018 By Gene Veith
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Archbishops often live in palaces. Anglican archbishops, especially those at the very top of the hierarchy, tend to enjoy acclaim, luxuries, and all the perks of a high social status. Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi of Jos, Nigeria, is the new head of the conservative Global Anglican Future Conference, which has been battling the apostasy of mainline Anglicanism. As such, according to Gerald McDermott, “He may well be the most powerful Anglican leader in the world.” Here is what has been happening… Read more
With Ocasio-Cortez, Dems Consider Bernie Sanders Too Conservative
July 6, 2018 By Gene Veith
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The victory of a 28-year-old avowed socialist over a long-time Democratic congressman in a New York primary has invigorated the progressive base. To the point of repudiating the former progressive hero, the 76-year-old avowed socialist Bernie Sanders, who is being called too conservative. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated Rep. Joe Crowley, who was no less than the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. Her election to the strongly-Democratic district in New York City is all but assured. She is now endorsing other radical… Read more
The American Dream
July 5, 2018 By Gene Veith
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For the 4th of July, the lead editorial of the conservative newspaper the Daily Oklahoman printed excerpts from a number of classic Independence Day speeches. I was struck by this one in particular, from Martin Luther King, Jr., no less, which says that “the American Dream” is not about owning your own home; rather, it is about something much more profound: Martin Luther King Jr. — “The American Dream,” delivered July 4, 1965 at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta “Then… Read more
Plans to “Violate the Norms” to Build a “Lasting” Progressive Regime
July 5, 2018 By Gene Veith
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Even as Democrats denounce President Trump for violating political norms, some of their number are saying that they need to do the same thing once they get into power. The main norm they want to break is the one against using your time in power to establish permanent advantages for your party. Some Democrats are advocating using FDR’s precedent of having Congress vote to expand the number of Supreme Court Justices, then packing the court with liberal judges, thus eliminating… Read more
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