A court in Canada has struck down that country’s laws against prostitution, saying they are unconstitutional. See this.
Do atheists know more about religion than the religious?
September 29, 2010 By 48 Comments
That’s what a Pew Research study of “religious knowledge” suggests:
Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.
On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.
via U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey – Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
But look more closely. The study also found that evangelicals and (again) Mormons know more about Christianity than atheists and other groups do. Atheists do better when it comes to world religions. But that shouldn’t be too surprising.
Here are some findings:
More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45%) do not know that their church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolize but actually become the body and blood of Christ. About half of Protestants (53%) cannot correctly identify Martin Luther as the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation, which made their religion a separate branch of Christianity. Roughly four-in-ten Jews (43%) do not recognize that Maimonides, one of the most venerated rabbis in history, was Jewish.
In addition, fewer than half of Americans (47%) know that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist. Fewer than four-in-ten (38%) correctly associate Vishnu and Shiva with Hinduism. And only about a quarter of all Americans (27%) correctly answer that most people in Indonesia – the country with the world’s largest Muslim population – are Muslims.
Look more closely still: Here is the complete questionnaire. Is it really much of a religious knowledge test? It doesn’t ask anything about who Christians think Jesus is, for example. There is nothing on the Trinity. Or the atonement. Of course, people who don’t know the first book of the Bible (to take another example) are unlikely to know the more important teachings of Christianity. Still, a more substantive test would be more helpful. Do atheists know what Christians believe, beyond knowing the general facts about Christians and the history and politics of Christianity?
HT: tODD
Is a major terrorist attack imminent?
September 29, 2010 By 24 Comments
Something seems to be brewing among jihadist terrorists, with officials in Europe and the United States on high alert.
US and European officials said Tuesday they have detected a plot to carry out a major, coordinated series of new terror attacks in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and possibly the United States.
A senior US official said that while there is a “credible” threat, no specific time or place is known. President Obama has been briefed about the threat, say senior US officials.
Intelligence and law enforcement authorities in the US and Europe said the threat information is based on the interrogation of a suspected German terrorist allegedly captured on his way to Europe in late summer and now being held at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.
US law enforcement officials say they have been told the terrorists were planning a series of “Mumbai-style” commando raids on what were termed “economic or soft” targets in the countries. . . .
The captured German reportedly said several teams of attackers, all with European passports, had been trained and dispatched from training camps in Waziristan and Pakistan. Officials say the German claimed the attack plan had been approved by Osama Bin Laden.
via ‘Credible But Not Specific’ Threat of New Terrorist Attack – ABC News.
But it may be that the plot has been disrupted to the point that the plans will not be carried out. In the meantime, there are sure lots of nervous law enforcement officers, as we see in Georgia: “A team of federal agents has been stopping tractor-trailers on Interstate 20 just west of Atlanta, inspecting each truck as it passed through a weigh station, and Channel 2 has learned its part of a counter-terrorism operation.”
Conference on Lutheranism & the Classics
September 29, 2010 By 14 Comments
I’ll be heading out to the seminary at Ft. Wayne, Indiana, for the conference on Lutheranism & the Classics October 1-2. I’ll be giving a paper on Luther and the Liberal Arts. If you are in the neighborhood or can come to the neighborhood, ome out for it! For more information, go here: Concordia Theological Seminary – Lutheranism & the Classics.
The Rich Man & Lazarus
September 28, 2010 By 1,282 Comments
Those of us whose churches follow the three-year lectionary on Sunday heard the account of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) and very likely heard a sermon about it. Last week we had what I found to be a very enlightening trading of notes on a rather challenging parable. Let’s do that again with this parable.
Here is some of what our Pastor Douthwaite said about it. (Read the whole sermon, which delves into some fascinating details in the text that are very illuminating.)
Don’t assume things about God, that you know what God is doing and why He’s doing it. That’s a dangerous thing to do, although (it seems to me), it’s done all the time. Don’t assume God is your friend because your life is good, and don’t assume God is against you because things are difficult and trials are many. The truth may be exactly the opposite. The man who had been so rich was now eternally poor, and the man who had been so poor was now eternally rich. . . .
Jesus has come to turn beggars into rich men. For He was the truly rich man who for our sakes became poor (2 Cor 8:9). Who came to all of us Lazarus,’ not to dip only the tip of His finger in water, but to give us the living water of His Word that we may drink and never thirst again (John 7:37-38). Who came not merely to soothe our wounds with the licking of dogs, but to wash and cleanse and heal us from the leprosy of our sin with His forgiveness. And who came to feed us not with crumbs from His table, but with the feast He has come to provide – the feast of His own Body and Blood. And these gifts He comes to give to all people, whether they be rich or poor on the outside, whether they be notorious or hidden sinners – for spiritually, we are all Lazarus’. Crippled and left to die by sin. Wholly dependent on the mercy of God. And so we pray: Lord, have mercy.
And He does. Always. Jesus is no rich man that bypasses, steps over, or ignores those in need. Who feeds the dogs and not His children. Never. For whether or not you have riches in this world, the Spirit, through the Word of God – through Moses and the prophets – directs our eyes where true riches are to be found. The riches that poured forth from the cross. The cross which shows us who God truly is, what God has done for you, and how much God loves you. So that we never have to guess or assume the mind of God – the cross is the mind of God. Who came for you, to die for you, to forgive you. . . .
But there is another clue to Lazarus’ faith, when Abraham told the rich man: “Besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.” Now, it makes sense that those in torment would want to cross from there to the comfort of heaven; but who would want to cross the other way? Why would Abraham say that . . . unless, perhaps, it was Lazarus who was ready to do so. To comfort the one who refused him comfort. To serve the one who refused him service. To help the one who refused him help. For is this not the love of Christ, who did these things for us on the cross? Is this not the love of Christ living in Lazarus’ heart?
That is the love that has been given to you. By the one who did cross the chasm – the only one who could – and served you who were dead in your trespasses and sins, to raise you to a new life in Him. A new life of faith and forgiveness, and of love and service – even to those who sin against you.
For now, we bear the cross – but it will not always be so. A day of rest is coming for all who are in Christ.
via St. Athanasius Lutheran Church: Pentecost 18 Sermon.
What did you pastor do with this (or, if you are a pastor, what did you do with it)? What did you learn from this text? How did it affect you?
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