The FaithWalker\u2019s Daily <\/strong>is a quick review of key news stories of the day from the perspective of a conservative Christ-follower living in, but not of, the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n
- \n
Deck Stacked against Israel\u2019s Survival<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The Basics \u2014<\/h4>\n
As Israel pushes back with military force against Hamas-led Palestinians firing rockets into their country, many from the UN to\u00a0the Egyptian mediators seem eager to oppose Israel\u2019s right to defend itself.<\/p>\n
Dig Deeper:<\/h4>\n
\n
- Via The New York Times<\/a>, a senior Egyptian official (the Egyptians are supposedly mediating the peace talks): \u201cIt is so strange people are talking about the rights of self-defense,\u201d he said. \u201cThe self-defense of whom? Of the occupied people? Of the besieged people? Of the hurt people? No, the self-defense of the most powerful state in the region and the self-defense of the occupying force of Gaza and Palestine. This is what some of the international community are talking about.\u201d HT: Hugh Hewitt<\/a><\/li>\n
- Via NBC News<\/a>, US Sec. of State Clinton rightly will not meet with the terrorist Hamas: \u201cA U.S. official stressed to NBC News that Clinton would not meet with representatives of Hamas, the Islamist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, largely because of its failure to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel\u2019s right to exist.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Matthew Harkman offers a good perspective from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem via the Huffington Post\u00a0<\/a>: \u201cIsraelis are craving a show of strength (91 percent of Israelis support Operation Defensive Pillar) and Netanyahu has responded.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Missiles may soon be coming our way, says Abraham Foxman<\/a>, President of the Anti-Defamation League, if we do not stand with Israel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A Few Thoughts\u2026<\/h4>\n
You don\u2019t have to believe that Israel is God\u2019s chosen people or nation to understand anti-Semitism when you see it. For any number of historical reasons, the Jewish people, with whom Christianity shares a common heritage, have been the object of much hate for centuries. That is not to say that they have been without blame either. But the world will watch to see just how strongly the US is willing to stand with Israel as it insists that rockets not be fired at its citizens. What an excellent example of the power of one\u2019s worldview to shape his or her interpretation of circumstances.<\/p>\n
Worldview matters. Especially when rockets start flying.<\/h4>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
- \n
Charlie Brown Christmas Violates Separation of Church and State<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The Basics \u2014<\/h4>\n
An anonymous parent of a student at an Arkansas elementary school filed a complaint with an atheist group when the school scheduled a field trip to view a stage version of A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> being shown in a local\u00a0church building.<\/p>\n
Dig Deeper:<\/h4>\n
\n
- The story via Todd Starnes<\/a>, Fox News.<\/li>\n
- Key quote from the atheistic \u201cSociety of Freethinkers\u201d: \u201cThe problem is that it\u2019s got religious content and it\u2019s being performed in a religious venue and that doesn\u2019t just blur the line between church and state \u2014 it oversteps it entirely,\u201d attorney Anne Orsi told Arkansas Matters.<\/li>\n
- Students were not required to attend the event and parents were notified in advance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A Few Thoughts\u2026<\/h4>\n
So many have come to accept as reality the false notion of a wall of separation between church and state to mean a separation of all things pertaining to belief in God from government. From a Biblical point of view, there can be no legitimate government apart from God. From a historical standpoint, we need point only to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 which said that schools should be established precisely so that religion and morality could be taught in them. For many people of faith, being forced to support a school system that actively practices the religion of atheism is a violation of their conscience, as well, but none of them file cowardly\u00a0anonymous complaints. Whatever happened to free thinking?<\/p>\n
Lesser ideas depend on greater force to survive.<\/h4>\n
\n
- \n
Jesus Shut Down in Santa Monica Nativity Scene<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The Basics \u2014\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
A federal judge has ruled that Santa Monica\u2019s ban on all nativity or holiday displays should stand after atheist groups flooded the park with alternative and anti-Christian displays to create a public nuisance and force the issue into the courts.<\/p>\n
Dig Deeper:<\/h4>\n
\n
- Via The Daily Caller<\/a>, federal judge rules ban on nativity displays should stand.<\/li>\n
- At the American Thinker<\/a>, William J, Becker, Jr., lead counsel for the Santa Monica Nativity Scenes Committee claims we have lost the cultural war: \u201cChristianity, white men, heterosexuality, meritocracy, Christmas. These are the relics of a distant culture.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not kid ourselves.\u00a0 They have been\u00a0tipping into the abyss for some time.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Via The LA Times<\/a>, church groups consider next move.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A Few Thoughts\u2026<\/h4>\n
At the core of this misguided notion of separation of God and morality from government, is the false idea that government can be neutral. But nothing is neutral. Everything functions according to some set of values and truth claims. The question is always how to balance the biases and give a venue for them to be freely expressed. By shutting down the free expression of faith in the public forum, we create an atmosphere in which certain faiths are marginalized (namely those with more visible trappings)\u00a0while others (secular humanism, atheism, etc.) are permitted to flourish. Ironically, as we insist on separating morality from government, we complain about the lack of morality in our government.<\/p>\n
Silence speaks. The absence of something is, in fact,\u00a0the presence of something else.<\/h4>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Note:<\/strong> E-mail subscribers to this blog in the month of\u00a0November are eligible to win a free copy of Os Guinness\u2019 book A Free People\u2019s Suicide<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The FaithWalker\u2019s Daily is a quick review of key news stories of the day from the perspective of a conservative Christ-follower living in, but not of, the world. Deck Stacked against Israel\u2019s Survival The Basics \u2014 As Israel pushes back with military force against Hamas-led Palestinians firing rockets into their country, many from the UN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faithwalkers"],"yoast_head":"\n
The FaithWalkers Daily -- Nov. 21: Stacked Deck for Israel, Charlie Brown, Santa Monica Nativities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The FaithWalker\u2019s Daily is a quick review of key news stories of the day from the perspective of a conservative Christ-follower living in, but not of, the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The FaithWalkers Daily -- Nov. 21: Stacked Deck for Israel, Charlie Brown, Santa Monica Nativities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The FaithWalker\u2019s Daily is a quick review of key news stories of the day from the perspective of a conservative Christ-follower living in, but not of, the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FaithWalkers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-21T12:27:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Blankschaen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Blankschaen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/\",\"name\":\"The FaithWalkers Daily -- Nov. 21: Stacked Deck for Israel, Charlie Brown, Santa Monica Nativities\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-21T12:27:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-21T12:27:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb\"},\"description\":\"The FaithWalker\u2019s Daily is a quick review of key news stories of the day from the perspective of a conservative Christ-follower living in, but not of, the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The FaithWalkers Daily — Nov. 21: Stacked Deck for Israel, Charlie Brown, Santa Monica Nativities\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/\",\"name\":\"FaithWalkers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb\",\"name\":\"Bill Blankschaen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bill Blankschaen\"},\"description\":\"Bill Blankschaen is a writer, author, and speaker who empowers people to live an authentic life with abundant faith. A former pastor, Christian school leader, and master teacher, he is the founder of FaithWalkers (Faithwalkers.com) where he equips Christians to live an authentic life and a blogger on faith and cultural issues at Patheos and TheResurgent.com. He is the author of several books including A Story Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life, What God Wants You to Do Next, The Secret to Explosive Personal Growth, and multiple collaborative books including his latest with co-author Erick Erickson \u2014 You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe (Regnery, February 22, 2016). In addition to his own writing and speaking, Bill helps other people and organizations tell their own story in effective ways. He comes alongside authors as a collaborative writer, handcrafts engaging materials as a content creator, and creates an effective brand strategy as a platform developer with his team of creatives and digital technicians. (BillintheBlank.com)\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/FaithWalkersBlog.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/author\/billblankschaen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The FaithWalkers Daily -- Nov. 21: Stacked Deck for Israel, Charlie Brown, Santa Monica Nativities","description":"The FaithWalker\u2019s Daily is a quick review of key news stories of the day from the perspective of a conservative Christ-follower living in, but not of, the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The FaithWalkers Daily -- Nov. 21: Stacked Deck for Israel, Charlie Brown, Santa Monica Nativities","og_description":"The FaithWalker\u2019s Daily is a quick review of key news stories of the day from the perspective of a conservative Christ-follower living in, but not of, the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/","og_site_name":"FaithWalkers","article_published_time":"2012-11-21T12:27:26+00:00","author":"Bill Blankschaen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bill Blankschaen","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/","name":"The FaithWalkers Daily -- Nov. 21: Stacked Deck for Israel, Charlie Brown, Santa Monica Nativities","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-11-21T12:27:26+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-21T12:27:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb"},"description":"The FaithWalker\u2019s Daily is a quick review of key news stories of the day from the perspective of a conservative Christ-follower living in, but not of, the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/11\/the-faithwalkers-daily-nov-21-stacked-deck-for-israel-charlie-brown-santa-monica-nativities\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The FaithWalkers Daily — Nov. 21: Stacked Deck for Israel, Charlie Brown, Santa Monica Nativities"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/","name":"FaithWalkers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/5560c0a98f542f838152bf4905b03dcb","name":"Bill Blankschaen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50dd3b6d344807f779ec98d51630f161?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bill Blankschaen"},"description":"Bill Blankschaen is a writer, author, and speaker who empowers people to live an authentic life with abundant faith. A former pastor, Christian school leader, and master teacher, he is the founder of FaithWalkers (Faithwalkers.com) where he equips Christians to live an authentic life and a blogger on faith and cultural issues at Patheos and TheResurgent.com. He is the author of several books including A Story Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life, What God Wants You to Do Next, The Secret to Explosive Personal Growth, and multiple collaborative books including his latest with co-author Erick Erickson \u2014 You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe (Regnery, February 22, 2016). In addition to his own writing and speaking, Bill helps other people and organizations tell their own story in effective ways. He comes alongside authors as a collaborative writer, handcrafts engaging materials as a content creator, and creates an effective brand strategy as a platform developer with his team of creatives and digital technicians. (BillintheBlank.com)","sameAs":["http:\/\/FaithWalkersBlog.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/author\/billblankschaen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1084"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}