On Monday the trial began in Finland for Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola and Member of Parliament Dr. Päivi Räsänen, charged with hate crimes for teaching what the Bible says about homosexuality. Prosecutors read out the Bible and denounced it as hate speech, then interrogated the two about their theology, whereupon they witnessed to the Gospel, explaining God's love for all sinners through Christ.
Most of those who voluntarily left the workplace during the COVID lockdowns still have not come back, even though pay has shot up, as companies are growing desperate for workers. The labor shortage is throwing off the economy, but it also bodes ill for those who are cultivating idleness and for the culture as a whole.
Rich Lowry argues that a successful challenge to Trump's dominance of the Republican party can only come from the right, from someone like Gov. Ron Desantis, who shares Trump's ideas but convinces voters that he could implement them more effectively.
There are many kinds of conservative politics, just as there are many kinds of conservative theology. One strain of both is opposed to the American ideals of freedom, the rights of the individual, and Constitutional government. The "Integralists," who oppose both the Enlightenment and Protestantism, seek to make Catholicism the basis for civil government, something the Reformers utterly rejected.
Mary Eberstadt argues that the decline of the family and of the church--the traditional sources of our sense of identity--have led to a loss of identity. To compensate, people in their anguish are trying to create new identities for themselves. This has led to the rise of identity politics.
The doctrine of the Trinity is back in vogue among liberal theologians, but they replace the creeds' emphasis on "being" with a social trinity in which God is a community. Strangely, some evangelical theologians have also adopted this new view of the Trinity. Both sides then use the social trinity as the foundation for their political emphases, whether of the Left or the Right.
Though President Biden campaigned on his ability to bring the country together, his rhetoric is polarizing, serving not to persuade but to antagonize those who disagree with him. As do his policies that seek to coerce and punish. A writer contrasts his leadership style with that of fellow-progressive Barack Obama, who preferred the "nudge" to the "mandate."
Churches took one approach to relating to the culture when it was pro-Christian. It took a different approach when the culture became religiously neutral. But what approach should it take when the dominant culture is actively opposed to Christianity?
Some internet "influencers" on TikTok or YouTube earn more money than the heads of America's biggest companies. They do so by virtue of their personalities, racking up large numbers of followers, and being paid to use products in their videos. Is this a genuine vocation, in the Christian sense of the word?
The Wall Street Journal has a story "When You're Burned Out at Your Job, But It's Also Your Calling." The focus is on nurses trying to function during the COVID epidemic. But burnout can happen in all vocations--not just economic, but those in the family, the church, and the state. Reflections on what to do.
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