The United Methodists meet this week in St. Louis to decide on their teachings about homosexuality, including whether or not to ordain non-celibate gays and lesbians and whether or not to perform same-sex weddings. The United Methodist Church with some 12 million members is the largest Protestant church in the U.S.A. after the Southern Baptists. The largest of the mainline Protestant denominations, the Methodist church is mostly liberal theologically–though it has lots of conservatives in its big tent–and yet it has… Read more
February 22, 2019
What Churches Need to Know about Sexual Crimes
February 22, 2019 By Gene Veith
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In light of the Baptist sex abuse scandal, as well as the Catholic sex abuse scandal, and the realization that these transgressions can likely be found in other church bodies, it occurs to me that many church people are ignorant or naive about the civil laws regarding sexual crimes. Churches also have problems with sexual morality–adultery, fornication–but the state has no interest in those sins. Churches need to address those too. God’s moral law goes beyond that of the state. … Read more
February 21, 2019
The Worldview Crisis of Journalism
February 21, 2019 By Gene Veith
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Journalism is in a bad way right now. Information technology is putting hard-copy news papers out of business, the public’s trust in the news media is dropping, and reporters’ political bias is manifesting itself in “fake news.” People are increasingly getting their news from the internet for free, but the online websites are getting the news they display from the financially-troubled newspapers. My friend and former colleague, both at World Magazine and at Patrick Henry College, Les Sillars is a… Read more
February 20, 2019
Religious Liberty Developments
February 20, 2019 By Gene Veith
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Religious liberty used to be taken for granted in the United States, but today–especially in the aftermath of the sexual revolution– it has become controversial and a matter for litigation. Here are some of the latest developments. Title IX Title IX of the Civil Rights code forbids sex-related discrimination in schools and universities that receive federal money. (This includes colleges that accept money from federally-guaranteed student loans.) The Obama administration interpreted the law to include under “sex” things like gender… Read more
February 19, 2019
“Modern Monetary Theory”: Deficits Don’t Matter
February 19, 2019 By Gene Veith
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Remember the Republican state of outrage and trepidation when the Obama administration racked up a national debt of $14 trillion? Well, under a Republican Congress and President, we now owe $22 trillion. Not only debt but deficit spending is soaring. This year’s budget deficit will be nearly $1 trillion. Democrats are rallying behind programs that would cost at least $4 trillion per year. But a new economic theory known as “Modern Monetary Theory” is arguing that since government is the… Read more
February 18, 2019
The Medieval Sin of “Scandal”
February 18, 2019 By Gene Veith
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As a new related scandal emerges of priests sexually abusing nuns. . . . .And as another scandal emerges of lesbian nuns sexually abusing girls in their care. . . .And as gay priests, exactly as I predicted, are coming forward demanding sympathy. . . .I came across a medieval historian who explains the doctrinal basis of keeping sins secret. The doctrinal teaching about “scandal” actually had the effect at first of protecting women and others who were sinned against,… Read more
February 15, 2019
We Are in a State of “National Emergency” over the Wall
February 15, 2019 By Gene Veith
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We are now in a state of national emergency in order to build President Trump’s wall. Congress refused to appropriate money to build President Trump’s promised wall on the border between the United States and Mexico even when both houses of the legislature were under Republican control. Now that the House of Representatives is in the hand of the Democrats there seemed to be little chance of getting a wall approved. A standoff on the issue led to a government… Read more
February 15, 2019
Social Media and Justification
February 15, 2019 By Gene Veith
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Again, Rev. A. Trevor Sutton, the co-author with me of Authentic Christianity: How Lutheran Theology Speaks to a Postmodern World, is studying the relationship between technology and theology. He has written an article published in the Winter 2019 issue of the Concordia Journal on the topic of social media and justification. People used to anguish over the question of their righteousness and their standing before God. Though many still do, since this is the crucial question of our existence, people today tend to… Read more
February 14, 2019
Vocation, Technology, & Luther’s “Theology of Tools”
February 14, 2019 By Gene Veith
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Rev. A. Trevor Sutton, the co-writer with me of Authentic Christianity: How Lutheran Theology Speaks to a Postmodern World, is working on a doctorate in which he is studying the relationship between technology and theology. He has written some interesting articles lately that I wanted to pass along. In Mr. Zuckerberg, Meet Martin Luther, he applies the doctrine of vocation to Silicon Valley. Like the “Robber Barons” of the Gilded Age, the tycoons of Silicon Valley have been both lauded for… Read more
February 14, 2019
First the Catholics and Now the Baptists
February 14, 2019 By Gene Veith
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The Roman Catholic Church has been shaken by revelations of rampant sexual abuse among its clergy. Now the Southern Baptist Church is being shaken by a similar scandal. The Houston Chronicle has uncovered 380 church workers–pastors, but also youth ministers, Sunday School teachers, and other volunteers–who have been charged with sexual misconduct over the last 20 years. That list includes 250 who were charged with sex crimes, including rape, sexual assault, and child molestation. The investigation found some 700 victims. … Read more
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