Robert’s Rules Anyone?

Last updated on: October 13, 2015 at 5:00 pm By D. G. Hart

In case folks haven’t noticed, the Roman Catholic Church has just a wee bit of trouble with church councils. In the fifteenth century, conciliarism was the proposed solution to the crisis of having three popes. But once the Council of Constance resolved the controversy and restored the church to one pope, subsequent popes were reluctant to convene councils very often. Not until the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s did the papacy become more self-consciously open to the regular meeting... Read more

I Thought This Was the Land of the Free

Last updated on: October 9, 2015 at 10:38 am By D. G. Hart

Imagine my surprise when I learned that California’s new law that makes physician-assisted suicide legal actually has restrictions. The reason for the surprise comes from the high bar set by Justice Anthony Kennedy who in Planned Parenthood v. Casey opened wide the gates of liberty. Among the broad assertions of freedom were these: It is a rational continuum which, broadly speaking, includes a freedom from all substantial arbitrary impositions and purposeless restraints. . . or At the heart of liberty... Read more

What if Pagans Ran the World?

Last updated on: October 2, 2015 at 4:12 pm By D. G. Hart

Whenever I see even mild assertions of the debt that political liberalism (as in constitutional, representative government) owes to Christianity my jaws start to tighten. For instance, upon reflection after Pope Francis’ speeches in the United States, Matt Tuininga writes: Though I wish the pope had been more explicit about the way in which his convictions are rooted in the Gospel, his visit should remind all Americans, secular and religious alike, that, properly understood, Christianity and political liberalism are not... Read more

Can You Curb Climate Change without God?

Last updated on: September 30, 2015 at 12:15 pm By D. G. Hart

Lots of explanations still buzzing around the interweb on Pope Francis’ visit to the United States. One that caught my eye was a defense of the pope from conservatives who think Francis is too liberal and too political to stand up appropriately for Christian norms: When Pope Francis engages in this dialogue on subjects of great interest to the secular and largely anti-Catholic American left, he is in a way employing the Socratic method and forcing secular liberals to ask... Read more

Where’s The Secular Bias Now?

Last updated on: September 25, 2015 at 12:18 pm By D. G. Hart

In the many stories I’ve read about Pope Francis’ visit to the United States, this line stood out: Ensuring the commonweal “is the chief aim of all politics,” according to Francis, who once weighed a career in political life. This writer felt obligated, apparently, to justify the pope’s presence before Congress on grounds of expertise. As the Bishop of Rome since 1870, the pope has no temporal power, and so his audiences have no reason to look to him for... Read more

Passing the Peace or Curb Your Enthusiasm

Last updated on: September 22, 2015 at 5:37 pm By D. G. Hart

On a recent trip to Baltimore the missus and I worshiped at a mainline Protestant congregation that featured the standard liturgical fare of having everyone present rise and do a “meet and greet” after hearing the assurance of pardon. For the really, really low church, this is the part of the service that comes after a prayer confessing sin and then a reading from Scripture about forgiveness in Christ. At that point, high church Protestants (along with Roman Catholics) take... Read more

Why Isn’t Psychology Good Enough?

Last updated on: September 17, 2015 at 3:56 pm By D. G. Hart

Some folks here are aware of the controversy surrounding Doug Wilson and Christ’s Church in Moscow, Idaho. It involves a church member who is a sex offender and how the church handled this person. For more details, go here. I am less concerned — maybe that makes me a bad guy — with all of Wilson’s offenses than Libby Anne is. To kick someone when they are vulnerable seems not to be the most charitable of tactics. Maybe Wilson deserves... Read more

Forget Jeans, What Does Your Pastor Smoke?

Last updated on: September 17, 2015 at 3:58 pm By D. G. Hart

Jesse Carey tries to be playful with his commentary on twelve types of jeans and what they say about the pastors who wear them. Maybe I’d find this piece funnier if I or my pastor actually wore jeans. I don’t wear them because they are either too hot in the summer or not sufficiently warm in the winter, not to mention that jeans don’t exactly communicate seriousness, maturity, or even a sense of fashion. At least they are a tad... Read more

Why Can’t Christians Fit In?

Last updated on: September 10, 2015 at 5:09 pm By D. G. Hart

Daniel McCarthy thinks that evangelical Protestants are never going to get someone like them in the White House. The reason is that religious conservatism is different from political conservatism: Before 1988, religious conservatives voted with other conservatives. The religious right wasn’t yet organized in 1964, but “moral” voters were a significant component of Goldwater’s base, sometimes to the candidate’s own embarrassment. (He vetoed the distribution a short film, “Choice,” intended by his supporters to rally voters with alarming images of... Read more

Don’t Discount Gullibility

Last updated on: September 8, 2015 at 5:27 pm By D. G. Hart

Yet another attempt to explain Donald Trump’s appeal to evangelical Protestants in the United States, this time from Jonathan Merritt: The answer seems to be the growing anti-establishment sentiments held by many evangelical Christians. (After all, the Tea Party movement draws “disproportionate support” from their ranks.) Not only are conservative Christians solidly Republican, they are also fierce traditionalists who feel that their values are increasingly under assault by modern society. They like a candidate who will stand up to “the... Read more