A Dilemma Unacknowledged by Liberal Western Academics (Colonialism Old and New) For some years now many liberal academics in Europe and America have been loudly decrying “neo-colonialism,” the continuing tendency of many European and North American countries to dominate Global South/Two-thirds World cultures and countries. “Hands off!” well summarizes the attitude. “Let them be totally self-determining.” I couldn’t agree more—but with an honest qualification. I think many of these liberal-leaning anti-neo-colonialists have a problem they don’t acknowledge. They don’t really... Read more

What Is the Difference Between an Illegal Immigrant and a Refugee? What is the difference between an illegal immigrant and a refugee? In some cases, the only difference would seem to be perspective. When we Americans look around the world at people escaping extremely dangerous living conditions in one country, moving to another one without formal permission by the host country, we call them “refugees.” When we Americans look at people escaping extremely dangerous living conditions in their countries, moving... Read more

Remembering the Difference between Patriotism and Nationalism I’ve become increasingly concerned that many American Christians (and perhaps especially evangelicals) confuse patriotism with nationalism to the extent that idolatry lurks close by. Patriotism is love for one’s country without blinders about its flaws and defects.  Patriotism seeks to actualize the highest and best ideals of one’s country which can sometimes look like disloyalty to nationalists.  Nationalists tend to confuse “country” with “government” and reject as disloyal all criticism of either.  However,... Read more

Something Interesting Is Happening in the Worldwide Anglican Communion (And Why It Matters to Non-Anglicans) I am not an Anglican in any sense of the word. What I mean is I’m not even Episcopalian. But over the years I have had friends who are Anglican (Episcopalian is a form of Anglican) and as editor of the Handbook of Denominations in the United States I have done my best to inform myself about “happenings” in the Anglican world. The Handbook includes... Read more

Has the Time Come for a New Neo-Evangelicalism? A bit of history for those who are not already versed in the story of 20th century American evangelical Christianity. (And here let me put in a plug for Ryan Reeves’s Youtube video “The Rise of Evangelicalism.” You could spend worse 30 minutes than watching it.) In 1942 a group of fundamentalist evangelicals (or evangelical fundamentalists) got together and formed a new umbrella organization called the National Association of Evangelicals. One of... Read more

Should Christians Declare or Decree Things over our Lives?   Guest post by Andrew K. Gabriel, Ph.D. *Note: This is a guest essay; the author may or may not wish to respond to questions and comments. Keep comments civil and respectful; stick to the subject and do not misrepresent anything he says here. Neither he nor I speak for anyone but ourselves. This is not a discussion board; do not respond to others’ comments or questions. There is a growing... Read more

Does the Bible Require the Christian Always to Obey Laws? Recently two U.S. government officials appealed to Romans 13 (read it for yourself) to argue that the law must be obeyed. Clearly they were aiming their argument at Christians; who else could they have in mind—given that they were referring to the New Testament? So that raises the old question whether Romans 13 and similar passages of the Bible require Bible-believing people to obey all laws. *Sidebar: The opinions expressed... Read more

Is Cruelty to Children Ever Justifiable? Just asking or hearing such a question should bring an answer immediately to mind—No. On the other hand, we have to ask what constitutes “cruelty.” Here, in this blog post, by “cruelty” I mean inflicting suffering—physical, mental or emotional—on children unnecessarily. I am not talking about subjectively perceived cruelty—the feeling of being treated cruelly. One can feel treated cruelly when that is not really the case. For example, when I was a child and... Read more

Is Suicide Sin? According to news reports suicide has increased in the United States by about thirty percent in the past two to three decades. It seems that is the case in some states more than others, so it might not be correct to project the statistic onto the whole country. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that suicide is increasing in America. In recent years many celebrities have committed suicide and, in most cases, people who knew them said... Read more