Science and the evangelical tribe

Last updated on: April 13, 2012 at 2:42 pm By Fred Clark

RJS at Jesus Creed reports on the recent Theology of Celebration Workshop hosted by the Biologos Foundation, reported on by Christianity Today as a gathering of “evangelical evolutionists.” As RJS notes, that’s an unsatisfying label, but I suppose it works as a reminder that there are, in fact, evangelical theologians who do not deny evolution. RJS writes: [CT’s Tim] Stafford suggests that the most sobering point in the meeting was the report by David Kinnaman of Barna Research that more... Read more

Fire chief: ‘It was a very successful rescue’

Last updated on: April 13, 2012 at 9:53 am By Fred Clark

1. Just because someone runs into a burning building, risking his own life to save others, doesn’t mean that this person is necessarily also qualified to serve as mayor, governor, senator or president. After all, firefighters do this for a living and not every firefighter is someone who would necessarily also possess the skills and abilities that would make them an effective mayor, governor, senator or president some day. 2. Having said that, personal heroism speaks to character, and character... Read more

Tonight, just before midnight …

Last updated on: April 12, 2012 at 10:36 pm By Fred Clark

It’s Friday the 13th and, somewhere in America, he will return. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and... Read more

All Eyes

Last updated on: April 12, 2012 at 10:36 pm By Fred Clark

‘Cause part of me knows what you’re thinking … “Eye,” Smashing Pumpkins “Eyé Adabå,” Asa “Eye in the Sky,” Jonatha Brooke “Eye Know,” De La Soul “Eye Know (Know It All mix),” De La Soul “Eye of the Hurricane,” The Alarm “Eye of the Storm,” Mark Heard “Eye of the Tiger,” Josh Joplin “Eye on Springfield,” Kent Brockman “Eyeball Kid,” Tom Waits “Eyes on Fire,” Blue Foundation “Eyes on the Prize,” M. Ward “Eyes Wide Open,” Adam Again It seems... Read more

What I mean by evangelical ‘tribalism’

Last updated on: April 12, 2012 at 5:53 pm By Fred Clark

In a recent guest-post at Jon Acuff’s Stuff Christians Like blog, Paul Angone wrote about the evangelical subculture’s enthusiasm for “Claiming Musicians as One of Us.” If you’ve ever been a part of this subculture, then you know exactly what Angone is talking about. If not, just think of the fervent evangelical fandom that’s sprung up around Tim Tebow and imagine he were a musician instead of a football player. (Think of it this way, Tim Tebow : football ::... Read more

Calvin and Chrysostom on the blasphemous idea of ‘the undeserving poor’

Last updated on: April 12, 2012 at 1:39 pm By Fred Clark

From John Calvin, to Marilynne Robinson, to Martin Marty, to here, this is the theologian and reformer on what we owe to all the poor: The Lord commands us to “do good to all men,” universally, a great part of whom, estimated according to their own merits, are very undeserving; but here the Scripture assists us with an excellent rule, when it inculcates that we must not regard the intrinsic merit of men, but must consider the images of God... Read more

A pleasure pen, meant for them

Last updated on: April 12, 2012 at 11:24 am By Fred Clark

“Take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd …” “He wants a carton of Merits and some Jiffy Pop, and he doesn’t want to have to put his shirt on to get them. You know why? Because this is America.” “For all the talk about McCarthyism in politics, we don’t usually come across literal examples.” “What’s going on here is lying. It’s lying about fellow human beings. And it’s lying to oneself.” “There is no... Read more

The secret conspiracy plotting against religious freedom gets wider

Last updated on: April 11, 2012 at 10:10 pm By Fred Clark

Charles Colson, Dr. James C. Dobson and now Rick Warren have warned us that a sneaky conspiracy of dangerous liberals are threatening “freedom of religion” by calling it, instead, “freedom of worship.” These devious liberals are so sneaky about this that most of the time they say “freedom of religion,” but they also occasionally mix in that terrifying, anti-Christian, un-American phrase “freedom of worship.” And that can only mean that they want to abolish the freedom of religion. Obviously. President... Read more

Trayvon Martin: 45 days later is better than never

Last updated on: April 11, 2012 at 11:04 pm By Fred Clark

The Washington Post, “George Zimmerman is charged with 2nd-degree murder in Trayvon Martin shooting“: George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin 45 days ago, was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday, marking a turning point in a case that has provoked nationwide debate over racial profiling. Florida special prosecutor Angela B. Corey, who announced the charge in Jacksonville, said that “the search for justice has brought us to this moment.” She said Zimmerman had... Read more

Jason DeParle on mothers and their children

Last updated on: April 11, 2012 at 9:17 am By Fred Clark

“Welfare reform” was all about mothers and their children. It was mothers and their children — only mothers and their children — who received the assistance that was “reformed” and restricted. And it was those mothers and their children who were left helpless when the recession hit. Jason DeParle had a must-read report on those mothers and their children in Sunday’s New York Times, “Welfare Limits Left Poor Adrift as Recession Hit.” I’ve excerpted a few select quotes from that... Read more