This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on July 12, 2012. Sometimes I hear people say we are to be the voice of the voiceless. I certainly appreciate their commitment to advocating for those on the margins. Still, “the voiceless” do have voices. I don’t need to speak for them; rather, I need to listen to them, echo their call, and amplify their voices where needed so that others don’t drown out their voices with their rebuttals. Only… Read more

This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on July 9, 2012. In Monopoly, one dreads getting the Community Chest card, “Go to jail – go directly to jail – Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.” Much better is the card “Get out of jail, free.” You can keep it until you need it. If only the spiritual life with all its consequences for our actions was that easy. I wonder how often those of us in… Read more

This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on July 4, 2012. I enjoyed watching The Avengers recently at the movie theater. I loved how the Marvel Studios’ superheroes avenged the forces of evil from beyond this world, and how the globe was delivered from harm. Captain America was certainly one of the more subdued characters in the film. He’s a selfless superhero, quite a contrast to Iron Man’s Tony Stark. Steve Rogers as Captain America is a throwback to an… Read more

This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on July 2, 2012. John the Baptist was a saint, not a celebrity. While people wanted to make him into a celebrity, he wanted to be a window through which they could gaze at the Messiah, Jesus. When John’s disciples came to him and said that Jesus to whom John bore witness “is baptizing, and everyone is going to him” (John 3:26), John said, A person can receive only what is… Read more

This piece was originally published at Aslan Media’s site on June 25th, 2012. By Paul Louis Metzger and John W. Morehead At a recent festival held annually by Dearborn’s Muslim community, it was reported that a group of Christian missionaries disrupted the event as they engaged in responses that challenged deeply valued Islamic ideals. This included holding up signs that attacked Islam’s prophet Muhammad, shouting at Muslims participating in the festival, and hoisting a pig’s head on a pole, an animal considered… Read more

This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on June 25, 2012. The Washington Post opinion piece “‘Fortnight for Freedom’ distorts true religious liberty” by Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, distorts matters when it compares the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on its agencies not providing adoption services to gay couples with segregationist practices in the past. I am not a Roman Catholic, but a Protestant. Still, there is something at stake for all of us,… Read more

This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on June 22, 2012. The late Rodney King’s famous five words will stick with us for a long time: “Can we all get along?” He uttered these words in a public statement during the LA Riots, riots which were sparked by his savage beating by Los Angeles police officers captured on video. From an obituary in The New York Times, I found that Mr. King did not welcome the celebrity spotlight and did not see himself… Read more

This piece was originally posted at The Christian Post on June 18, 2012. A tax exempt gospel does not mean we are offering the gospel free of charge. I have heard Christians speak about the possibility of churches losing their tax exempt status if they do not comply with this or that social policy put in place by the U. S. federal government. I spoke recently about this concern with several friends who are Christian leaders. Their responses gave me… Read more

This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on June 14, 2012. Jason Pitzl-Waters’ recent post at the Pagan blog The Wild Hunt on Beliefnet’s apology for an intensely and inappropriately critical post of Paganism speaks to the issue of how important apologies are in Christian apologetics today. We are not living in the middle of the first century, where Christianity was largely unknown in many circles in the Roman world. Whether individual Christians are known to people or… Read more

This piece was originally published at The Christian Post on June 11, 2012. By Paul Louis Metzger and John W. Morehead A recent Associated Press article stated, “An Egyptian court sentenced 12 Christians to life in prison and acquitted eight Muslims on Monday in a case set off by religious tensions in the country’s south.” The article spoke of complaints of gross injustices committed against Christians by the legal and law enforcement system in Egypt. This kind of news also… Read more