During the 2000 presidential election race between Al Gore and George W. Bush, I was in the post office one morning. A woman at the counter was begging the postal clerk to not vote for Bush. In tears and obvious emotional distress she cried out, “He wants to kill women!” Extreme emotional claims such as this brought that election down to hand counting votes in Florida and a court ruling on the count but had little to do with the facts of the candidate’s positions.

On Monday, January 23, I was watching the Neil Cavuto Show on the FOX Business channel. He had billionaire, Leon Cooperman on the show to discuss his Open Letter to President Obama. The letter is interesting and even though he is very wealthy, Continue reading …

A second matter, in this regard, concerns the strong indications that for all the deep belief, the genuine piety, the heroic faith, and the good intention one finds all across American Christianity today, large swaths have been captured by the spirit of the age. One does not have to review or redo the research of many social scientists to recognize the extent of this challenge. Consumerism, individualism, the therapeutic and managerial ideologies have gone far to undermine the authority of the Christian movement and its traditions. This problem is especially acute among the young, where, as Christian Smith observes, a “moralistic, therapeutic deism” has triumphed over historical creedal faith and practice.

As Jonathon and I work our way through James Davison Hunter’s book, To Change the World : The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World , we are finding a number of things with which we agree. In fact, we have made similar observations which are similar to the above quote from his book. I do have to say that, although he states he is writing as a Christian, it is unclear what he means by that claim. He seems Continue reading …

“Is Christianity Good for the World?” Thus asks a new book co-authored by Christian philosopher and pastor, Douglas Wilson, and media maven and everyone’s favorite curmudgeonly atheist Christopher Hitchens. What started as an email exchange was picked up by Christianity Today and later by Canon Press. Finally, the whole thing was turned into a documentary that is strangely incendiary and cordial at the same time.

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Discussion between liberals/progressives and conservatives is always difficult because we see the world so differently. What makes it more difficult is when objective facts are left out or worse, stated exactly opposite of reality. Sometimes it is an unintentional misstatement akin to Barack Obama saying during this campaign for president that he had been to all 57 states. I suspect he was aware that there aren’t 57 states in the United State. Sometimes, false claims are made due to a lack of familiarity with the topic. Sometimes, they are just plain lies. I am not sure how to classify Joy Behar’s rewriting of the history of the Republican Party and blacks. Joy is one of the regulars on the ABC’s television show, “The View,” and a couple of weeks ago she claimed the Republican Party hasnt been black friendly over the many centuries in this country’.

Was Behar intentionally dishonest or does she not know history? I don’t know how to answer that question. First of all, Continue reading …

What a day! Everything has to be civil and politically correct or believers are accused of being negative, mean spirited, faultfinders and haters. However I think if Jesus were on earth today He would be accused of the same thing. Jesus was the greatest apologist that ever lived because He was truth. He was gentle with broken sinners and repentant seekers, there is no doubt about that. But with the religious Pharisees and the cult of legalism and unbiblical tradition He was scathing and charged in with both feet. He was a man on fire. Matthew 23 shows Jesus at His apologetic best and it might do us well to re read that chapter a few times. And yikes Continue reading …

In the 1970s Johnsons Baby Powder ran a television ad with a lady standing in front of her bathroom mirror saying, “Who am I? What am I? Why’d I cut my hair, I look like a squirrel.” It was a humorous way of telling the potential consumers who were viewing the ad how to stay cool and collected with their product while in stressful situations like having a hair style that conforms to societal expectations. “Who am I,” our self identity, is often confused or mixed up with my conformance to certain group expectations. I have had to think about this a lot over the years as I have counseled with people leaving cults and false religious groups. In leaving they have walked away from a certain set of beliefs which comprise and inform their worldview and in many cases they have left family and friends who remain in the group. How do they recover and where do they begin rebuilding their lives? This is a question some who have started a new Facebook page, ATI Survivors and subsequently a website, Recovering Grace have asked me.

For those who are unaware, ATI stands for Continue reading …

Many of us are somewhat disconnected from history. The recently released Report: Student don’t know much about U.S. history is but one example.

“Just 13 percent of high school seniors who took the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress, called the Nation’s Report Card, showed a solid grasp of the subject.”

The study revealed that most students couldn’t identify Martin Luther King Jr or Abraham Lincoln and couldn’t say why they are important. Being somewhat a student of history I can say, I am not overly surprised. Since the 1930s Continue reading …