A Teachable Moment on Communist China
When I first heard it, I didn’t believe it. Alas, it’s true. A few weeks ago, New York City’s EmpireStateBuilding was aglow in red and yellow. Why? To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the victorious revolution of the People’s Republic of China—i.e., the establishment of Mao’s Red China. (Click here for photo.) I’m not kidding.... Continue Reading
Honduras and the United States:What’s Wrong With This Picture?
As this is being written, Manuel Zelaya, the ousted and exiled ex-president of Honduras, is holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, having been smuggled there on Sept. 21. His followers acted like the anti-capitalist protesters who haunt G-20 meetings, smashing windows, spraying graffiti, attacking police cars, and suchlike. Here is... Continue Reading
‘Evangelical’: What Does It Really Mean?
Phil Johnson at Pyromaniacs makes the following observation: If any popular figure “in the evangelical movement” (or on its copious fringe) deserves the label “heretic,” it is Rob Bell. The guardians of evangelical politeness don’t like that kind of candor, but when a secular newspaper like The Boston Globe is publishing pieces implying that the... Continue Reading
Is Anyone (Really) Listening?
Having a mother who was a university professor specializing in professional presentation, I learned early in life about the “communication loop.” The sender seeks to communicate a particular message to an intended receiver. The message is sent. The message may then be intercepted, misinterpreted, received by an unintended party or actually received (“let those who... Continue Reading
“Got Hope?” The Theological Virtue of Obama
As someone who teaches and writes about international politics, I can confidently say that last week was one of the strangest in memory, from the G-20 circus in my backyard (Pittsburgh) to the political zoo at the United Nations. President Obama, of course, was front and center, including with a major speech at the United... Continue Reading
Making Assumptions about Your New Session
IMHO: A Weekly Commentary from our Publisher Much of my current ministry involves training, coaching, advising (dare I say ‘consulting with’?) Pulpit Committees. Although I did not set out to do as much of this as I do (it’s more than half my ministry now), it has certainly been rewarding. Among my list of things... Continue Reading
The G-20 Meeting is Over (Thank Goodness!)
Count me among the cynics when it comes to G-7, G-8, and now G-20 meetings. They seem to involve little more than photo ops and platforms for politicians to bore us with platitudinous pronouncements—at great expense to the taxpayers in the host country and city, I might add. As usual, nothing earth-shaking happened at the... Continue Reading
A Trip to the New Bountiful (And To Yet Another Alternative View Of Marriage)
Bountiful, British Columbia, is a town just across the Canada/U.S. border, close to the Washington/Idaho line – which makes it about a 3 hour drive from Spokane. Think fly fishing! Unlike Miss Daisy’s special ride, a trip to Bountiful today puts one in the midst of a settlement of one of the off-shoots of the... Continue Reading
Americans Who Don’t Identify with a Religion No Longer a Fringe Group
“Nones” now largely mirror Mainstream America HARTFORD, Conn. – The 34 million American adults who don’t identify with any particular religious group reflect the general population in terms of marital status, educational attainment, racial and ethnic makeup, and income, according to a new study by Trinity College researchers, American Nones: The Profile of the No... Continue Reading
Truth and Politics
Many of us are cynical about promises made by politicians. “Campaign promises are made to be broken” is a venerable truism of American politics. There are “truth-in-advertising” laws against misrepresentation by private businesses, but no such protections apply to political speech. Why do politicians so often deny, stretch, obscure, evade or mutilate truth? In brief,... Continue Reading