Religion remains a powerful force in Western civilization, especially the United States. . . As I argued in a recent edition of Issues in Perspective, the God of many Americans, especially teens and emerging adults, is a moralistic therapeutic deistic God, not the God of the Bible. So, where does this leave us as a civilization? Is genuine, biblical Christianity viable in the United States?
One of my favorite authors today is sociologist Christian Smith, who has authored a series of books that superbly analyze the culture of American teens and emerging adults (18-30 years of age). In his 2005 study, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, Smith summarizes the worldview of America?s teen culture. In this Perspective, I want to summarize Smith?s thesis.
If you have a young daughter or granddaughter, you have no doubt heard of The Hunger Games, the first of three novels written by Suzanne Collins. A remarkable best-seller that has enthralled young girls and boys, it is now a blockbuster movie, setting records for a just-released movie. It is an engaging and provocative story, filled with themes and underlying messages, not incompatible with biblical Christianity.
As a Christian leader, I believe that only the Christian worldview provides answers to the challenges of our world. Let me use three examples in this edition of Issues in Perspective.
The Health-Care law of the Obama administration has caused no small controversy. Most recently, the provision that all employers must provide contraceptive products to their employees as a health care benefit regardless of the religious convictions of that institution is one of the most egregious. This provision and the subsequent discussion and debate within our culture gets to the heart of conscience, a precious biblical concept and a precious concept central to religious liberty in the American culture.
By definition, dictators are not voted into power. They do not rule by consensus developed within a legislative body. They do not run for the political office they hold by making promises or developing a campaign platform. They rule by raw power, usually military in nature. Such rulers often take on the image of divinity or at least quasi-divinity. Historically, one thinks of the Caesars of the Roman Empire.
In a recent article in Time magazine, David Von Drehle posits that there is a conservative identity crisis in America today. The term ?conservative? is a popular term in America. Indeed, Von Drehle shows that according to polls, conservatism is the most ?popular philosophy in the US: 2 in every 5 Americans say they embrace
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We live in an age where the state is taking control over more and more facets of our lives. The old saying of a paternalist state that cares for us from cradle to the grave is not that far off the mark. The free market economy is not that free anymore; it is a highly regulated market where the state controls and regulates almost every facet of our financial lives. This highly regulated form of capitalism is a result of sin.
A retired anesthesiologist, Lawrence Egbert is an 84-year old doctor, who is in some ways the current public face of doctor-assisted suicide as a movement. He has replaced Dr. Jack Kevorkian as the symbol of this controversial practice.
Near the end of January 2012, an extraordinary development affecting the cause of religious liberty occurred and the media hardly reported on it. In my judgment, it is one of the most underreported stories in recent memory. For the first time in American history, the state is ordering religious institutions to provide insurance coverage for employees that must include contraceptives, including those that may induce abortion.
