Why do people reject God and embrace an atheistic worldview? Are they convinced that biblical Christianity is irrational, nonsensical? Are the “nones” doubting their faith or questioning their faith because of rational argumentation? Are atheists and/or the now infamous “nones” rejecting Jesus because of their deep-seated, well-thought-through convictions, or are there other explanations?
The scandal of abortion continues to plague American civilization, with the entertainment and political culture setting the parameters. Each cultural sector frames the abortion issue according to its preference, refusing to acknowledge that the discussion is about a human life. The nonsense of the entertainment culture was reflected in the recent Golden Globe awards ceremony. The atrocities that accompany abortion (e.g., marketing baby parts for research) has caused some to engage in civil disobedience.
Most US presidents have had a spiritual “advisor” of some sort. For President Lincoln it was Dr. James D. Smith (when he lived in Springfield) and Rev. Phineas D. Gurley (when he resided in the White House). For President’s Eisenhower and Nixon, it was Billy Graham. President Obama turned to Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California. In November 2019, Pastor Paula White-Cain joined the Trump administration as an advisor to President Trump’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative, which aims to give religious groups more of a voice in government programs devoted to issues like defending religious liberty and fighting poverty.
In late November 2019, my wife and I saw the movie, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Arguably one of the best movies of 2019, it stars Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, the host of the popular PBS program Mister Rogers’s Neighborhood, which aired from 1968 through 2001.
A pro-life position involves consistency and an adherence to the value of human life at any stage in its development. Humans are valuable because they bear God’s image, which means both a fetus or a 90-year old are of infinite worth and value to God—and therefore to us. Fighting for pro-life consistency means fighting for children who need love and care, whether in the womb or as an infant. For that reason many evangelical Christians devote their lives to foster care, adoption and “similar services to vulnerable children.
According to a recent study released by the Pew Research Center, the ranks of people who do not adhere to any faith in the US are growing and church attendance has fallen sharply. The Pew study demonstrates the triumph of personal autonomy and provides further confirmation that we are now living in a Postmodern, Post-Christian
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Most church historians trace the birth of modern evangelicalism to the late 1940s into the early 1950s. Christian leaders such as Billy Graham, Carl Henry and Harold John Okenga, lamenting the separatism and anti-intellectualism of Fundamentalist leaders, organized an institutional separation from Fundamentalism.
In America, indeed in all of Western Civilization, we are experiencing what has been called “The Great Unraveling.” Evangelical author and educator, Duane Litfin, writes: “We live in a time of shifting sand. The avalanche of social, political and legal changes we’ve experienced has left many believers reeling.”
The practice of personal faith is based on one’s knowledge about God, His revelation and His redemptive plan centered in Jesus Christ. But in this Postmodern, Post-Christian era, religion has deteriorated into a matter of experiential, autonomous choice, not revelation. Compared to Western European countries, America remains a highly religious country. But religiosity does not equal sound doctrinal convictions. One of my favorite authors today is sociologist Christian Smith, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Smith has authored a series of books that superbly analyze the culture of American teens and emerging adults (18-30 years of age).
Historian Jon Meacham recently posted a story intentionally seeking to humanize, sanitize and legitimize euthanasia. He writes: “Tuesday [6 August 2019] was to be the day — in the morning, because everything was taken care of. The goodbyes had been said, the tears shed, the coffin handmade. In the spring of 2018, Dick Shannon, a former Silicon Valley engineer with untreatable cancer, took advantage of California’s ‘death with dignity’ law to end his own life once all other medical possibilities had been exhausted.
