On Clinging to Guns and Religion
My business as a pastor is to point people to Jesus, not to put forth strong opinions on the specifics of our nation’s gun laws, though I may have strong opinions on that issue. But sometimes these two things intersect.
I was in a conversation with a Christian friend right after the Sutherland Springs shooting, and we started chatting about firearms. Living in Michigan and growing up in Texas I have been constantly surrounded by a strong pro-gun culture. My observation has been that pro-gun conservatives in these areas generally have made their commitment to own and carry guns functionally sacred. To infringe upon these rights would be the worst possible thing to happen to them, and the question of gun control legislation is a question of attacking their personal identity. I was worried that this was also the case for this friend…
On The Unraveling of Cultural Logic
The debate over religious liberty and abortion, as it relates to Satanism, is an indication of the weakness of a cultural attempting to legislate and rule on the basis of secular, that is, neutral, principles. Sociologist James Davison Hunter, who coined the term ‘culture wars’, has this to say in a lengthy, but valuable, article…
On Counting Baptists
In a previous post I reflected on Philip Jenkins’ work showing that Baptists are the only Christian denomination not growing globally. His followup today at the Anxious Bench deserves highlighting. If religious group X is well known in a society,…
On Baptists in the Global South
Philip Jenkins has a fascinating article at the Christian Century on Christianity in the Global South. Christians living in the Global South are the largest demographic of every Protestant tradition, except for Baptists. Part of Jenkins’ explanation points to the…
The Emphasis is the Real Message
What is stated is often not the message being sent by what is stated. At a retreat I recently attended the core of the speaker’s message over several days, to both Christians and presumed non-Christians, was, “God loves you unconditionally….
