Tag Landing

Rush Limbaugh and three evangelical blind spots

“What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke [sic], who goes before a congressional committee and says that she must be paid to have sex. What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute...So, if we’re gonna sit here, and if we’re gonna have a part in this, then we want something in return, Ms. Fluke: And that would be the videos of all this sex posted online so we can see what we are getting for our money.” – Rush Limbau... read more

Evangelicalism, neo-fundamentalism, and the next generation

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Three articles caught my eye today: The first comes from Frank Viola, who argues that there are now four major streams within evangelicalism, particularly among Christians in their 20s, 30s, and 40s: 1. The Systematizers2. The Activists3. The Emoters4. The Beyond Evangelicals Based on this previous post, I suspect I fall into that fourth stream, mainly because I’m tired of fighting over labels. The second is an excellent essay from Mike Clawson, shared by Roger Olson... read more

Some great posts about gender, hierarchy, equality, and marriage

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I probably don’t say this enough, but I am extremely hopeful about the future of women in the Church. Sure, there are some extra-loud voices calling for women to conform themselves to narrowly defined roles that have more to do with an idealized conception of pre-feminist America than with actual “biblical womanhood,” but I believe these cries represent the last desperate throes of a dying movement. I sincerely believe that, if I have daughters, they will be welcomed as eq... read more

52% of evangelical leaders think that Jesus would make a lousy evangelical

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photo © 2007 James Williams | more info (via: Wylio) Since so many of us either came from or continue to identify with the evangelical religious culture, I thought it might be interesting to discuss the results of a pew forum study released last week. The survey polled over 2,000 evangelical leaders worldwide. Some of the more notable results include: Women… 75 percent of responders favored allowing women to serve as pastors 79 percent believe that men should be t... read more

13 Things That Make Me a Lousy Evangelical

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So I suppose that technically I am an evangelical Christian. I follow Jesus Christ. I think a personal commitment to faith is important. I read the Bible regularly. However, I consistently find myself in awkward situations among my fellow evangelicals, mainly because of these 13 habits: 1. The word “inerrancy” makes my scalp itch 2. Sometimes I vote for democrats 3. When the kids choir sings about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, I lean over to my husband and w... read more

Rob Bell, Evangelicalism, and The Gospel

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In light of our recent conversations about evangelicalism (“Kirk Cameron and Six Evangelical Stereotypes”) and the Gospel (“Is the Gospel Relative?”), these items caught my eye recently. First, on evangelicalism, Rob Bell caused quite a stir the other day when he too expressed his disenchantment with the term “evangelical.” As he told the Boston Globe: “I take issue with the word to a certain degree, so I make a distinction between a capital E and a ... read more

Kirk Cameron and Six Evangelical Stereotypes

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You know that feeling you get when your sweet, 90-year-old grandmother makes a blatantly racist comment at Thanksgiving dinner or your creepy uncle starts rambling about how the moon landing was staged? You are no doubt familiar with the spontaneous full-body wince that inevitably follows an interview with Al Sharpton in which he claims to represent all African Americans, Michael Moore in which he claims to represent all liberals, or Ann Coulter in which she claims to represent all Christians. W... read more

Converting the Catholics?

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So every now and then I get a letter in the mail requesting support for either a short-term mission trip or a full-time missions venture to Europe. Dan and I try to be generous when it comes to mission work, particularly for organizations that are active in third world countries, but I have to admit I experience some hesitancy when it comes to European missions, particularly those that focus on “ministering to Catholics.” I know that secularism and Islam are powerful forces in Euro... read more

The Christian College Experience

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If I didn’t already have a stack of unread books on my nightstand, I’d love to check out The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose. (Check out the book trailer above.) The book chronicles Roose’s experience when he transferred from Brown University to Liberty University, a conservative Christian college founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell. Raised in a secular/liberal home, Roose struggles to keep up with the Bible clas... read more

Anne Coulter speaks on behalf of Jesus Christ?

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So I gotta call Summit Ministries out on this one. I noticed an interview on the homepage of their Web site in which Anne Coulter was chosen to represent a “decidedly biblical perspective” on David Wheaton’s Christian Worldview Radio Program. Coulter was described as a favorite guest of the show, which is sponsored by Summit Ministries. In the interview, entitled “The Victimization of America,” Wheaton describes concern for the hurting and oppressed as an anti-bibl... read more

Guest Post: Adele on the Sex-Crazed American Christian Subculture

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I'm just a few days away from finishing the manuscript for my book, and am so thankful for friends willing to pick up the slack on the blog! Thanks to Adele for contributing this post, originally published on The Ooze. I know that not all of you will agree with her perspective, but she's a great person, so please show respect with your comments. Sex Crazed: The American Christian Subculture by Adele Sakler Remember how much of the world outside the U.S. laughed during the Bill Clinton/Monica... read more

Fundamentalism, Evangelicalism, and the Palin/Bryan Factor

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A few weeks ago, just when I’d decided I’d had enough of lipstick, pigs, and the feigned outrage of the suddenly feminist Republican Party, I picked up the local newspaper to read: “Dayton invites Sarah Palin to Speak.” “Ahhhh! She’s everywhere!” I screamed. I’d already glanced through two Newsweek cover stories about her, read a lengthy Time piece, suffered through seemingly endless TV news coverage…and now here she was on the front ... read more

Am I an Evangelical? Are You?

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A few weeks ago, a group of church leaders led by Os Guinness released An Evangelical Manifesto in an effort to explain “who evangelicals are and what they stand for.” The effort was largely motivated by their desire to pry evangelicalism from the grip of the religious right, and the resulting document is quite generous in its definition of evangelical orthodoxy, thought it has been criticized for being too vague. Among other things, the document states that “evangelicals are C... read more

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