Sabbatical Reflections: The Pursuit of Happiness (Part 3 of 3)

There is a recurring theme in the Scriptures: “Blessed (happy) is the nation whose God is the Lord.”  Both corporate and individual happiness has little to do with “hap” and everything to do with recognizing God as the center of personal and national life.  This is what the Founding Fathers of the United States understood [...]

Sabbatical Reflections: The Pursuit of Happiness (Part 1 of 3)

As part of my sabbatical reflection, I am reading Marva J. Dawn’s book The Sense of the Call: A Sabbath Way of Life.
An early quote in the book captured my attention. Dawn wrote:  “We can easily give into our culture’s craving for happiness and miss the true joy of genuine faithfulness” (3).  It seems to [...]

Obama’s Blinding Style, Part 2

In the modern US political context, the nation is at a tipping point. The old Judeo-Christian foundations of the nation are being eroded. They have been replaced with an Atheistic-Materialistic paradigm. The United States is no longer “one nation under God.” The United States is one geography being shared by two distinct “nations” – peoples [...]

Obama’s Blinding Style, Part 1

The imagination of the world has been captured by the campaign and presidency of Barack Obama. I must confess that I was taken by his speaking ability, his seeming charismatic leadership, and  his ability to organize a brilliant campaign to first gain the Democratic party’s nomination and then win the presidency of the United States. [...]

Western Society Seeks Alternative Spirituality

This was written as a response to numerous comments that Darrow received on his last post.
It seems that this blog struck a chord with some people who are Atheists in their belief/faith system. A number have called me on my assertion that Atheism is dying and they have stated that it is growing. Let me [...]

Spiritual Vaccuum Leads to Embrace of Premodern Religions

As Europe and America have become post Christian, they have turned to Modernism – Secularism. As they have come to experience the spiritual void of Atheistic-Materialism, they become Post-Modern. And what is Post-Modernism?
Unfortunately, there has not been a return to Christ and the powerful Judeo-Christian worldview that was at the root of European and American [...]

Music that Writes Culture, Part 4

In the second line, Watts says “Let earth receive her king.”  Note that the object of the first two lines has changed, from world to earth.  I don’t think this was a slip of the pen or poetic variation in his writing.  Watts was not only a hymn writer, he was theologically grounded.  I think he [...]

Is America a Christian Nation? Part 2 of 2

But it is here that we need to make a distinction.  This is a distinction that most people, including Barack Obama, fail to make.  The distinction is between what we might call ideological pluralism and political/social pluralism.
Dictionary.com provides us with several definitions of pluralism.  Two of these definitions can help us with this distinction:

Ideological Pluralism [...]

Is America a Christian Nation? Part 1 of 2

A few weeks ago, our good friend Ana from Brazil sent us a note with a video clip of Barack Obama’s comments on whether the USA was a Christian nation.  The tape, titled Obama and Religion, was from a message that he delivered at the June 28, 2006 keynote speech at a “Call to Renewal” [...]

Becoming People of Influence in Order to Shape Our Language, Part 2 of 2

James Davidson Hunter, the William R. Kenan Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, has written a profound book that helps us understand the impact of language on moral development.  In his book, The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age without Good or Evil, Hunter describes how early education [...]