A Finnish district court prosecutor today convicted a pastor with criminal discrimination for refusing to work with a female pastor. Two other church leaders were also fined for not preventing the violation.

The pastor was fined the equivalent of 20 days of his salary, according to a Finnish news report. Finland's laws prohibit discrimination in the workplace or in public based on factors like sex, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Pastors within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the country's state church, disagree on whether women should serve as pastors. However, this is the first time that a church disagreement was brought before law enforcement. Pastor Ari Norro and the two church members were tried November 16 and convicted today.

Johan Candelin, director of World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty Commission and Finland resident, said it is unclear whether the pastor will attempt to bring the case to a higher court. Candelin said the fine is equivalent to the fine a burglar receives, and the three church members will have a criminal record.

As previously reported on Christianity Today's website, Norro's infringement came during a Communion service last March. Norro is a member of the Lutheran Evangelical Association in Finland, a group that believes the Bible prohibits women from serving as pastors. He offered to leave when a woman pastor arrived 15 minutes before the service to help serve at the altar. The woman, Petra Pohjanraito, decided to leave instead.

"It's a very sad day for the Finnish church when people are taken to court for following their conscience," Candelin told CT today. "In the future, the court will surely follow this line that they now started." The case could set a precedent for similar cases concerning discrimination against homosexuals.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at November 30, 2007 3:13PM | Comments (22)

The stakes and the rhetoric over last spring's murders of three missionaries in Turkey continue to get higher. While some are suggesting the victims have PKK connections, others are demanding the defendants be tried for genocide.

Five young plaintiffs are being tried for the killings of Tilman Ekkehart Geske, Necati Aydin, and Ugur Yuksel in Malatya, Turkey. Seven others are not in custody but have been charged with aiding in the murders.

The trial itself opened November 23 with quite a crowd in attendance and has already stalled. The Turkish Press reports that:

The prosecutor demanded life imprisonment for five suspects on charges of setting up an armed terrorist organization and killing people. The suspects and their lawyers said they are not ready to defend themselves. Then, the judge adjourned the court till January 14, 2008.

One of the major concerns about the defense is that, in an appeal to anti-missionary sentiments, it will portray Geske, Aydin, and Yuksel as apostates who had it coming to them. Orhan Kemal Cengiz, one of the attorneys for the complainants and a Turkish Daily News columnist, wrote:

There are 31 files in this case and just 15 of them comprise information about the murder and the perpetrators. What about the other 16 files?

The prosecutor retrieved all documents from the computers of the victims and put them in the case file as "evidence." If a prosecutor sees missionary activities as criminal then it is not difficult to understand how some people can become crazy and kill these missionaries!

Furthermore, these files, which are public now, may lead to new murders because they include many details on other Protestants who reside in different parts of Turkey. The addresses, emails, telephones of many other Turkish Protestants are in the files, which have already been in the hands of the murderers. The prosecutor failed to make a thorough investigation and he has also put many other lives in danger.

I would like to give you some specific information, but if I went into all details of the weirdness of the files, this article would turn into a small booklet.

It probably won't be difficult to convince the court that the victims were at least partly to blame, Cengiz says, "From the communications sent to the file we understand that Necati Aydin, one of the victims, had been under constant surveillance and in his police record he has recorded as a former criminal for the ?crime' of ?missionary activity.'"

There has been much hand-wringing in the Turkish press over these murders and what they mean about tolerance and teen violence in their society. But the country - or at least its press - continues to choke on the distinctiveness of people of faith.

Forum 18 published an op-ed that probes the source of the anti-Christian violence. In it, G?zide Ceyhan concludes it's a result of "disinformation about Christianity in statements by public figures and through the media, the rise of Turkish nationalism, and the implicit and explicit approval both of the marginalization of Christians from Turkish society and also of actions - including murders - against them."

Keep a lookout for our January cover story, "Jesus in Turkey."

Posted by Susan Wunderink at November 30, 2007 12:58PM | Comments (6)

Tomorrow, Dec. 1, is World AIDS Day, 2007.

Earlier this week, World Vision released a new survey that looks at the public's knowledge and opinion about HIV/AIDS in the G-7 nations -- the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan.

World Vision held a press conference at the United Nations on Nov. 29. The organizaiton noted:

More than 25 years after HIV was discovered, one-third of the people in seven wealthy nations admit they know little or nothing about the global HIV and AIDS epidemic, and one-fourth believe the problem is "greatly exaggerated," according to a survey released today by World Vision, the international humanitarian organization.

Ironically, 80 percent of the respondents believe their governments should do much more to help children orphaned by AIDS and AIDS-related illnesses around the world, but only 44 percent are willing to pay more in taxes to help fund prevention, treatment, research and care.

"This survey reconfirms what all of us on the front lines of the AIDS battle know - leaders must put a face on the pandemic because, for people to take action, AIDS must affect them in a personal way," says Richard E. Stearns, president of World Vision, U.S. "While some of these survey results present daunting challenges, we can be encouraged with the finding that the more people know about AIDS, the more compassionate they are toward those directly affected by it."

Meanwhile on the West Coast, Saddleback church's Rick Warren and his wife Kay were hosting their Third Annual Global Summit. That ends today followed by the Youth Summit at Saddleback tomorrow (Dec. 1)

In a press statement, Pastor Warren noted:

"People are asking, 'How many people have AIDS?' ? but that is the wrong question; rather, we should be asking, 'Why should anyone have AIDS?'" Dr. Warren said. "You are God's plan to bring relief to this pandemic. There are some things in this world that I don't have hope for, but I believe in the depth of my heart that HIV/AIDS can be stopped, because it will only take one thing ? real leaders," Dr. Warren added.

Together, the Warrens outlined five traits of real leaders that parallel the objectives of the conference, to develop leadership that is aware; accumulates knowledge; are advocates and activists; and are available. Using the model of a three-legged stool, they reiterated that to end AIDS, leadership is needed in all three sectors ? public, profit and parish ? at the international, national, church, city, business and individual levels.

"When it comes to AIDS, it is not enough to just have tender feelings in your heart ? caring for people with HIV isn't enough," Kay Warren added. "We must also be activists, which involves an intentional plan in your heart for good and for change. We have a call from God to raise our voices ? do not wait for perfect conditions."

So here's the big question:

Granted a few prominent evangelicals have stepped up to the activisim plate against HIV. But I cannot cite one example when I've heard of local (non-mega) evangelical church put a Sunday-long emphasis on HIV ministry. Have you? Is HIV outreach a true priority for evangelicals, or what?

Posted by Tim Morgan at November 29, 2007 5:06PM | Comments (5)

Nearly two weeks before its arrival to American cinemas, one film has managed to draw cries of complaint from both the Catholic League and the National Secular Society in recent weeks. The Golden Compass, which premieres in the U.S. on December 7 and is based on Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy of the same name, has been accused of being both anti-God and not anti-God enough.

The Catholic League, a conservative U.S. anti-defamation group, launched an official boycott of the film in early October, citing the books' negative depiction of the church (what Pullman names "the Authority"). League president Bill Donohue says Pullman, who is an outspoken atheist, wrote the stories "to promote atheism and denigrate Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism." Donohue is concerned that though it is toned down in its anti-God rhetoric, the upcoming movie will nonetheless act as "bait for the books."

Meanwhile, the U.K.-based National Secular Society is disappointed that the movie doesn't feature more explicit attacks on the church. According to the BBC, the society's president, Terry Sanderson, said, "We knew from the beginning that the producers of this film intended to leave out the anti-religious references. We think that is a great shame. The fight against the Magisterium (Pullman's thinly disguised version of the Catholic church) is the whole point of the book."

The Golden Compass premiered last night in the U.K. at London's Leicester Square, and received a lukewarm review from The Times - not for any real or perceived anti-God themes, of course, but for apparently sloppy storytelling compared to the books, which won the esteemed Whitbread Literary Award in 2002.

The movie is expected to do well in the U.S. during the approaching holiday-movie rush. This week's Newsweek delves deeper into director Chris Weitz's struggle of framing the stories' controversial subject matter, while the December issue of Christianity Today features the thoughtful critiques of some Christian writers who notice some surprising "Christian-y" themes in Pullman's books.

In a couple weeks, we'll see how the movie fares with the American audience, most of which doesn't fit easily into the extremes of today's religious culture wars that the Catholic League and the National Secular Society epitomize.

See Also:
Christianity Today Movies has been following the controversy surrounding the film. CT Movies' readers shared some initial thoughts on The Golden Compass's release.

Posted by Katelyn Beaty at November 28, 2007 11:58AM | Comments (7)

On Monday this blog asked, "Will Richard Roberts Let Go or ORU?" Concerns had surfaced in both the Oklahoman newspaper and in the Chronicle of Higher Education that because Roberts had remained president and CEO of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, he would still be able to misuse funds at Oral Roberts University.

I spent a few minutes studying the IRS Form 990s of both ORU and the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. The overlap between the boards of the two organizations is so huge that the evangelistic association was obliged to report that these organizations were under "Common Control."

Well, no longer. This morning the Associated Press, the Oklahoman, and the Tulsa World are reporting the promise of a major gift to ORU from Mart Green (founder of the retail chains Mardel and Hobby Lobby). He's offering $70 million to help the school out of its financial pit.

But there are conditions, and from the timing of the gift, it seems that one of them is for the school and the evangelistic association to cut their ties. According to the university's regents, they plan to disentangle the two organizations. Patriarch Oral Roberts has long opposed separating the two, according to the Oklahoman, but has apparently had a sudden change of heart.

The Green family made an initial $8 million gift on Monday, with the balance to be given over the next three months as the university shows progress in reforming its governance and its financial management and in dealing with pending lawsuits. To keep the reforms going, the Green family will likely get two seats on the ORU board of regents, says the Tulsa World.

Meanwhile, the regents' chairman has announced that Roberts will be allowed to remain in the ORU presidential palace--temporarily.

Posted by David Neff at November 28, 2007 5:31AM | Comments (18)

In an editorial published last Sunday, The New York Times explored what it called "the worst long-term fiscal crisis facing the nation" - rising health care costs. The piece provided a helpful survey of causes and possible solutions, but no silver bullet. As the editorial concluded, "A wide range of contributing factors needs to be tackled simultaneously, with no guarantee they will have a substantial impact any time soon."

The most arresting part of the piece was its summary of the United States' health care dilemma, laid out in the opening paragraphs:

The relentless, decades-long rise in the cost of health care has left many Americans struggling to pay their medical bills. Workers complain that they cannot afford high premiums for health insurance. Patients forgo recommended care rather than pay the out-of-pocket costs. Employers are cutting back or eliminating health benefits, forcing millions more people into the ranks of the uninsured. And state and federal governments strain to meet the expanding costs of public programs like Medicaid and Medicare.

Health care costs are far higher in the United States than in any other advanced nation, whether measured in total dollars spent, as a percentage of the economy, or on a per capita basis. And health costs here have been rising significantly faster than the overall economy or personal incomes for more than 40 years, a trend that cannot continue forever.

Indeed, rising health care costs have become a burden not just for the working poor, but for many middle-class Americans. It's an issue that's already on the minds of voters - in a New York Times-CBS News poll, Iowa Democrats likely to attend the January 3 caucuses called it their top priority - and it's going to gain more public attention as the presidential campaigns continue. Democratic candidates will make sure of that.

"I don't think you can run for president today without having a universal health care plan that covers everybody," Hillary Clinton said recently, "because we want to go into a general election with that issue against the Republicans."

That Democrats plan to make health care reform a major part of their platform in 2008 - and that Republicans will be forced to respond - is unsurprising, perhaps. But what is surprising is how little evangelical Christian leaders have said about the issue.

In March, the president of the Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Richard Land, supported a call to re-authorize and expand the federally funded State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) so that every child in America could have health coverage - a proposal that seemed relatively uncontroversial, at least until President Bush opposed SCHIP's expansion on the contention that it would move middle-class children off of private coverage and onto government coverage.

The social-action ministry Sojourners has also called for health care reform, but its reach among evangelicals is limited. Why aren't more Christian leaders speaking up?

In the last several years, the National Association of Evangelicals has denounced torture and mistreatment of India's Dalits. It has also cautiously supported creation care and released a comprehensive public policy statement entitled, "For the Health of the Nation." The statement lists such areas of concern as freedom of religion and conscience, protection for families and children, protection of all human life, compassion and justice for the poor, global human rights, the pursuit of peace and restraint of violence, and biblically based creation care. Ironically, for a document called "For the Health of the Nation," it makes only passing mention of health care. Yet the average American is more immediately affected by rising health care costs than by, say, whether or not their community recycles.

No doubt evangelicals are as split on health care reform as they are on many other issues. But if we want to present a fully orbed vision for public policy, then we need to start engaging more deeply with the issue of affordable, adequate medical care - and soon. A community grounded in God's Word and dedicated to proclaiming the One who came to save the sick, the poor, and the needy ought to have something to contribute to the rising discussion.

Posted by Madison Trammel at November 27, 2007 3:50PM | Comments (13)

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I posted a brief note about Richard Roberts resignation as president of Oral Roberts University, the school founded by his famous faith-healing evangelist father.

But how significant is that resignation? Here are a couple of paragraphs from today's coverage on The Chronicle of Higher Education's website (subscription required):

Despite the controversies, Mr. Roberts has declared his intention to remain as chairman and chief executive of Oral Roberts Ministries, the central organization in the empire that includes the university.

Because of the ties between the two groups, Mr. Roberts's resignation from the university will have limited effect on his ability to misuse its funds if he remains in control of Oral Roberts Ministries, Tim Brooker, one of the three former professors who brought the lawsuit, told The Oklahoman, a newspaper in Oklahoma City.

As the university's regents search for a new president, and as candidates' names are rumored about, it will become clearer whether or not they are heading in the direction of reform. The new president needs to have few personal ties to Richard Roberts, or the credibility of his or her administration will need to be established over several years of hard decisions.

And, apparently, ORU's new president will have to make some tough decisions. More from the Chronicle:

The university, meanwhile, has reported itself as more than $50 million in debt. Much of the debt stems from the failure of the university's City of Faith hospital complex, which was intended to combine modern medicine with a belief in the power of prayer.

Posted by David Neff at November 26, 2007 10:02AM | Comments (31)

CT's December issue (already in your mailboxes, we trust) reported on a lawsuit three former professors brought against Oral Roberts University president Richard Roberts, the university, its regents, and three administrators.

According to the CT story, the lawsuit alleges misuse of university funds to support the lifestyle of the president and his family. It also alleges that Roberts coerced students into working for a politician's campaign and that Mrs. Roberts spent the night with an underage male student. The three professors claim they were wrongly forced out of their faculty positions for having brought the irregularities to the school administration's attention.

Tonight the Associated Press is reporting that Richard Roberts has resigned and that the school will announce a presidential search within a few days. See AP story here.

Posted by David Neff at November 23, 2007 8:24PM | Comments (19)

This fall various groups, including the National Institutes of Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control, are rallying behind the radical ideas that people with Down syndrome are valuable and deserve to live. Radical? Apparently. Thanks to new genetic testing capabilities, prospective parents are aborting those unborn children merely suspected of having three copies of the 21st chromosome instead of the usual two at a staggering rate of 90 percent.

Washington Post columnist Patricia Bauer thinks that’s a tragedy:

We cherish our friends and family members and think their unexpected extra chromosome is not the most important thing about them. And we worry that the relentlessness of genetic testing is amplifying stigma and bias against the 350,000 flesh-and-blood Americans who have the condition, as well as people who have other conditions that are now or soon will be prenatally discoverable.

In recent conversations with obstetricians and gynecologists, I've found that we family members aren't the only ones with these fears. Physicians say they're disturbed by mounting demands from prospective parents for nothing less than the "perfect" child, and by lawyers who troll for lawsuits against doctors who have the misfortune to deliver nonstandard babies. Not long ago, a Florida jury awarded a couple more than $21 million when their doctor failed to detect an obscure genetic condition prenatally.

Doctors are left to practice defensive medicine, ordering expensive tests and drowning patients in mind-numbing data, while parents labor under the misapprehension that they have a duty to terminate if the tests so dictate.

Bauer, who has an adult daughter with Down syndrome, has an information-packed website on disability-related issues. May such voices multiply in a society that increasingly looks at the less-than-physically perfect as not worthy of life.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at November 19, 2007 9:54AM | Comments (9)

Planned Parenthood may have the legal right to operate its new clinic in Aurora, Illinois, but the blowback from the prolife community has been staggering.

In fact, the emerging story looks to me like the rebirth of the prolife protest.

Here's the latest announcement, which arrived in my inbox about an hour ago, from the Prolife Action League:

Aurora Police Chief Threatens Arrests as Pro-Life Citizens Gear Up for Protest at Planned Parenthood. In Heated Discussion Chief Powell Tells Scheidler, "I Don't Care What the City's Attorneys Say, I Will Do What I Want"

Aurora, IL - On Saturday, November 17 from 9:00-11:00 AM, a protest will take place at the nation's largest Planned Parenthood facility located at 3051 E. New York Street in Aurora, Illinois. The monthly protests, organized by the Pro-Life Action League, have seen as many as 1,200 pro-life advocates gathering at one time. Rhetoric regarding the protest has heated up this week. Despite allegations of First Amendment violations against the peaceful protestors and a pending lawsuit against the city, Aurora Police Chief William Powell has gone on the offensive, even going so far as to accuse the protestors of being "threatening" when they claim their free speech rights. However, many of the peaceful demonstrators believe it is the Chief who is doing the threatening after calling a paddy wagon to be sent out to last month's protest. At Tuesday's City Council meeting Powell stated, "I hope [demonstrators] will go along with what we ask them to do. If not, I will guarantee there will be arrests made."

Eric Scheidler, Communications Director for the Pro-Life Action League and an Aurora resident, along with other protestors, had a heated discussion with Chief Powell at the Planned Parenthood site this morning.

"Chief Powell was visibly irate as we tried to discuss the plans for the gathering tomorrow," states Scheidler. "When I brought up that the city's outside counsel had given us directives as to the operation of the protest, he said he didn't care about what the attorney said, he would do what he wanted to do. At times, he was so angry that another officer intervened to calm him down."

After months of protests, Scheidler claims the city has continued to give unclear directives as to ordinances relating to the protests. With hundreds of citizens coming out to the Planned Parenthood site on a regular basis, many are questioning why the city seems to be constantly changing the rules.

"We have sought nothing but peace with the city and cooperation with the Aurora Police," states Scheidler. "We have continued to ask for clear, written directives as to laws for conducting these protests, but they have given none. What they have done is show up and intimidate hundreds of Aurora citizens with an armored paddy wagon, constant video surveillance and the city's lawyer in tow."

The opening of Planned Parenthood, scheduled for mid-September, was delayed for two and a half weeks while investigations were conducted into the seemingly deceptive process in which Planned Parenthood received their occupancy and building permits. Amid much controversy, the facility opened on October 2nd. Various investigations regarding zoning issues are still ongoing.

Scheidler vows that the monthly demonstrations will continue, "Regardless of the threats and tactics the city uses to try to keep their citizen's voices from being heard, we will be here praying and marching until no more innocent human lives are slaughtered in our town."

Once arrests begin to occur, prolife protests begin to take on a life of their own. Historically, some prolife protests have stretched for month after month. This situation in Aurora may become the largest stand-off between prolifers and the other side since the Terri Schiavo case.

Posted by Tim Morgan at November 16, 2007 4:47PM | Comments (2)

Many have called Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani hypocritical. Robertson has compromised his position on abortion and gay marriage in order to hitch his wagon to the presidential contender.

Not so, says Naomi Schaefer Riley, in a opinion piece in today's Wall Street Journal. (It deserves to be read in full.) In fact, Robertson's decision fits in a long tradition of evangelical support for an agressive foreign policy toward ideologies deemed to threaten Judeo-Christian civilization.

Riley quotes Richard land, who says evangelicals have long been interested in foreign policy. "The only part of the country that had majority support for Roosevelt's interventionist policies was the South." Then, after World War II, came godless communism. "Communism was seen as a direct threat to the Christian faith and Judeo-Christian civilization. Among Catholics and evangelical Christians, this message resonated first and with the most intensity."

For decades, evangelical missionaries returned home to their churches with stories from behind the growing menace. "Every year, we heard a speaker or two who had come from 'behind the Iron Curtain,' " says John Wilson, editor of CT's sister publication Books & Culture. They had harrowing tales to tell, sometimes first-person, sometimes not. There was a palpable sense of a world-scale conflict with godless communism."

Though some disagree that the threat of Islamic extremism equals that of communism, a similar pattern is emerging among returning missionaries. "In the past you had missionaries come back and talk about being imprisoned. Now you have reports from people about beheadings and bombings," says Timothy Shah, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The fact the Robertson's endorsement has raised such objections shows that there isn't the same kind of wide agreement on foreign policy as there was in the heydays of evangelical anti-communism. It remains to be seen both if Islamic extremism is believed to be the threat that communism was and if Giuliani can be seen as an equal opponent as Ronald Reagan was.

Posted by Rob Moll at November 16, 2007 11:19AM | Comments (4)

Georgia received rain late Wednesday and early Thursday, one day after Gov. Sonny Perdue led a public prayer for rain to end the region's historic drought.

"Certainly, we're not gloating about it," the Associated Press quotes Perdue. "We're thankful for the rain and hopefully it's the beginning of more. ... Frankly, it's great affirmation of what we asked for."

Mainstream press is quick to point out that the prayer came as the National Weather Service predicted rain. Still, the Atlanta Journal Constitution is also quick to say "The faithful ought to keep praying." Forecasters say that the storm likely did little to ease the state's drought.

A separate AP story examines how previous politicians have approached public prayer differently, from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson to Harry Truman.

While public prayer vigils might raise eyebrows in other parts of the nation, they are mostly shrugged off in the Bible Belt, where turning to the heavens for help is common and sometimes even politically expedient.

TIME magazine writes a piece that examines who is at fault for the drought.

"Politicians always call catastrophes 'acts of God,' blaming unnatural destruction caused by natural phenomena on supernatural forces," writes Michael Grunwald. ... "But it wasn't God who allowed an outdoor theme park to build a million-gallon mountain of artificial snow while the Southeast was running dry; it was Governor Perdue and his fellow elected officials. They also allowed the wasteful irrigation of Georgia's cotton farms and the rampant overbuilding and overslurping of metropolitan Atlanta."

TIME says the state will need serious water management and long-term thinking, which may take a miracle.

The L.A. Times writes that during his prayer, Perdue cut a newly repentant figure.

"Oh father, we acknowledge our wastefulness," Perdue said. "But we're doing better. And I thought it was time to acknowledge that to the creator, the provider of water and land, and to tell him that we will do better."

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at November 16, 2007 10:23AM | Comments (7)

Can one believe in the inerrancy of the Bible and the Triune nature of God and not be an evangelical? That's a key issue behind efforts officially introduced today to amend the doctrinal basis of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS).

"Right now, someone can deny the humanity of Christ and still be a member of ETS," said Ray Van Neste, professor of Christian studies at Union University in Jackson. "This is about safeguarding the evangelical character of the organization."

However, Van Neste says he does not see an onslaught of ETS members who hold heretical beliefs, and does not want a revised statement to launch dozens of challenges against theologians' memberships. He sees the effort as a long-term strategy to ensure commitment to evangelical essentials.

The society was divided during several meetings earlier this decade over whether to expel theologians Clark Pinnock and John Sanders from the group for their views of God's foreknowledge. The votes to expel them failed in 2003. Twenty years earlier, in 1983, Westmont College New Testament professor Robert Gundry was expelled for arguing that some events in the gospel of Matthew, such as the visit from the Magi, were not historical.

At issue in all of the cases was whether the scholars violated ETS's doctrinal basis, which reads in its entirety: "The Bible alone, and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs. God is a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each an uncreated person, one in essence, equal in power and glory." The language on the Trinity was added in 1990.

Questions over the society's doctrinal basis surfaced again earlier this year when ETS president Francis Beckwith converted to Roman Catholicism. He resigned from his position, but repeatedly noted that he could still affirm the society's doctrinal basis without reservation.

Van Neste and Dennis Burk, professor of New Testament at Criswell College, want to add further language to the doctrinal basis by attaching the belief statement of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship in the U.K. The change would take the doctrinal basis from 43 words to 339.

The effort faces an uphill battle. Amending the ETS constitution requires 80 percent approval from the society's members, and already opponents are talking about ways to postpone the vote, which is scheduled for next year's annual meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. Some, including members of the executive committee, are concerned that lengthening the theological basis would effectively turn it into a theological statement. Others are concerned that the changes would change the group's identity.

"It would change the sociology of ETS," said Darrell Bock, research professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary. "And nothing in this would have stopped anything we've gone through in the last 10 years."

Van Neste and Burk say their biggest obstacle isn't opposition. "The question now is how many people know about the effort." To garner support they have set up a website, AmendETS.com, and are discussing their proposal on a number of theology blogs.

See also:

Postcard from San Diego: Fighting 'Bibliolatry' at the Evangelical Theological Society | Talbot's J.P. Moreland warns that evangelicals are "over-committed to the Bible." (Nov. 14)

State of the Society | Acting president of Evangelical Theological Society talks about 'momentary crisis,' previews annual meeting (Nov. 9)

Inerrancy Is Not Enough | A proposal to amend the doctrinal basis of the Evangelical Theological Society (Van Neste and Burk, Criswell Theological Review, Fall 2007)

Correction: An earlier version of this post misquoted Van Neste as saying someone could deny the divinity of Christ and still be a member of ETS. He said that someone could deny Christ's humanity and still be a member. I regret the error.

Posted by Ted Olsen at November 15, 2007 11:54PM | Comments (14)

While the ballroom sessions of the first day of the Evangelical Theological Society meeting had more attendees, no session was as packed as J.P. Moreland's "How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It." While the average breakout session seems to be attended by fewer than 50 people, easily more than 200 packed the room to hear Moreland's talk, with dozens standing and more listening outside the door.

It's little wonder why so many people attended. ETS membership has only two doctrinal requirements: you must affirm the Trinity and the inerrancy of Scripture. The first part has not been controversial of late, but the second was the focus of the society's recent fight over open theism and was named as a reason why Francis Beckwith could not remain as ETS president after his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

In short, to accuse evangelicals of over-commitment to the Bible at ETS would be like accusing environmentalists of talking too much about climate change at a Sierra Club meeting. But Moreland, who has gained some prominence as a philosopher and apologist, wasn't pulling any punches.

"In the actual practices of the Evangelical community in North America, there is an over-commitment to Scripture in a way that is false, irrational, and harmful to the cause of Christ," he said. "And it has produced a mean-spiritedness among the over-committed that is a grotesque and often ignorant distortion of discipleship unto the Lord Jesus."

The problem, he said, is "the idea that the Bible is the sole source of knowledge of God, morality, and a host of related important items. Accordingly, the Bible is taken to be the sole authority for faith and practice."

Suppose an archaeologist discovered a portion of the ancient city of Jerusalem that was specifically described in the Old Testament, Moreland said:

Could the archaeologist have discovered the site without the use of the Old Testament? Once discovered, could the archaeologist learn things about the site that went beyond what was in the Old Testament? Clearly the answer is yes to both questions. Why? Because the site actually exists in the real world. It does not exist in the Bible. It is only described in the Bible and the biblical description in partial.

Likewise, Moreland argued, "because the human soul/spirit and demons/angels are real, it is possible, and, in fact, actual that extra-biblical knowledge can be gained about these spiritual entities. ? Demons do not exist in the Bible. They exist in reality."

By not researching how demons work, how to fight them, and other such issues by, for example, working with exorcists, Christian scholars are harming the church, Moreland argued. In a similar vein, he thinks evangelical scholars and the movement as a whole are rejecting "guidance, revelation, and so forth from God through impressions, dreams, visions, prophetic words, words of knowledge and wisdom."

"We shut that down because of charismatic excesses," he said. "Because of abuses, we fear teaching people how to use it. We think it's all going to be Benny Hinn or something like that."

A third area where Moreland critiqued evangelical over-commitment to Bible was in the scarcity of evangelical appeals to natural theology and moral law in their political and cultural discussions.

"The sparse landscape of evangelical political thought stands in stark contrast to the overflowing garden both of evangelical biblical scholarship and Catholic reflection on reason, general revelation, and cultural and political engagement," he said. "We evangelicals could learn a lesson or two from our Catholic friends."

That wasn't as provocative a statement coming a few months after the ETS president became one of those "Catholic friends." Catholicism is on the agenda here, and Catholics are both implicitly and explicitly discussed in the meeting's many discussions of justification. But Catholicism doesn't seem to be the "new open theism" at ETS.

No, more provocative was Moreland's argument about why evangelicals became over-committed to the Bible. Rather than developing a robust epistemology in response to secularism, he said, evangelicals reacted and retreated. Now evangelical theologians aren't allowed to come to any new conclusions about the truths in Scripture, and they're not allowed to find truths outside of Scripture. As a result, he said, they're engaged in "private language games and increasingly detailed minutia" and "we're not seeing work on broad cultural themes."

There are, quite frankly, a number of papers here that reflect private language games and increasingly detailed minutia. There will be in a few days, too, at the joint meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. And there are at just about every other major academic conference I've ever attended. But I think Moreland's critique stung here perhaps more than it might elsewhere. This is a group torn between its desire to do respectable scholarship and its desire to serve the church. Moreland's jeremiad hit them on both fronts.

(Note: Moreland's paper isn't online, but many of his themes appear in his Kingdom Triangle, released earlier this year by Zondervan.)

Posted by Ted Olsen at November 14, 2007 10:55PM | Comments (126)

Men's Fraternity
If I were to start leading a men's ministry, this would be my first stop. And I would order the video series The Quest for Authentic Manhood, by Robert Lewis. My library would eventually include all of the resources found here.

Man in the Mirror
Imagine finding some of the best books on issues at the hearts of men for only $1! Pat Morley offers a number of his materials, including Bible studies, leadership training, and his popular No Man Left Behind seminars.

Men of Integrity
This site helps men get spiritually grounded with thought-provoking devotionals and articles, as well as Todd Wilson's columns of "dad" advice (even my wife loves his writing). Links and forums are also available, along with a solid list of recommended books.

MensministryConnection.com
Guys need to stay connected, and an e-mail newsletter can help make it happen. This site explains how. What kinds of events attract men? Find answers here.

Promise Keepers
Can't make it to a Promise Keepers event near you? Not to worry. Get it right here with webcasts and PK on Demand. Some of the classic PK event messages are at your fingertips.

Crosswalk.com
Crosswalk is a superb daily-discipleship resource for both men and women. Its site for men offers discussion topics, movie reviews, and a resource storehouse.

Posted by Susan Wunderink at November 14, 2007 10:02AM | Comments (1)

Last year, according to BBC, 244 women and 234 men were ordained to the Anglican priesthood and now women make up a quarter of the Anglican clergy in Britain. Without this increase in the ordination of women, BBC reports that Anglican puplits would become "depopulated."

However, this does not mean that controversy over gender has ceased within the church. According to the TimesOnline,

The Synod is now locked in contentious debate over whether women should be ordained bishop, an issue that insiders fear could be as divisive as that of homosexual ordination, even though some provinces such as the US and Canada already have women bishops.

The General Synod first voted to ordain women in 1992, but some say that despite the increase in female priests, women have had very little impact on the church since then because, according to the University of Manchester, the church is still "far from being an equal opportunity employer."

The Reverend Rosemary Lain-Priestley, secretary to the National Association of Diocesan Advisers in Women's Ministry, said, "Many women priests feel that until women can become bishops they will not be taken seriously in other senior roles, despite the success of women deans and archdeacons."

Posted by Kristen Scharold at November 14, 2007 9:37AM | Comments (1)

In a Virginia court yesterday, a judge began a trial of certainly one of the biggest church property fights in American religious history.

The Episcopal Church, represented by the Diocese of Virginia and the national office in New York City, has filed suit against 11 congregations that have dis-affiliated with the denomination following the 2003 appointment of V. Gene Robinson, a "partnered homosexual," as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire.

Part of what amazes me is the lack of national media attention of this crucial case. It's important not only for the number of defendants, but also because it will test key concepts regarding how a state's judicial system applies civil law to matters normally relegated to the church.

The Washingon Times' Julia Duin provides a competent, newsy overview, reporting:

The case is informally referred to as "57-9" in many documents because the coming hearing is based on Virginia Code Section 57-9. This says when a diocese or a denomination experiences a "division," members of a congregation may determine by majority vote which side of the division to join, along with their property.

"This case is literally historic, because it's based on a statute enacted by the Virginia legislature during the Civil War," said Mary McReynolds, one of 24 lawyers involved on CANA's side of the dispute. "The Virginia division statute is unusual, and my understanding is there are not many situations in the country that allow this."

This morning, checking my Outlook inbox, I received the message, quoted below, from the conservative Anglican District of Virginia, the body of Anglicans now linked to CANA, an organization with direct oversight from the Anglican Province of Nigeria and Archbishop Akinola.

"Although we remain confident in our legal position, we call upon the leaders of both The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia to embrace the recommendation of the Primates and withdraw their lawsuits. We did not choose this path. Even today, our churches remain open to negotiating a reasonable solution with The Episcopal Church and the Diocese. The legal proceedings have been an unfortunate distraction from all the good work our churches are doing to advance the mission of Christ," said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, an association of Anglican congregations in Virginia and a part of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). All 11 churches named in the lawsuit are members of ADV.

"At the core of this case is that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia claim they have a ?trust' interest in the congregations' properties. But the Virginia courts have held time and again that denominations cannot claim an ?implied trust' in member congregations' property. The Episcopal Church even admitted in its complaint that it does not hold title to any of these eleven churches and that the churches' own trustees hold title for the benefit of the congregations.

"The Episcopal Church has continually walked away from the scriptural foundation of the Anglican Communion. When we objected, they chose intimidation through lawsuits as their solution. Regardless of the actions of The Episcopal Church, ADV members will continue to hold steadfast in their faith, based on the authority of Scripture. We continue to pray for The Episcopal Church and its leaders."

So regardless of who wins at the state level, it makes me wonder how long this case will be dragged through the courts. Could it end up before the US Supreme Court?

Posted by Tim Morgan at November 13, 2007 11:30AM | Comments (11)

Novelist and New Journalist Norman Mailer died Saturday morning of renal failure at age 84. A controversial but highly recognized writer, Mailer pushed the boundaries of content and style, even tackling the subject of God and religion in his last work, "On God: An Uncommon Conversation."

ABC said,

"In probing, amusing, and uncommon dialogues conducted over three years but whose topics he has considered for decades, Mailer establishes his own system of belief, one that rejects both organized religion and atheism," according to a statement issued Monday [September 24, 2007] by Random House.

"He presents instead an artistic God who often succeeds but can also fail in the face of contrary powers in the universe, with whom war is waged for the souls of humans."

For more on this writer who helped changed the landscape of both fiction and non-fiction while garnering great praise and criticism, visit these links.

BBC: Obituary

New York Times: "Towering Writer with a Matching Ego Dies at Age 84"

CNN: "The Death of the Literary Lion"

The Guardian: "Mailer's Talent Never as Big as his Ego"

National Post: "The Failed Career of Norman Mailer"

Publisher's Weekly: "On God"

Posted by Kristen Scharold at November 12, 2007 11:26AM | Comments (2)

The same week the New York Times magazine featured Mark Oppenheimer's skeptical commentary on Antony Flew's late-in-life journey from atheism to theism (which CT editor in chief David Neff responded to here), another NYT columnist, Stanley Fish, offered a thoughtful and generous survey of two recent books that add to the ever-continuing discussion of God, his attributes, and the presence of evil. In his review, Fish displays a keen understanding of classic Christian writers, from Milton to Epicurus to St. Paul, and opens a larger discussion on evil and the meaning of suffering--a discussion worth having by believers and nonbelievers alike.

The first book Fish surveys is from Bart D. Ehrman, who, since his young adulthood, has moved from theism to agnosticism, partially due to an inability to get past the terrific amount of seemingly meaningless suffering in the world. His new book is titled God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question-Why We Suffer. The other book Fish surveys, There Is a God, is from the aforementioned philosophy professor Antony Flew, and documents his famous "conversion" to theism in 2004.

As Fish notes, these two writers are approaching questions of God's (and evil's) existence from opposite frames of mind. From beginning to end, Ehrman writes with emotionally charged indignation and a frustrated inability to reconcile the pervasiveness of suffering with the supposed benevolence of God. Contrarily, Flew writes with the detached (some would say "cold") demeanor typical of much philosophical literature.

Here, Flew epitomizes Ehrman's frustration with people who make statements about God and don't seem to take into account "real life." As Fish observes,

"Will Ehrman be moved to reconsider his present position and reconvert if he reads Flew’s book? Not likely, because Flew remains throughout in the intellectual posture Ehrman finds so arid. Flew assures his readers that he 'has had no connection with any of the revealed religions,' and no 'personal experience of God or any experience that may be called supernatural or religious.' Nor does he tells us in this book of any experience of the pain and suffering that haunts Ehrman’s every sentence."

What Fish rightly points out is that while both books arrive at different locations on the belief spectrum, each book attests to the continuing importance and vitality of such questions--even in a time when screeds from atheists who want to throw out the conversation all-together are now nearly clichéd.

Posted by Katelyn Beaty at November 12, 2007 9:44AM | Comments (7)

Trustees of a Southern Baptist Convention agency voted to censure Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson and banned him from active participation on the board for at least the next four trustee meetings, the Associated Baptist Press reports.

The ABP reports that the International Mission Board board said Burleson violated two recently adopted policies barring individual trustees from criticizing actions of the board or reporting on any private conversations between trustees about IMB business.

As previously reported in CT, the pastor has used his weblog to criticize two policy changes the IMB trustees approved in November. Burleson defended his right to dissent, and still plans to be at the meetings.

Burleson's blog cricism stemmed from the IMB's decision to bar new missionary candidates who practice a "private prayer language" or tongues from serving on the mission field. The trustees also mandated that a candidate be baptized in a church that teaches believers' security and practices only baptism by immersion.

Only messengers to an SBC annual meeting can fully eject Burleson from its membership. Two years ago, a majority of IMB trustees voted to ask messengers to eject Burleson but later rescinded the action.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at November 9, 2007 4:26PM | Comments (21)

Jarrell McCracken, founder of Word Inc., one of the world's largest makers of religious recordings and publications, died Wednesday.

"Whatever people think of Christian music today is owed largely to Jarrell McCracken," Baylor University journalism professor Robert Darden told the Baylor Lariat.

The Waco Tribune-Herald reports that the recording company boasts of names like Amy Grant, Sandi Patti, and George Beverly Shea. Billy Graham, Ruth Carter Stapleton, and UCLA basketball coach John Wooden were published through Word.

Piers Bateman, who worked for McCracken at Word for more than 20 years, told the Tribune-Herald that McCracken created an industry.

"The gospel music, the religious music industry, did not exist before him and the religious publishing of books was a very small aspect of publishing before he got involved in it. He was always out front, maybe a little further out in front of the industry than it wanted him to be, which is not uncommon of entrepreneurial, visionary people."

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at November 9, 2007 1:26PM | Comments (3)

The New York Times shows a healthy respect for its readers' interest in church rock by posting an 8-minute documentary on "The Worship Rock Scene."

Why? Because megachurch bands "now provide one of the major ways that Americans hear live music." The video also points out that churches can be a steady gig for bands in places where they would otherwise have few performances.

High Desert Church in Reno, whose bands the NYT focuses on, has nine rotating bands for three age groups: 18 ? 30, 30 ? 55, and "the classic community" ? those who are 55 and over and, presumably, partial to West-Coast folk rock.

"Each band is carefully calibrated toward the pop culture disposition of each age group," reports Jigar Mehta.

"We have to communicate the gospel in a way that is entertaining so we can tell them the story," says Jeff Crandall, the church's music director and former drummer for the Altar Boys (for a flashback to the '80s, go to minute 5:15).

Steve Wilber, who leads Harbor, the 30 ? 55 worship service, explains that he chooses the music and keeps it up-to-date so that the transition from secular to church music styles isn't jarring.

The video and the accompanying article, while premised on music, linger on prayers. Almost a full minute of the video is footage of the 18-30 band in pre-service prayer.

Dressed in a faded black T-shirt, jeans and skateboard sneakers, [Mike Day] bent his shaved head. "God," he said, "I hope these songs we sing will be much more than the music. I know it's so difficult at times when we're thinking about chords and lyrics and when to hit the right effect patch, but would you just help that to become second nature, so that we can truly worship you from our hearts?"

Posted by Susan Wunderink at November 8, 2007 4:21PM | Comments (7)

There will be no restrictions on Bibles being brought into the Olympic village in Beijing next year, contrary to news reports that said that said Bibles would be banned in a nation that is hesitant to embrace Christianity.

The Associated Press reports that a story posted on the Catholic News Agency Web site said a list of prohibited items in the Olympic Village included Bibles. The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Olympic Committee contacted the International Olympic Committee in response to the story, and was told that Bibles would be allowed - and most likely provided alongside Korans.

A notice on the official Beijing Olympics Web site explaining entry procedures into the country said "each traveler is recommended to take no more than one Bible into China."

As the communist nation prepares to host the international event, the world is watching to see how it responds to freedom of speech issues. Just a month ago, the organizers pledged to hold a variety of religious services during the Olympic games.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at November 8, 2007 8:24AM | Comments (8)

New Jersey voters yesterday turned down a $450 million, 10-year plan to fund embryonic stem-cell research. Proponents, including Democratic governor John Corzine, argued that the measure would help lead to possible medical cures for a host of maladies. Opponents, including New Jersey Right to Life, said Public Question # 2 would finance "the creation, experimentation and then destruction of cloned human beings through the entire period of normal gestation." NJRL also criticized supporters for their "deceptive failure to disclose that the bonds will be paid through higher local property taxes if sales tax revenues are insufficient."

The outcome marks the first time since 1990 that New Jersey voters have rejected a statewide ballot initiative. The state has already committed $270 million in taxpayer money to pay for stem cell research facilities. New Jersey has the fourth highest debt of any state and the highest property taxes. Other states, however, are likely to pick up the financial slack for such research.

Several states are competing in the research. California previously approved spending $3 billion on stem cell research, Connecticut has a $100 million program, Illinois spent $10 million and Maryland awarded $15 million in grants.

It bears repeating: Embryonic stem cell research involves the destruction of nascent human life. Adult stem cells have no such ethical issues. And just on a pragmatic basis, the choice should be clear by now. According to the website stemcellresearch.org, medical treatments derived from adult stem cells outnumber those derived from embryos 73-0.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at November 7, 2007 9:53AM | Comments (3)

Billy Graham turns 89 today. From a press release:

He expressed gratitude for his health, his family and the ongoing hope of being reunited with his wife Ruth in Heaven.

Since the passing of his marriage and ministry partner of nearly 64
years on June 14 this year, Mr. Graham said he has been surprised at the
depth of his grief, but simultaneously encouraged by the commensurate
magnitude of God's grace.

"At times, I feel as if part of me has been ripped out, and in a sense
that's what has happened, because Ruth was such an important part of my
life," he said. "But my faith gives me great comfort, and I can't imagine
going through something like this without strength that only the Lord can
provide. It has been an added blessing that our five children have been so
faithful in visiting and spending time with me -- I am grateful for and
proud of each of them."

"I am looking forward to spending the holidays with family," Mr. Graham
added.

Graham was discharged from the hospital on August 30 after bouts of intestinal bleeding. Currently, he is at home in Montreat, North Carolina.

Posted by Susan Wunderink at November 7, 2007 8:47AM | Comments (33)

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, is investigating several major church-based ministries known for their leaders' lavish lifestyles and prosperity teachings.

"Recent articles and news reports regarding possible misuse of donations made to religious organizations have caused some concern for the Finance Committee," Grassley wrote to the ministries in letters asking for detailed financial records.

None of the ministries targeted -- those led by Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, Joyce Meyer, and Randy and Paula White -- are required to file the financial disclosure Form 990 with the IRS because they are are designated as churches.

The rest of this article is now posted on CT's main site.

Posted by Ted Olsen at November 6, 2007 6:23AM | Comments (28)

Over the weekend, the New York Times magazine was busy sowing the seeds of doubt about a potentially bestselling book by philosopher Antony Flew. Flew's books aren't normally bestsellers, but There Is a God is different:

? It's published by HarperOne, a publisher with marketing muscle.
? It is "written in simple language for a mass audience."
? It tells the story of the famous atheist's late in life turn toward belief in God (first reported in 2004).

That's a winning formula for creating a wide readership.

In "The Turning of an Atheist," Mark Oppenheimer raises questions galore without actually proving any of his points. He questions the degree of Flew's involvement in writing the book, the credibility of scientists whose perspective Flew adopted, and even Flew's mental competence at the advanced age of 84. (Oppenheimer suggests that Flew may be "a senescent scholar possibly being exploited by his associates" and raises the possibility that his "memory [is] failing" and that "his powers [are] in decline.")

If Oppenheimer's piece creates enough of a furore, I'm sure HarperOne will see it as publicity they couldn't have purchased at any price.

It would be nearly impossible to answer all of Oppenheimer's questions, especially since direct conversation with Flew (in Oppenheimer's terms) "confuses more than it clarifies."

You'll probably have to bracket Oppenheimer's questions until God's kingdom comes, but in the meantime here are two other articles you may want to read:

"Thinking Straighter" (CT, April 2005). James A. Beverley interviews Antony Flew for Christianity Today.

"Victorian Skeptics on the Road to Damascus" (Christian History and Biography newsletter, 2005). Timothy Larsen recounts other famous atheists who returned to faith late in life.

Posted by David Neff at November 5, 2007 2:08PM | Comments (19)

Hunter Smith, punter for the Indianapolis Colts, will sing on Gospel Music Channel tonight before Sunday's highly anticipated Colts/New England Patriots showdown. He might want to sing some prayers because it looks as though the Colts will be the underdogs this week.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was born and raised a Colts' fan in Indianapolis so I have my biases. But CT Movies Editor Mark Moring describes the Colts/Patriots showdown as "Christians vs. the bad guys." Maybe it's because he admires Tony Dungy. Let's be honest: who can't help but love the guy? This, compared to the Patriot's coach, who was fined $500,000 after a Patriots video assistant was caught by NFL security filming the New York Jets' defensive signals. Wide receiver Randy Moss is no favorite either.
So I'm not the only one who thinks it could be good vs. evil.

In the meantime, if you don't know what to do with your time until the big game, consider re-reading CT's past football coverage.
Why We Love Football | Grace and idolatry run crossing patterns in the new American pastime.
Fumbling Religion? | When it deals with Christians and churches, the NFL doesn't always have a good game plan.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at November 2, 2007 3:38PM | Comments (2)

Christian scientist Francis Collins landed on President Bush's list of President Medal of Freedom awards, according to the Associated Press. The director of the National Human Genome Research Institute is being honored with the nation's highest civilian award for his leadership and for expanding the understanding of human DNA.

Collins is known for his discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project, which mapped and sequenced human DNA and determined its functions. He converted to Christianity after reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity.

He also landed on Christianity Today's Book Awards 2007 for his book The Language of God: 'A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

Previous coverage includes:
Not Too Simply Christian | Two approaches to apologetics.
The Genome Doctor | The director of the National Human Genome Research Institute answers questions about the morality of his work
Creation or Evolution? Yes! | Francis Collins issues a call to stand on the middle ground.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at November 1, 2007 12:15PM | Comments (2)

In an upcoming issue of CT, I'll be profiling Doug Johnston, founder of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. ICRD works in some of the toughest areas where identity-based conflict is most intractable--Kashmir, Sudan, and now in Syria. To get a sense of what ICRD does, I attended a weeklong Christian/Muslim reconciliation dialog in Cyprus. Christian leaders from around the U.S. and Muslims from Syria and Jordan participated.

I was struck by how difficult this work is. Building trust across cultures and between groups opposed to one another takes time, patience, and lots of effort. While the American Christians and Middle Eastern Muslims differed in many ways--and remain so, even in this setting--we could always say we loved each other as people, even if we opposed each other’s governmental policies. In ICRD's work in Kashmir, however, where Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims are ever on the brink of war, such platitudes don't work. Despite the many frustrations we encountered in Cyprus, there are infinitely more obstacles to peace in other places around the globe.

Yet, ICRD has had success. In Sudan, Johnston and others brokered an agreement between Christians and Muslims. (Listen to Johnston talk about it on Speaking of Faith.) Johnston told me his goal in Sudan was to see what kind of rights a Muslim government operating under Shari'ah law could provide for Christians. While the situation in Sudan between Christians and Muslims is by no means solved, ICRD has achieved significant progress.

What will come of ICRD's efforts in Syria remains to be seen, but I left our meeting with a changed attitude toward Muslims and Islam. First, extremists--those who use violence to push a specific interpretation of Islam--are more dangerous to Muslims than to Americans. The threat they pose has strengthened undemocratic regimes in the Middle East (sometimes supported by the U.S.) who are eager to exploit the opportunity to increase their hold over citizens. Extremists pose a more immediate threat to Muslims who disagree with them. Moderate Muslims are the extremists’ first targets.

Second, American Christians who demonize Islam or Muslims make it impossible to love our neighbors, love our enemies, or pray for those who persecute us. Calling Muslims "Islamofascists" or Islam "evil and wicked" is harmful, both to the vast majority of Muslims for whom those terms don't apply and to Christians who are obligated to understand, respect, and ultimately love our religious neighbors.

Christians must have a balanced view toward Israel. Without compromising on the nation's right to exist or its right to defend itself, we must also be critical of any way in which Israel has not been a good neighbor in the region--violating human rights, refusing to abide by U.N. resolutions, or oppressing the Palestinian people.

There is much in Islam that Christians can agree with. Muslims see themselves as worshiping the same God as Christians. They see Jesus as a prophet--though their notion of who Jesus is differs significantly from Christians'. They pray much as Christians do. They believe that Mohammed simply brought to Arabs the message of the one God--as opposed to paganism. Christians are seen as spiritual brothers. It was a Christian monk, according to Islam, who identified Mohammed as a prophet, and a Christian king protected the early Muslim community from attack.

However, there are also significant differences, which cannot be overlooked. Muslims, while honoring Jesus, also refuse to see him as Christians do--as the fully human, fully divine Son of God.

The Muslim idea of forgiveness is also very different than the forgiveness that Jesus taught. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, he said. And while hanging on the cross, Jesus said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Christians understand forgiveness as something that an offended party offers regardless of whether the offender sees the wrong he has done or even corrects his behavior. For Muslims, forgiveness only happens once restitution has been made.

Christians can be thankful that God sent Jesus to die for our sins "while we were yet sinners," and before we could make restitution for our offense against him.

It was striking to see how counter-cultural the Christian idea of forgiveness really is. And it is sobering to think of how difficult peacemaking can be when two sides can't forgive until their grievances are addressed.

Posted by Rob Moll at November 1, 2007 8:59AM | Comments (11)