Category: US

By micoots
11/08/2016 0

The new “Star Trek” captain will be “diverse,” but what “level of diversity”?

CBS is coming out with a new Star Trek series, starting on its main broadcasting network, but then moving over to its new pay-for-access channel. An Entertainment Weekly article on the show, based on an interview with the producer, tortures the term “diverse” in ways I hadn’t heard before.
We are told that the commander of the spacecraft will be a “diverse actress.” [How can an individual be “diverse”? Is that, like, shizophrenic? Or just someone with a multi-faceted personality who can play man..

By micoots
11/08/2016 0

California drops the proposed law targeting religious colleges

As we blogged about, the California legislature was all set to pass a law punishing Christian colleges if they “discriminate” against anyone on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion. Colleges would be unable to set behavior standards for students and would have to hire faculty members who didn’t believe in the religious position of the institution. This would effectively shut down evangelical, Catholic, Lutheran, Muslim, and other religious institutions–or force them to c..

By micoots
10/08/2016 0

Exorcism as pastoral care

I came across a long, detailed account of an evangelical pastor who casts out demons. Not with a rite of exorcism or a laying on of hands, but with a “conversation” in the context of what sounds like ordinary pastoral care.
The pastor, Rev. Karl Payne, has written a book about his experiences and his approach.
Please read the article–excerpted and linked after the jump–and tell me what you think of it. Have any of you pastors experienced anything similar?
From Garth Kant, Meet a modern-day past..

By micoots
10/08/2016 0

The whole world’s gone hipster

Go into a “cool” coffee shop. Notice the reclaimed wood, big glass windows, subdued colors, and light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Now go into another cool coffee shop in another city. Notice how the look is exactly the same.
Now, if you can afford it, fly to Paris. (We’ll wait.) Go to the cool coffee shop. See anything familiar? Go to Denmark. Moscow. Peking. Sydney.
If you are sick of coffee by now, go to a restaurant, bar, Airbnb rental, or anywhere with the reputation of being cool. Look ..

By micoots
09/08/2016 0

Did Trump call for Hillary’s assassination?

Donald Trump has done it again, appearing to say something so over the top that some say it disqualifies him from being president:
“Hillary wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment. And by the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Does that sound like he is calling on “the Second Amendment people,” that is to say, gun owners, to assassinate her?
Trump’s apologists are saying that he was just ca..

By micoots
09/08/2016 0

“There’s no such thing as an ex-Catholic”

J. D. Flynn explains that a person who has been baptized into the Roman Catholic Church is always a Catholic and can never leave it. Those who later reject the church’s teachings, lose their faith, join another ecclesiastical body, become atheists, or rebel against the church–such as pro-abortion politicians–are still Catholics. But they will have to face their judgment. The Church, he says, includes those who will be damned.
Does any of this way of thinking apply to other theologies? Can we say..

By micoots
09/08/2016 0

More on Russia’s anti-evangelism law

Michael Avramovich explains more about Russia’s new laws restricting religion. We have blogged about the one requiring all Christian evangelism–except for that of the Russian Orthodox Church–to be conducted within a church service (not in a home, not online). There are other strict restrictions on religious bodies, again, other than the Russian Orthodox Church.
From Michael Avramovich, Putin’s New Law Restricts Non-Orthodox Christians In Russia – Mere Comments:
Several weeks ago, Russian Preside..

By micoots
09/08/2016 0

Conservatives voting Green?

Some conservatives, refusing to vote for Donald Trump, are hatching a “Machiavellian” solution to the problem of whom to vote for. They are going to vote for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein. Why? If the Greens get 5% of the vote, they will qualify for federal funds in 2020, which will let them be more competitive next time. The conservatives believe that if this happens, the Greens will split the leftist vote, hurting the Democrats against a revived Republican party.
Is this over-thinking?..

By micoots
08/08/2016 0

Clinton’s social gospel vs. Trump’s prosperity gospel

Bobby Ross brings together some religious reporting on both candidates and gives us one of those instantly clarifying paradigms. I’ll summarize after the jump.
Hillary Clinton, with her early activism in the Methodist Church, exemplifies the Social Gospel. This is the strain of liberal theology that teaches that the business of the church is not to save individuals for the Kingdom of God in eternity, but to save society by building the Kingdom of God on earth.
Donald Trump, whose family when he ..

By micoots
05/08/2016 0

The Olympics begin

Despite the Zika virus, Russian dopers, apartments said to be unfit for human habitation, fear of terrorism, and excrement in the water-events bay, the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will have its opening ceremonies tonight, Friday, at 7:00 p.m. ET, to be televised on NBC. (Go here for how to watch the ceremony and the subsequent games online.)
Despite the uncertainty and the concerns, the event, which goes from August 5-21, promises to be a good show. Team USA is expected to do very well.
Ther..