Orthodox Rabbis Issue Groundbreaking Declaration Affirming ‘Partnership’ With Christianity

A group of prominent Orthodox rabbis in Israel, the United States and Europe have issued a historic public statement affirming that Christianity is "the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations" and urging Jews and Christians to "work together as partners to address the moral challenges of our era."
"Jesus brought a double goodness to the world," the statement reads. "On the one hand he strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically" and on the other hand "he removed idols from the nations," instilling them "firmly with moral traits."

Read more at Breitbart.com
(Hat tip: KimR) Read More......

An American Virgil

Among the more adventurous sallies in church décor in recent memory is the dancing saints sequence at San Francisco’s Saint Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, where Hypatia, Charles Darwin and William Blake among others have been drafted into the communio sanctorum. Perhaps the program is less a declaration than a prayer, illustrating Hans Urs von Balthasar’s dictum that universalism is a hope though not a doctrine.  But if so, wouldn’t a message of God’s universal love necessitate the inclusion of a figure or two who would rankle San Francisco Episcopalians? Still, there are many in the sequence who should long ago have been visualized in the context of Christian worship, and one especially justified inclusion is the Native American visionary Nicholas Black Elk (1863-1950).

Read more at First Things
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How Christianity invented children

(DEBROCKE/Corbis)

We have forgotten just how deep a cultural revolution Christianity wrought. In fact, we forget about it precisely because of how deep it was: There are many ideas that we simply take for granted as natural and obvious, when in fact they didn't exist until the arrival of Christianity changed things completely. Take, for instance, the idea of children. --Today, it is simply taken for granted that the innocence and vulnerability of children makes them beings of particular value, and entitled to particular care. We also romanticize children — their beauty, their joy, their liveliness. Our culture encourages us to let ourselves fall prey to our gooey feelings whenever we look at baby pictures. What could be more natural? --In fact, this view of children is a historical oddity. If you disagree, just go back to the view of children that prevailed in Europe's ancient pagan world.

Read more at The Week
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D'Souza: Sandwiches, Wagons & Politics

On October 8, 2012, the OSU Socratic Club sponsored a debate between Dinesh D'Souza and Michael Shermer. The topic was "Is Christianity Good for American Politics?" This 7 minute video is from the Q&A session following the debate. D'Souza presents fantastic (and humorous) analogies with a Christian viewpoint to explain his opposition to Obamacare and Obama's "fair share" ethos. (Hat tip: Patricia Anderson)

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David Barton's 4th of July History Lesson: Is America a Christian Nation?

In this In Touch July 4th, 2009 message titled "Is America A Christian Nation?", Dr. Stanley's guest, Historian, David Barton, shares the historical facts about how America was founded on Biblical principles. A wonderful history lesson here. Watch the 5-part series...

Is America A Christian Nation? (1/5)

Watch the rest of the series below the fold:

Is America A Christian Nation? (2/5)


Is America A Christian Nation? (3/5)


Is America A Christian Nation? (4/5)


Is America A Christian Nation? (5/5)


WALLBUILDERS, Issues and Articles - Is President Obama Correct: Is America No Longer a Christian Nation? An article examining quotes, statistics, court cases, etc about America being a Christian nation. Read article at Wallbuilders... Read More......

ClimateGate, the Green Dragon, and the End of Christianity

AIM SPECIAL REPORT, 12/10/2009 by Cliff Kindaid - Dr. James Wanliss, Associate Professor of Physics at Presbyterian College, has written The Green Dragon, a book about how environmentalism is actually committed to "the reconstruction of a pagan world order" and "rejection of Christian spirituality." Wanliss argues that the environmental movement "is a religion with a vision of sin and repentance, heaven and hell. It even has a special vocabulary, with words like 'sustainability' and 'carbon neutral.' Its communion is organic food. Its sacraments are sex, abortion, and when all else fails, sterilization. Its saints are Al Gore and the InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change." Read more at AIM... Read More......

A Little Sanity In A Crazy World/election

Race-4-2008 (from CBS News), January 15, 2008, posted by Tommy OliverFiled under: Issues, Fred Thompson

CBS NEWS - Mixing theology and social issues on the campaign trail is rare for Fred Thompson, but he discussed it today answering a question from a member of the audience. A woman asked him if he would “as a Christian, as a conservative” continue President Bush’s programs to combat global AIDS.

“Christ didn’t tell us to go to the government and pass a bill to get some of these social problems dealt with. He told us to do it,” Thompson said.

“The government has its role, but [on one hand] we need to keep firmly in mind the role of the government, and the role of us as individuals and as Christians on the other.” Read More......

Santa comes to town

From BCRW December 2007 post
Daily Barometer NEWS, November 30, 2007

Do not become alarmed by a large sparkled tree or a man dressed up in a Santa suit running around the MU quad today. It's the College Republicans showing OSU a little Christmas spirit.
"We saw that there weren't really any Christmas events happening, so we decided to put one on," said Reece Hrizuk, the state chairman of the College Republicans and a junior in political science.

"We want to wish our goodwill to all of OSU!"

Throughout the day, Hrizuk will dress up as Santa while wishing students, faculty, staff and anyone else a "Merry Christmas!"

Included in the display will be a Christmas tree, as well as the gift of candy canes for anyone who wants them.

"I think it's a great idea," said Cameo Cheung, a freshman in forest products and marketing. "I am a little disappointed OSU doesn't have as many non-Christian events, but it's not the end of the world. I personally love Santa, and Christmas trees smell great," she said.

Hrizuk, who put on the event last year as well, says that it is only meant to be an enjoyable event, not one to stir up religious controversy.

"If someone else of another religion wants to do a holiday event in the quad, like celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, we'd support them in it. The more holidays the better!" Hrizuk said.

"[The College Republicans] just happen to be mostly Christian, so we thought we'd share Christmas with everyone this year." Read More......

Anglican's future

"The biblical drama of sin, mercy, healing, salvation and liberation will reassert itself ."
National Post, February 22, 2007 - Father Raymond J. De Souza wrote,

It has been remarked for a long time that the centre of gravity in the Christian world is shifting from north to south, from North America and Europe to Africa and Asia. The meeting of Anglican Primates this past week in Tanzania might be marked as the moment when that shift made its first global impact.

The Anglican Communion has been facing an insurmountable challenge these past few years. The small and getting smaller Anglican churches in the United States and Canada have decided, for the most part, that homosexual acts should be judged morally licit, and even sacramental. The big and getting bigger Anglican churches in Africa have kept to the constant Christian teaching that such acts are sinful. Between the two, the Archbishop of Canterbury has valiantly attempted to fashion a compromise. But of course something cannot be both a sacrament and a sin, so matters had to be resolved one way or the other.

The plain meaning of the Tanzania meeting is that the leading Anglican archbishops have given the U.S. Episcopal Church a Sept. 30 deadline to recant of their approval of same-sex marriage and actively gay bishops. If they do not recant, the apparent consequence would be that the U.S. Episcopal Church will be expelled from the Anglican Communion, and those American Episcopalians who hold to the Christian heritage on such matters will be provided for in some other way -- likely to involve the same African archbishops who have insisted on calling the U.S. Episcopal Church to account. If that indeed happens in September, the Archbishop of Canterbury will have to finally decide whether to throw his lot in with the north or the south. If he opts for the north, he might find himself the last Archbishop of Canterbury to claim leadership of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Continued... Read More......