The controversy after the Archbishop of Canterbury’s “sharia speech” has become a discussion over the status of the Church of England itself and the question
One thing, and only one thing, is necessary for Christian life, righteousness, and freedom. That one thing is the most holy Word of God, the gospel of Christ, as Christ says, John 11, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”. . .
As a child, I was somehow convinced, the priest rubbed the charred remains of dead people on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday. I’m sure no one had ever told me that, but it seemed to fit in with the big, gloomy picture: Jesus was dead, everything was draped in purple, and it was all our fault.
He sees his role, then, as defender of the various subcultural spaces that resist the logic of secularism, the enclaves within our culture where fully human meaning is made. And of course these are not only Christian. In a curious way his vision echoes Prince Charles’ declaration that he would like to be the defender of faith rather than the faith. He wants to be the defender of the endangered cultural space that insists on the priority of God. If the Muslim form of such space is tied up with sharia law, we must try to accommodate this.
Earlier this week, Hollywood held its 16th annual “Faith and Values Gala.” The Gala, a project of Movieguide®, with the support of The John Templeton Foundation, aims to recognize “films and television with a positive values message.” The winners including Amazing Grace.
The idea of a limited war, in which certain groups of people should be protected, is not new. In the fourth century St Augustine was already advocating the doctrine of a “just war”, based on civilian protection, proportionality and restraint. The same principles were enshrined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions and in the mandates of the various international tribunals set up over the past 15 years. Yet the moral ideal of civilian protection remains very much a minority view.
The National Council of Churches has published its 2008 Yearbook of Canadian and American Churches. It reports that the fastest growing denomination in the United States and Canada is Jehovah’s Witnesses. The denomination with the sharpest decline was the Episcopal Church.
How was it possible, I thought, that a change could be great enough to strip away in a single moment the innate hardness of our nature? How could the habits acquired over the course of many years disappear, since these are so deeply rooted within us?
Mark Bowden, one of the best narrative journalists at work today, offers an insightful profile of David Simon, the man behind The Wire, the best show on television.
In Missouri and Tennessee, one-third of white evangelical voters voted in Democratic primaries. And, more surprising, in both states they favored Hillary over Obama by overwhelming margins: MO: 54% to 37%; TN: 78% to 12%. The survey also finds that a majority of evangelicals want an agenda that goes beyond abortion and homosexuality.