Normally, peer review is a valuable step in the publication of scientific research. Academic journals solicit independent experts to assess the reliability of the work. But at Answers Research Journal, the goal is not to ensure that research meets academic standards of scientific inquiry, but rather to ensure that the scholar’s conclusions conform to a literal interpretation of the Bible.
There are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in America, and the New Sanctuary Movement will only ever directly help a handful of them. And given the concerns about church-state separation, it has its problems, even at the level of symbolism.But its practitioners are, at the very least, offering a moral alternative to the often inflammatory rhetoric of the Lou Dobbses of the world.
From today’s Guardian: America’s evangelical Christians are anti-gay, pro-gun, keen on capital punishment and obsessed with lower taxes. And, of course, they all vote Republican. At least, that’s what vicar Giles Fraser thought – until he went to meet them
Writing in City Journal, conservative thinker James Q. Wilson examines why Jews mistrust Evangelical Christians, who are perhaps the strongest supporters of Israel next to Jews themselves.
In a paradoxical recent poll, 65 percent of respondents said that Christian right leaders “sometimes or almost always represent their views.” Yet 60 percent said “they favored a more progressive evangelical agenda focused more on protecting the environment, tackling HIV/AIDs, and alleviating poverty and less on abortion and homosexuality.”
According to a poll, the number of North Americans who believe that the Bible is “the actual word of God” has fallen from 65 per cent in 1963 to just 27 per cent in 2001. Attitudes among Americans toward homosexuality, sex out of marriage and censorship are also growing steadily more liberal. Abortion is the major exception; younger Americans tend to be more opposed to abortion than their elders.
President Bush followed his last State of the Union address with a visit to Jericho, a program in East Baltimore that helps former inmates find jobs and reenter society that is run by Episcopal Church Social Services. The president used the visit to highlight his program of faith-based social services. He also spoke bluntly about his own struggles with alcohol addiction.
Harvard Divinity Bulletin offers two articles on religion and Africa. “From Periphery to Center” relates how pentecostalism is transforming the secular state in Africa. “On Africa, a Need for Nuance”, is a response to the first article and broadens the discussion to how religion in in its many expressions affects African life.
Are religion and violence inextricably linked? Is the perceived link the result of misinterpretation, subversion of sacred texts? Can our religious symbols and stories be reinterpreted, reshaped to break that link? Or must we abandon religion, completely rid ourselves of what many hold to be archaic ways of making meaning, in order to forge a more peaceful world?
When defined based upon a consistent set of theological perspectives, evangelicals remain very united on abortion and homosexuality…. However, concerns about same-sex relationships are less unifying and less troublesome to the broader born again constituency. Born agains are far less concerned about homosexuality than they are about abortion.