Posted in evangelicalism, public religion on 23 February 2008 | 3 Comments »
I’m starting to wonder about the possibility of a very counterintuitive truth. What if we evangelicals are among the more secular folk around? Even as a I write it, this is a question that seems odd. Evangelicals are known for their historical opposition to secularism and evangelicalism (if it can be defined) [...]
Posted in politics, public religion on 27 November 2007 | No Comments »
Recognizing the volatile mixture of religion and politics…
I recently read that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair felt the need to keep his religion quiet while in office because of his fear of being seen as a ‘nutter’ by a largely secular electorate. Leaving aside the question of whether or not Blair’s politics [...]
Posted in education, public religion, social issues on 17 September 2007 | 8 Comments »
“If parents wish to bring up their children in their own traditional superstitions, they should do it on their own time and at their own expense… Religion, the bane of the modern world in so many respects, has got to be relegated to the private sphere and kept there. And religious worship (not of course [...]
Posted in pluralism, public religion, theology on 5 February 2007 | 9 Comments »
Having recently been interested in the possibility of holding religious convictions without considering those who don’t share them to be inferior I was intrigued by the following article that asks whether the very existence of religious beliefs leads inevitably to conflict. Meic Pearse, an author whose insights I have appreciated on other topics (see [...]
Posted in atheism, public religion on 29 January 2007 | 3 Comments »
A follow-up from a previous post: A.C. Grayling is offering another history lesson clarifying the role of Christianity in stunting the intellectual growth of Europe. He issues a challenge to “name one - even one small - contribution to science made by Christianity in its two thousand years”. Thankfully this challenge has [...]
Posted in atheism, politics, public religion on 23 January 2007 | 2 Comments »
There is a common caricature of Christian faith that sees it as inherently opposed to the idea of progress and that anything worthwhile and good in the world has been achieved in the teeth of opposition from the church. A good example of this is latest musing of British skeptic and philosopher A.C. Grayling. [...]
Posted in faith, public religion on 8 December 2006 | 2 Comments »
Some British Christians have started an interesting experiment called Theos. It’s being described as a ‘public theology think tank’ and is seeking to address questions involving the role of religion in public life through published reports, media analysis and the sponsoring of public events, study conferences and debates. In their words:
“Society is [...]
