20 New Year Predictions from the Rooftop

The year of heated warfare and brazen exhilaration is over. 2005 will be a year of rolled up sleeves and the results of our choices. Not that the war in Iraq will end, but the worst of that conflict and the end of the political campaign leaves in its wake a time of settling in and working through the next steps.



There will never be a V-T Day, when we wave the flag, march in parades, and celebrate the surrender of the mortal enemy, Terrorism. And 2005 will be a continuation of that heated fight, and we will suffer casualties both at home and abroad. But the year will be one of progress at home and in foreign affairs. Not advancement that dazzles, but workmanlike, serious, and ultimately world-changing.



Here are 20 New Year Predictions from the Rooftop:



1. Iraq: There will be no meaningful reduction in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq during 2005, and there may be an increase. However, the insurgency will begin losing its popular support and violence will decline.



2. Iran: The opposition in Iran will grow in strength and the government will accelerate meaningful reforms rather than face upheaval. There will be a thaw in U.S.-Iranian relations.



3. Palestinians: There will be significant progress on an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, with Egypt and Jordan exercising a strong hand. A firm timetable will be set for the establishment of a Palestinian State.



4. Attack on the U.S.: As a result of the progress in the Middle East, those who do not benefit from the advance of democracy will turn to additional terror in the U.S. and attempt another major attack in 2005.



5. Deaths: There will be major losses in evangelical leadership, as key leaders die. As I’ve mentioned in this space, there is a generational shift in the evangelical community, with the entrepreneurs of the 1950’s passing or fading from active involvement. (Who will die in 2005, and what will the impact be? I’ve provided my 15 names to the morbid Dead Pool, competing to predict the most of those who will pass to the next life during 2005. Mine are a combination of religious leaders, statesmen, and heads of state, among others.)



6. Conservatives: Bush will begin falling out of favor with the most conservative groups, as more focus returns to domestic issues and he fails to deliver on their social priorities.



7. Evangelical Politics: The political high water mark will soon pass for the evangelicals, as leading evangelicals overplay their hand and politicians calculate that they will succeed in 2006 with more moderated positions.



8. Network Change: At least one of the major networks will make an attempt to bring more conservative viewpoints to its reports, but in a way that will be more showcasing than meaningful change.



9. Blogosphere: Blogging will explode, but there will be efforts to organize the blogosphere to create categories of bloggers, and to further separate types of blogs and degrees of professionalism.



10. Charity Scandal: There will be a major legal case against one or more charities, probably Trinity Broadcasting Network, but perhaps elsewhere. This will have a slight negative impact on charitable giving.



11. Supreme Court: Two Supreme Court seats vacancies will be created, one at Chief Justice. Bush will want only two confirmation battles, so he will nominate two new justices—a conservative for Chief Justice, and a moderate for Associate Justice. This will enrage just about everyone, but both will be confirmed.



12. Bin Laden: Osama Bin Laden will be captured or more likely killed, but the impact will be largely symbolic, since he has been ineffective hiding in a cave anyway.



13. Fair Tax: The Fair Tax movement will grow and progress will be made in the Congress, although passage is years away.



14. Radio: Democrats will push for a return of the Fairness Doctrine, as an attempt to defang the Republican advantage on talk radio. The effort will not succeed.



15. China: The growing business class in China will push for more civil freedoms as their economic power grows, and the Communist government will yield some ground.



16. Same-Sex Marriage: The homosexual community in America will change tactics, backing away from the same-sex marriage initiatives and seeking equal rights for homosexual couples without using “marriage” language. This will not raise the same red flags among many groups across the country.



17. Economics: There will be steady economic growth, and the stock market will continue its climb and end the year over 11,000.



18. Pharmaceuticals: The positive economic trends will be marred by the collapse of major pharmaceutical companies, fueled by massive class action suits.



19. Social Security: Social security restructuring will see some progress in 2005 because of a relentless campaign by the Bush administration. Fear of demagoguery will prevent meaningful reform, but the steps taken will be seen—in retrospect—as the beginning of serious change.



20. EU: The European Union will seek to flex its muscle and establish itself as a major economic and political competitor to the United States—opposing the U.S. on key international and trade policies. The U.S. will shrug and turn to the Far East.



That’s the view from our rooftop. How do you see the New Year forming up? Share your predictions or argue with ours.

--James Jewell

Christmas Day 2004

THIS DAY



This day, the rest of the world fades to darkness.



This day, we celebrate Jesus.



This day, we remember that God became a baby, that he submitted to the rigors and indignities and temptations of his creation; that he put flesh on his person.



This day, we rejoice that the God of the universe, the God who always was and always will be, limited himself to night and day, to consuming journeys and weariness; to time and place.



This day, we thank God for his grace and that he did not consider himself too high to be incarnate, but took our imperfect form and showed us how to make it perfection.



This day, we revel in the story of his arrival; we rejoice that The Word became flesh; and we delight that his Words were preserved for us.



This day, we are astounded that redemption moved forward when God slept in a box of hay.



This day, we celebrate that Jesus was born, that he came to be with us, that he identified with us in every way, and that he told us The Truth.



This day, followers of Jesus, is a celebration.



Merry Christmas

For Debbie on Christmas,

Jim

Blogview from the Hot Tin Roof (3)

Christmas Ruminations and More



Linus Evades the Censors: Charles M. Schultz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip had the clout to present a distinct Christian theology in the 1965 A Charlie Brown Christmas. In the special, an exasperated Charlie Brown asks if anyone knows the true meaning of Christmas. Linus obliges, and begins to quote verbatim from Luke 2, explaining, in effect, that the birth of Christ is the locus of meaning for Christmas. Jared Bridges points out that “no show created today could pull off such a display of overt Christianity and get away with it. It’s amazing that the show still eludes the media censors who might pull it lest it offend someone. With Christmas a completely secular holiday in our culture, A Charlie Brown Christmas is an oddity that Christians should applaud and seek to emulate.



The Pope Has a Christmas Tree: The most difficult things about a Christmas tree have traditionally been the decision between real and fake, getting it in the stand, and putting the star on top with out knocking it over. This year, we have county offices and school prohibiting Christmas trees as religious symbols. I thought they were originally pagan symbols. But wait, the Pope put up a tree this year. The World Magazine Weblog says:



Pope John Paul II, the first Pontiff to display a Christmas tree inside the Bernini colonnade, called the traditional holiday decoration a symbol of life offered in Christ: “The message of the Christmas tree, therefore, is that life is ‘ever green’ if one gives not so much material things, but of oneself.” Originally, Christmas trees were a remnant from the pagan worship of nature on the winter solstice. Is John Paul II stumbling through syncretism in assigning a new righteous significance to an old pagan icon? Or is he operating squarely within the longstanding and holy Christian practice of debunking idolatrous nonsense with redemption rather than abstention?



A Jewish View of American Christmas: Interesting to see some Jewish perspectives on the current assault on Christmas. Read a number of good thoughts on this at A Nice Jewish Boy Weblog. He writes in part:



Something strange is happening this Christmas season. There is a war against Christmas. The complainers with the freest speech in the entire world, the ones who are the most narcissistic and have the most rights are doing what they do best, complaining that they don't have enough rights or that others have too many rights and they not enough. The secular left, including the the ACLU which is made up of many but not entirely Jewish lawyers and radical liberals, have waged war against celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus in the public arena.



As a Jew, the ALCU makes me wretch. Grinches who don't like Christmas need to shut up. I am Jew and I love Christmas. I am a Jew who's best friends and allies for the Jewish cause are both Jew and Christian. American Jews need to open their eyes before it too late. The people of this Christian American country are the best friends of the Jewish State of Israel. This is the very first, the one and only Jewish- Christian alliance in history. It is a uniquely American revolution. If you don't like it, if you like the old school Jewish-Christian relations of Europe, then that is the place for you.

Rooftop Coffee Bar: Thanks to Challies for a tip on what would certainly be a wonderful rooftop experience:



St Peter's Basilica now has its own rooftop coffee bar. Though it opened several months ago, its existence has only just become public. "Located on the terrace at the base of the cupola designed by Michelangelo, it commands a breathtaking view of St Peter's Square all the way to the Tiber River and beyond. It is open to tourists who have already visited the top of Michelangelo's dome and who want to stop for a coffee or soft drink on their way back down to earth."



Legal Holiday Greetings: You may have already seen this Legal Holiday Greeting, which is making the blogger rounds. I first saw it at Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing. Very funny.



Dear Friends,



I wanted to send out some sort of holiday greeting, but it is so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my attorney today and o­n her advice I want to say to all of you:



Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, nonaddictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.



I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the o­nset of the generally accepted calendar year 2005, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the o­nly "America" in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of o­ne year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.



Irish View on Secularism: A great opinion piece in the Irish Examiner , brought to us by Release the Hounds, including thoughts from George Weigel and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. An excerpt:



"According to George Weigel, biographer and friend of the Pope, Europe’s problems stem from “a crisis of civilisational morale”. In a book to be published next spring, he links Europe’s recent failure to acknowledge its Christian roots in its draft constitution and a despairing, defeatist approach to life which now characterises European life and thought.



Weigel asks why, in the aftermath of 1989, Europeans failed to condemn communism as a moral and political monstrosity. “Why was the only politically acceptable judgment on communism the rather banal observation that it ‘didn’t work?’”



The answer, says Weigel, is that Europe has lost faith in God. And when you lose faith in God, you lose faith in humanity. Like the great Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said in his 1983 Templeton Prize Lecture: “The failings of the human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century.”



Take a look at the entire piece.



Have a wonderful Christmas weekend.

--James Jewell

Palestinian Christians at Christmas

Within a stone’s throw of the Bethlehem manger, a group of Palestinians is not throwing stones. They are celebrating the birth of Jesus, whom they worship. They are Palestinian—Arab—Christians.



Much of the Christian world is unaware of the small population of Arab Christians in Israel. In fact, to most people Arab Christian is an oxymoron (it's not; Arab is an ethnicity, Christian a faith group). These are Christian believers who are in the most difficult of circumstances--Christian Arabs in a majority Islamic culture within a Jewish state. They sympathize with Palestinians seeking autonomy from Israel, but oppose the violence. They are ignored and opposed by conservative Christians, not because of their faith, but because of their politics.

If you choose to support the government of Israel unswervingly, you will not enjoy listening to these people. I am personally a strong supporter of Israel in its agonizing battle to find both security and peace. But I’ve visited the Palestinian Christians on trips to Israel and I've read more about their plight, and I encourage American believers to learn more about them.



I did some work a few years ago with a wonderful group in Nazareth, Israel, called the Nazareth Village Project. It is a group of Christians—expatriates and Israelis—who are developing a interpretive center on the life of Christ in the town of his childhood, and a First Century walk, to demonstrate the life of New Testament times.



This group is a example of Christian witness that is reaching out and demonstrating Christ’s love to Christians, Muslims, and Jews. They are struggling because their center relies on tourist interest. Holy Land tourism is in the pits right now, as you might expect.



I spent some time with the chairman of the project, an 8th generation Arab Christian from Nazareth, whose family has suffered much in the rise of the state of Israel. He is a gentle man of great faith, and I think of him when I pray for Christian brothers and sisters in Israel.



If you have any interest in the story of Palestinian Christians, you can get a free copy of a book, Between Two Fires, by Jack Kincaid. It is not written by mainline Protestant academics with a predictable axe to grind. It’s written by an evangelical on the road in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, meeting brothers and sisters in Christ and chronicling their first hand accounts. They talk to folks with Bethlehem Bible College, Musalaha Ministries, and the Palestinian Bible Society. It doesn't get more evangelical than this folks.



Some Palestinian Christian groups are more defiant in their approach. The Rev. Canon Naim Ateek, director of the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Christian group Sabeel, said in his Christmas message:



The Incarnation took place when God took on our humanity, when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. This happened in Palestine under Roman occupation. Then as now and in spite of all the hardships, we celebrate Christ's birth, Emmanuel, God with us, giving us hope, joy, peace, and love. We are defiant. We are full of hope. We will continue to work for peace through justice. Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace.



When you hear the stories of non-violent, Palestinian Christian families, you appreciate that they are indeed “between two fires.” They look to their hillsides, where angels proclaimed “peace on earth, good will to men,” and struggle to find the fulfillment of that promise.



This Christmas, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And pray for the brothers and sisters in Christ who seek to serve the Prince of Peace in a land in turmoil.

--James Jewell

A Favorite Christmas Memory

I was 12 years old that Christmas eve in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and it was one of the years when Christmas was going to interrupted by church. Christmas was on Sunday, which meant we’d go to church on Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning. I knew it was important, and we’d celebrate Jesus’ birth with friends. I wasn’t going to complain. But it just wasn’t fair when there was a pile of gifts under the tree and my three sisters and I were jumping with anticipation.



That afternoon it began to snow, which wasn’t unusual for Pennsylvania in December and the perfect time for snow anywhere. It snowed all afternoon and kept snowing. My sisters and I were out making snow angels when we got word that Christmas Eve services were canceled. Terrific. We could keep playing. It kept snowing, and then Christmas morning services were canceled. There was a God!



I don’t know how much snow we got that Christmas Eve Day, but it seemed like three feet to me. We stayed home and sang carols, and played games and read the stories about Jesus being born. At home on Christmas.



It’s one of my favorite Christmas memories. The year it snowed on Christmas Eve, church was canceled, and we celebrated the birth of Jesus at home as a family . And at the crack of dawn, we opened gifts.

--James Jewell

Great Places to Be on Christmas Eve

I love large, exuberant Christmas Eve services, with many voices, lot of Christmas carols, pageantry, and color. We attend a megachurch with contemporary worship and wonderful innovative services of great appeal to the unchurched or newly churched. We love it, but we won’t be attending there on Christmas Eve. There won’t be enough of any of the above, so we’ll attend a service at one of the large Baptist churches here in Atlanta that has promised us a massive celebration.



If you’re looking for a great place for a Christmas Eve service, I ran across an article on 10 Great Places to Hear the Christmas Gospel in USA Today. They talked with Christianity Today's online editor Ted Olson; these are his choices:



James Forbes at Riverside Church, New York City



Max Lucado at Oak Hills Church, San Antonio



Rick Warren at Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif.



Heidi Husted at Columbia Presbyterian Church, Vancouver, Wash.



Bill Hybels at Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Ill.



Alistair Begg at Parkside Church, Chagrin Falls, Ohio



Adam Hamilton at Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, Kan.



Ken Hutcherson at Antioch Bible Church, Redmond, Wash.



Robert H. Schuller at Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, Calif.



Bob Russell at Southeast Christian Church, Louisville

Merry Christmas to all.

--James Jewell

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Christmas Backlash a Conservative Power Play, Says The Guardian

This is The Guardian's spin on the backlash against the deChristmasizing of Christmas:



“The religious right, encouraged by the re-election of President George Bush, has launched a new offensive against secularism during this holiday season, with a campaign to put the Christ back into Christmas. The target of the conservatives' wrath include leading department stores and state schools, at the hub of the struggle for America's soul because public education is the country's defining institution.



The campaign obscures a larger debate about religion and diversity in America, one that has been revived with the re-election of President Bush.



"I do think that with the more conservative wing of the Republican party in power they feel that this is their time to reassert what they consider to be their rights in the public schools, and in the public square," said Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Centre in Washington.



I don’t think this has anything to do with emergent conservative power. It’s about Christians striving to keep their faith visible in the public square.



The guardian does point out the actions of “two mothers in Maine who launched a website called Bring Back Christmas, one of the “little platoons” fighting this battle at the local. They’re not focused on the results of the November elections, but on the values of their little town of Scarborough, Maine.



They say on their website:



America is a nation of diverse, deep, rich and beautiful traditions. We have somehow drifted from that. Little by little we are becoming a plain vanilla, whitewashed, stand-for-nothing society. In an attempt not to “offend” anyone, we are losing what is most precious in, to and about us. This mentality in our schools and in society in general has led to a practice of eliminating anything with which a vocal minority disagrees. But if we hide and hush everything that anyone disapproves of, the logical consequence is that we hide and hush everything. We saw a bumper sticker recently that sums it up for us. It read, “Protect the Easily Offended--Ban Everything.”



There is a much better way. Instead of banning everything that does not meet with everyone’s approval, let’s acknowledge and truly celebrate what is special and precious about our beliefs. Instead of excluding everyone, let’s work to include everyone. Let’s start now!

--James Jewell

The Dangers of Kwanzaa

I’ve never really paid much attention to Kwanzaa, which seemed to appear out of nowhere as another Christmas time celebration. There’s plenty about Kwanzaa for Christians to be concerned about, says LaShawn Barber:



Observed from December 26 to January 1, this “alternative” to Christmas is based on a mixture of East African harvest rituals called first fruits — according to Karenga — and 1960s radicalism, although most ancestors of black Americans were from West Africa.



Participants acknowledge their African roots and promote seven, harmless-sounding principles — unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.



While they sound commendable, the guiding principle behind Kwanzaa is based on race, not on faith in the one true living God and Savior, Jesus Christ.



Paganism is a “religion of nature.” Those who practice it and other New Age fallacies see the divine in the created — humans, sun, moon, stars, trees — instead of the Creator. Christians who worship created beings are acting like pagans. It’s that simple.



Interesting to observe this pull away from the orthodox Christian faith and its celebrations among American blacks, while Africa is now has one of the fastest growing and most vibrant Christian communities in the world.

--James Jewell

(Un)Christmas Around the World

We are not alone in the political correctness universe. A quick trip across the pond reveals advanced stages of yuletide madness. (Hat tip to Christianity Today Weblog for the international links).



The Land of Scrooge



Welcome to Great Britain, the land of Ebenezer Scrooge, where “political correctness has strangled the festive spirit,” according to The Advertiser



Check these out:



--A number of key government departments issued edicts that references to "Christmas" be dropped from greetings cards so as not to offend non-Christians.



--In Clydach, on the outskirts of the Welsh city of Swansea, the local council has banned festive lights in case they electrocute vandals.



--Killjoys in Bellshill, Scotland, have scrapped a supermarket Christmas party because they didn't want staff turning up for work with hangovers.



--A survey reveals eight in 10 British firms have decided not to have a party because bosses fear being sued by staff claiming injury or sexual harassment during drunken office knees-ups.



--At Tower Hamlets, a down-at-heel district in London's east, council staff have been ordered to refer to their Christmas meal as a "festive lunch".



--Some of London's biggest department stores have abolished Santa's grottos because of concerns they could act as magnets for pedophiles. In one shop, a webcam has been installed to ensure Santa does not abuse any of the children.



--Tinsel has been banned from a Gloucestershire school party because the principal fears pupils might strangle themselves if they drape it around their necks.



--And in perhaps the most bizarre anti-Christmas initiative, the Castleford Choral Society, a choir that has sung carols for more than 60 years, had to cancel its traditional concert because it was deemed a fire hazard.



--Meanwhile, Britain's union movement has called for mistletoe to be banned to discourage unwanted sexual advances. The party-pooper missive from the Trades Union Congress also frowns on balloons because they can trigger an allergy to latex.



--Art historian Dr Tricia Cusack launched an attack on the snowman. She said the figure was not so much a source of innocent fun for children as a degrading symbol of racist and sexist bigotry. Dr Cusack branded the snowman a phallic symbol that helped condemn women to second-class status and threatened minorities. "Some members of cultural minorities in Britain find the central power relationship of Christmas threatening, not to speak of its whiteness – a white Christ, a white snowman," she said.



Secular France



In the tradition of the French Revolution, which threw the priests out with the princes, France is going to great ends to secularize their society. This from Expatica, a publication for expatriates in France:



Last Saturday the headmaster of the Van Dongen lycee at Lagny-sur-Marne removed a fir tree that had been set up in the entrance-hall, after two girl pupils complained it was a breach of France's new law banning religious insignia in schools.



However in a counter-offensive on Monday teachers circulated a text reminding students that "the use of a fir-tree as a symbol of life or rebirth after the winter solstice is much more ancient than Christianity."



And the liberals want us to be more like the Europeans!

--James Jewell

Roof Top 10 Christian News Trends of 2004

Each year at this time the religiously oriented news services, such as the Religion News Service, Evangelical Press Association, and the Religion News Writers release a list of top religion stories of the year. They are often full of denominational actions that are important to relatively few people, and news about dying liberal groups that the newswriters think still represent American Christendom (See this article on the Episcopalian collapse [h/t: . Wesley Blog]).



Several years ago a religion newswriter for a major daily said that “religion news” is an oxymoron because the essence of religious faith does not have the attributes of news. Genuine faith and the moving of God in the hearts and minds of individuals are not breaking news. Spirituality is a process, the thinking goes.



I believe much has changed. I understand and appreciate that view and the depth it gives to things of faith, but there is a great deal in the realm of the church and the relationships of faith, politics, and the media that throb at the pace of the news. Even the pace of the blogosphere.

One thing I draw from the analysis, though, is that the most important news stories in the Christian community generally are not events, but trends and movements. It is mostly these items that comprise The Roof Top 10 Christian News Trends of 2004.



They are:



1. The Passion of the Christ: The Movie

2. Islam’s War on Christianity

3. Evangelical Political Muscle

4. Same-Sex Marriage Set-backs

5. Crisis in Catholicism

6. Mainstreaming of Christian Books

7. New Media Sources for Conservative Christians

8. DeChristmasizing of America

9. The Ideological Alignment of the Church

10. The Personal Faith and Integrity of President Bush



Here’s more on each.



1. The Passion of the Christ: No one predicted that a graphic, bloody movie on the last days of Jesus Christ, in Aramaic, that was unfairly criticized for being anti-Semitic because of it accurate portrayal of the biblical record, would set box office and DVD records and take the nation and the world by storm. The amount of evangelism and genuine soul-searching as a result of the movie and subsequent discussions is incalculable (at a time when the number of Southern Baptist baptisms declined for the fourth straight year). Certainly Mel Gibson’s film is one of the most consequential spiritual events not just of the year but of our time.



2. Islamic Radicalism’s War on Christianity: The international jihad of Islam against the West generally and against Christianity specifically was elevated this year in the public eye by the war on terror and the rantings of Osama. Persecution of Christians and other faiths continues in many Third World countries, mostly by radical Muslims. This has had a dampening effect on international missions like nothing else.



Jewish activist Michael Horowitz of the Hudson Institute says Christian believers are strangely silent about the plight of their brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted today in unprecedented numbers, especially in Africa and the Middle East. As Horowitz puts it, Christians may well become "the Jews of the twenty-first century." Examples: A treaty in Sudan did not stop persecution of Christians there, and in Iraq, a four-person Southern Baptist humanitarian team was killed, and Christian churches destroyed.



President Bush is doing the right thing to say that the war on terror is not a war on Islam. But we know (and since we are not in government we can say) that it is an international effort to combat radical Islam’s war on us. For the troubling story of international Christian persecution, consult Voice of the Martyrs.



3. Evangelical Political Muscle: Evangelicals emerged from the presidential election with a new swagger. The influence is good and important, but the swagger is unbecoming of followers of Christ. Although many evangelical activists will claim not to be surprised that the evangelical vote was pivotal, I think that most in the conservative Christian community were pleasantly surprised both by the clarity of the evangelical voice and recognition of this by the MSM. I watch these things closely, and it was shock to me. The question now is if the evangelicals will overplay their hand and lose their credibility by trying to exercise more power than they actually have. Evangelical influence will increase if they represent a broad range of issues (see What Evangelicals Want, Nov. 5) and seek to be persuasive players, not bullies.



4. Same-Sex Marriage Setbacks: Christians who are passionate in their opposition to same-sex marriage were alarmed early in the year with gay marriages in Massachusetts, following last year's state Supreme Court ruling. Then San Francisco and other municipalities tried to do the same without benefit of the law. The ceremonies were invalidated, and it soon became clear that homosexual activists had terribly overplayed their hand. Christian conservatives were in the forefront as public opinion turned against same-sex marriage (if not homosexual unions of some kind), and 11 states passed amendments on Election Day against gay marriage.

5. Crisis of Catholicism: MSM focus on the huge settlements in Catholic sex-abuse cases, on diocesan bankruptcies, and on criminal convictions. The greatest cost to the Catholic Church (other than the corroding of the souls of the priests involved in the abuse itself) is the loss of credibility and moral authority. This is absolutely devastating to the church, and it couldn’t come at a worse time. With Pope John Paul II fading and the uncertainties of what a new Pope will represent, the Catholic Church faces of time of profound testing.



6. Mainstreaming of Christian Books: You can find examples through the decades of overtly Christian books rising to the top of the mainstream best-seller lists. For instance: Hal Lindsey’s Great Late Planet Earth in the early 70’s, and Chuck Colson’s Born Again in 1976. But we are now seeing Christian books displayed and purchased with regularity in book stores of all kinds. In 2004, Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life dominated best-seller lists. The news is that it is no longer remarkable. The success of the LaHaye/Jenkins Left Behind series , Bruce Wilkinson’s Prayer of Jabez have opened the eyes of publishers and retailers of all and no faith to the fact that Christians read.



7. New Media Sources for Conservative Christians: Conservative Christians are turning away from traditional sources for news and information. Tired of the bias and hostility of MSM, Christians have joined other conservatives in supporting the assent of conservative talk radio, Fox News, and the blogosphere. Interestingly, these alternative media sources have become the conduit of political thought and cultural values, if not doctrinal specificity, of the conservative Christian community, also at the expense of Christian media. Christian television has collapsed in scandal and been marginalized, Christian radio is largely the medium of preaching and music (Salem Radio's move into talk radio is an exception), and Christian publications are struggling for readership.



8. DeChristmasizing of America: 2004 may be seen as a watershed for the forces seeking to cleanse American Christmas celebrations and events that occur anywhere near the public square of Christ and all things Christmas. We have documented in this space, as have many blogs, the outrageous efforts of aggressive lawyers, politicians, educators, and others to remove the stories, language, traditions, arts, symbols—even the colors—of Christmas. (The latest: A Florida county bans Christmas trees after its district attorney calls them religious symbols [h/t: The Roth Report]). Although this may cause a backlash, with the inclusion of all faith celebrations a compromise position, it is just as likely that leaders making decisions at Christmas time will choose what they see as the path of least resistance, and totally secularize every expression of every holiday season. The deChristmasizing is a subset of the larger effort to remove the Christian faith from the public square. I considered the overarching issue last month in The Declaration of Independence and the Fear of God.



9. Ideological Alignment of the Church: The great divide in American religion is no longer Protestant/Catholic—it is conservative and liberal. That split has now aligned completely with the same political divide. The Cultural Conservatives (fundamentalists, evangelicals, charismatics and conservative blacks, and conservative Catholics) constitute the virile force that represented electoral victory for Republicans in 2004. The recognition of an alignment of conservative Catholics and Protestants goes back to the Evangelicals and Catholics Together document published by Richard John Neuhaus and Chuck Colson in 1994.



The Cultural Liberals include the Protestant Mainline, liberal Catholics, much of the black church, and secularists. Other groups such as the Jewish and Islamic communities are small and split. Two symbols of this alignment in 2004: The popularity of The Passion in Catholic and evangelical quarters, and Sean Hannity, a Catholic, speaking at Focus on the Family, the fundamentalist/evangelical bastion.



10. The Personal Faith and Integrity of President Bush: People of faith and in good faith can and will argue about whether President Bush’s policies are in keeping with biblical teaching or represent moral values. That’s politics. But to millions of Americans, Christian faith and the value of morality have been demonstrated by the personal integrity, lifestyle, and spiritual expression of George W. Bush, the man. Regardless of one’s opinion of President Bill Clinton as a government leader, only Democratic zealots deny that Clinton was and is morally challenged. His sexual escapades and unwillingness to take responsibility for his troubles were devastating to personal morality in America. The return of integrity, the example of spiritual conversion, and the permissibility of overt faith in the Oval Office have been among the great accomplishments of Bush’s first term.



Gone are the days when the news of religion is confined to a Saturday section graveyard in the daily newspaper. Religious events, trends, and controversies are a vibrant part of the news, and in 2004 the impact of faith was a leading newsmaker.



Do you agree that these are the top Christian news trends of 2004? Let’s hear what you think.

--James Jewell

Poll: God’s Positive Ratings Down on Television

This week, The Parents Television Council (PTC) and the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) released a study of prime time programming that they say shows that Hollywood "has virtually no respect for religion." They counted mentions of religion during the last year, and found only about 22 percent of them positive.



That isn’t a surprise to anyone who watches television. Some interesting thoughts followed the release of the study (these from a Los Angeles Times article).



Frank Wright, president of the NRB: Called the negative portrayals "dehumanizing" and compared them to representations of Jews prior to the Holocaust, and blacks in the era of slavery. "Systematic negative portrayals of groups of people are always disturbing. They produce the potting soil that leads to persecution."



PTC President L. Brent Bozell: "Is it because Hollywood is Jewish and taking care of its own? No, I don't think that. In the popular culture of America, 99% of the public, and also in Hollywood, there is an understanding that respect is owed to Jews. It's as simple as that. That same respect ought to be paid to other faiths as well."He said Hollywood is missing out on a marketing opportunity by ignoring the majority of Americans who, according to a 2003 Harris poll cited by the study, believe in God (90%) and the resurrection of Jesus Christ (80%).



"They're blinding themselves, not seeing the forest for the trees when they dismiss the fact that this country is fed up with Hollywood's assault on families," Bozell said. "Nobody, but nobody, saw the success of 'The Passion of the Christ' coming. They don't understand there's a hunger for positive messages."



Blogger Jeff Jarvis earlier this month was the first to uncover data showing that nearly all online complaints received by the FCC in 2003 had been filed by a small number of PTC members. The figures reflected so-called "formal complaints" submitted to the FCC's web site as opposed to letters, phone calls and faxes to the commission from listeners or viewers generally complaining about TV and radio programming.

Jonathan Rintels, president and executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, said the PTC is losing its perception as an influential institution as a result of the complaint data revelations. "The real statistics that matter to the networks come from the biggest hit of the season- 'Desperate Housewives.’”



Entertainment executives can ride out this sort of thing without a problem. But why would they want to? Haven’t they learned anything from their rejection of Mel Gibson’s religious fanaticism?

--James Jewell

Blogview from a Hot Tin Roof (2)

Perspectives Discovered During the Week Ending December 17, 2004



The DeChristmasizing of America, Racial Reconciliation and More



The President and God: An interesting post by Jason at The Antioch Road regarding how the President refers to God in his speeches and dialogue, including a link to the Washington Post interview with Bush’s chief speech writer Michael Gerson –an evangelical (and friend and former colleague of mine). Gerson is quoted: "The important theological principle here, I believe, is to avoid identifying the purposes of an individual or a nation with the purposes of God," Michael Gerson said. "That seems a presumption to me, and we've done our best to avoid the temptation."



Racial Reconciliation: David Mobley at A Physicist's Perspective provides insightful answers to a Homespun Bloggers question about racial reconciliation. He writes: “Ultimately, I think real racial reconciliation can only come with (a) a return to personal responsibility, (b) an accompanying rejection of quotas, preferences and entitlements, and (c) a recognition of the fundamental equality of all humans -- but equality of value, not necessarily role.” Read the post to see how he fleshes this out.



I agree that creating racial harmony is personal, not governmental, responsibility I believe that ultimately the only thing that will pull people groups together is common experiences, which may be because of or as a result of a common set of beliefs and values. If the government does have a role, it is in discouraging racial, ethnic and national groups from separating themselves and reducing the commonality. One thing that comes to mind is the language question. Establishing Spanish as a virtual second language does nothing to bring English and Spanish speaking people together (unless the goal is for the next generation to speak both languages).



I've lived in two large sub-divisions in the Atlanta area--one rather affluent, the other lesser so. Both have been mixed race--black, white, Hispanic, and Asian. The experiences in these neighborhood have suggested to me that it is common socio-economic position and challenges that make the racial differences nearly irrelevant.



Counter Reformation: The move to lock spiritual influence back in the church counters the positive changes brought about in the Reformation, says Dory at The Wittenberg Gate. More:



The Puritan work ethic emerged and with it prosperity, education, and equal justice under the law. Class distinctions began to melt away. Laymen began to read their Bibles, study theology and apply its principles to their lives. Even today those countries most profoundly impacted by reformational thinking are among the most free and productive societies in the world.



Today we are leaving the Reformation behind and developing a new twist on the sacred/secular distinction. Now instead of the things of God being unapproachable by the common man, the common man is not to be approached by the things of God. The things of God are to be left locked inside the church, like a lion in a cage. We have perfected the art of double think. At church I believe in creation. In science class I believe evolution. I think God hates abortion, but everyone should be free to choose. I may praise Him in the church on Sunday, but I dare not mention His name at work on Monday. He is the holy, holy, holy God whose words are too offensive to be seen in the public square.





More DeChristmasizing of America



Banning Colors Red and Green

Doug at Considerettes reports that “a school district has banned the colors red and green from a "Winter Break Party," requiring parents to bring only white plates and napkins (we’re not making this up).



Giving Trees

Spreading Understanding has been watching all of this and reports that a judge has ruled against the school district, or at least issued a restraining order that allows Christmas colors. Also there, a look at Christmas trees used to provide gifts to the needy, possible on public grounds because you can call them Giving Trees.



John Leo: Push Back

A good column on the subject by John Leo at Town Hall (h/t: Dappled Things) urges believers to push back on the effort to excise Christianity from Christmas. Leo writes:



“Accommodating all traditions is a worthy goal. But a broad movement to erase the word Christmas is an extraordinary development in a culture that is more than 80 percent Christian. How much more of this is the public willing to tolerate? . . . Unless believers and religious-liberties groups begin to push back, the anti-Christmas trend will prevail in the public square.”





The Death Penalty (Prompted by Scott Peterson Verdict)

Taking what has become an increasingly muted view within the Christian community—which I believe has real merits—William Meisheid at Beyond the Rim contends that it is not biblical to pronounce a death sentence based on circumstantial evidence.



He has written a death penalty series, but the summary of this argument is:



1. The death penalty is legitimate and required by God. (See Genesis 9:5-6 and part I and part II of my series.)

2. In the Law, God established the requirements for implementing the death penalty and that was on the testimony of at least two witnesses. (See Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15).



While we may argue in our modern technological age that direct evidence (e.g. genetic evidence using blood or other bodily fluids, phone tap tape recordings, etc.) might be considered to be a witness in the biblical sense, no one argues that there was anything but circumstantial evidence in this case. As such, even the prosecution, much less the sentencing, didn’t meet the minimal biblical requirements for a death penalty case.



This was the essence of Chuck Colson’s opposition to the death penalty for many years, one of the few leading evangelicals with that position. He has changed his views somewhat in later years, as he writes in this piece.



Hiding a Rightward Lean at a Southern University

Donald Sensing at One Hand Clapping points to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education written by "William Pilger," the nom de plume of a not-quite-tenured professor at an unnamed southern university on what it is like to be a Republican on a nearly-total Democratic faculty. Both good reading.

--James Jewell

The Magnificat and Culture

Both in our churches and in the public square, we face daily the questions of what influence the followers of Christ should have in society. An early glimpse of the impact the church would have on culture was provided by his mother.



The movie The Passion of the Christ is the most significant spiritual event of 2004, and Mary’s significance in Jesus’ life is one of many reminders the movie brought up about our faith. After many years of ignoring or diminishing her role, many of us Protestants, although far from the Catholic view, are--thanks in part to Gibson’s movie--opening our eyes to her importance.



In addition to the striking spiritual challenge of Mary’s humble obedience to God ("I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” [Luke 1:38]), the song of Mary, the Magnificat in Luke 1, gives us what Catherina Hurlburt at Breakpoint calls “a first glimpse of what the Church was to become and what God would accomplish through it.”



She writes of three revolutions introduced by Mary:



The moral revolution she helped set off is the death of pride. “His mercy is on them that fear Him . . . He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts” (Luke 1:50-51). Later we hear her Son describing His Kingdom where “the last shall be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16).



The social revolution brings about a world in which all are equal. The mighty and the lowly will walk together: “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree” (Luke 1:52). “Every knee shall bow,” and Jesus will be lifted up.



Lastly, economic inequality will be overcome. “He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away” (Luke 1:53). We hear Jesus preach against “laying up treasures” on earth (Luke 12:14-21) and praise the widow for the two mites she gave at the temple (Luke 12:43-44).



In these three spheres of change we see the beginning of setting the world aright, as the Father intended when He created it, where pride and self-absorption have no place. From Mary in the Magnificat we see a picture of what the Church should be and how it should fulfill God’s plan.



The coming of Jesus was the birth of a revolution and the dividing point in history. Even as many in our culture seek to extract the church from public life, the revolution continues and the church’s impact is profound and beneficial even to those who seek its demise.

--James Jewell

A School District's Intelligent Design

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit in a Pennsylvania court, objecting to the Dover Area School District’s October decision to present to students alternatives to the theory of evolution, including what is called “intelligent design.”



This was believed to be the first school district in the nation to mandate that the intelligent design concept be included in the science curriculum.



It appears this school district has been careful and legal in its development of a balanced curriculum. It does not accept every aspect of evolution as fact. And it includes an alternative theory that the earth’s origins and the development of species are so complex that they require an intelligent designer—a higher being, without presenting the spiritual components of that theory.



The Fox News report says:



Last month, the Dover district issued a statement saying that state academic standards require the teaching of evolution, which holds that Earth is billions of years old and that life forms developed over millions of years.



But the statement also said Charles Darwin's theory "is still being tested as new evidence is discovered," and that intelligent design "is an explanation of the origins of life that differs from Darwin's view."



Additionally, district officials said they would monitor the lessons "to make sure no one is promoting but also not inhibiting religion."



The ACLU has said intelligent design is a more secular form of creationism, a Biblical-based view that credits the origin of species to God, and may violate the constitutional amendment that bars establishment of religion.



A more secular form of creationism? Yes, exactly. Isn’t that what those who are looking for strict separation of church and state want?



Or are they now saying that if a premise, theory, concept, virtue, or principle has religious adherents, parallels, or explanations, in addition to secular, that eliminates them from public discourse. That’s absurd. If that’s the standard, the Golden Rule is in trouble.

This, or a case much like it, will end up at the Supreme Court, so the lower court decisions will be only a prelude.

--James Jewell

God Help Us, Everyone: Unweaving the Christmas Fabric

This Friday, the people of Kirkland, Washington will not be attending a performance of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, which was to be presented by a private group on the campus of Lake Washington High School. The show was cancelled by the principal in part because he feared it would raise questions about the place of religion in public schools.



The cancellation surprised a lot of folks, including Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat, who describes himself as a "secularist and agnostic.” Pointing to a wider trend, he wrote "even a lifelong doubter like me can see that something crucial is being lost, especially in the schools."



Merry Christmas ACLU

Reflecting on this same subject, Blogger-in-law Doug chuckles at the tactics of one group that protested the actions of the ACLU last week by singing Christmas carols in front of their Washington, D.C. offices. Good humor.



Presidential References to God

Presidential speech writer Mike Gerson says in an interview with the Washington Post that some people seem to think that all references to God should be banished from presidential speeches.



"As a writer,’ Gerson says, “I think this attitude would flatten political rhetoric and make it less moving and interesting. But even more, I think the reality here is that scrubbing public discourse of religious ideas would remove one of the main sources of social justice in our history. Without an appeal to justice rooted in faith, there would be no abolition movement or civil rights movement or pro-life movement."



A Christmas Special

On the tube last week, a new kid on the music block made a grievous error, according to a NY Times music critic Kelefa Sanneh, who was upset by the Christmas celebration that broke out during the Clay Aiken Christmas special.



Sanneh writes: “Don't worry: this second act wasn't some vague celebration of friends and family and fun. Since Thursday was the third night of Hanukkah, Mr. Aiken turned his second act into a celebration of Jews. Well, one Jew: Jesus. Whereas other seasonal gatherings evoked a secular or multifaith "holiday spirit," Mr. Aiken's concert was one party where the birthday boy got all the attention.”



Imagine that.

The big problem is that we cannot untangle Christianity from the culture because it is woven so deeply into the fabric. It’s not an accent color, but the weight-bearing thread that holds together the most important traits, institutions, instincts, habits of the heart, the arts, the economic engine, and collective character of the nation.



Cleanse the culture of Christianity and you strip it of much its moral imagination and creative energy. Cleanse the culture of Christian influence and you lose many of its virtuous impulses—which resulted in the nation’s first hospitals and institutions of higher education. Those who seek to remove the Christian thread--we’ll call them the unweavers--are methodically trying to remove that which holds together a nation.



A Secular Christmas?

Can’t we just do Christmas without all of that religious stuff, critics are asking. Mostly without the Christ part, which some people find so very offensive (Jesus found that to be true during the Incarnation, as well).



What does Xmas look like:



Peace on earth is still a popular notion, but no, you can’t have that. It’s the call of the angels announcing the Savior. That’s won’t do.



Same problem with the good will to men bit.



Joy to the world. Nope.



We’re left with Santa Claus. Oh wait, the original Santa Clause was Saint Nicolas, an Eastern Orthodox monk. Really Christian and just not permissible. Scratch Santa.



The holiday is a great time to give to those in need, which is a nice way to celebrate the unweaved holiday. Problem. Giving to meet the needs of the less fortunate in society, although adopted by others, is straight from the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Keep your money to yourself, you religious zealot.

So good we can revert to just Happy Holidays. But wait, my friend Stan Guthrie cites additional consequences to the secularization of Christmas today and he points out that "holiday comes from holy day. Oh well, back to the drawing board!”



Be very careful with the classical music, please. An awful lot of those composers used biblical imagery. Let the Queen stand up for the Hallelujah Chorus. Handel is much too Christian for us Americans.



The dead white male authors are often overly spiritual. Dickens isn’t alone. Victor Hugo, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky will have to go. It a good thing there isn’t a fourth The Lord of the Rings book and movie. The Christian thing is getting much too obvious in Tolkien’s material. Can you say book burning?



To paraphrase a quip from Chuck Colson: “If only Charles Dickens were a lesbian Comanche.”



One more thing: Tomorrow has been cancelled. The year 2004 is an A.D. date – literally Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi. In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ! We can’t have that.



As Ken Schram of Seattle’s KOMO-TV said concerning the cancellation of A Christmas Carol: "God help us, everyone."

--James Jewell

What Are They Teaching Our Kids About Sex, and Why?

The only sex education that I remember in 7th grade was in the isolated hallways of Emmaus (Penn.) Junior High School, where the boys passed around a crumbled Playboy centerfold and discussed the female anatomy. There weren’t any classes. Birds and bees 101 was taught by fellow classmates and the advanced course was taught at home.



Although it is not a new development, the Waxman report and resulting discussion and media coverage have brought us back to good question: How did we come to the place in America where government schools are teaching our children sexual morality and the techniques of sexual behavior.



For a good examination of Congressman Henry Waxman’s committee report on the content of abstinence-only sex education programs, see Evangelical Outpost's piece. Waxman’s report has been adequately exposed as political drivel, lousy research, and probably pure dishonesty.



There are a few more things that can be said.



There is plenty of evidence that abstinence-only sex education programs are gaining in popularity in the schools, and that they are working. More students are making the choice to delay sex. This is a piece of good news for America, except for some odd politicians and liberal activists.



Those who object to abstinence-only content not only don’t trust that young people have any chance of behaving themselves, but they don’t in their heart-of-hearts believe that it is necessary. They just don’t (although the politicians can’t be honest about that.) If premarital, extra-marital, basically any sex between consenting adults is permissible, why should we teach our youth otherwise. Just don’t knock somebody up, and don’t get or transmit a disease and everything’s fine. In fact, everyone’s a little happier. And less stressed out.



Don’t Do It; Here’s How

Of course what is positioned as a reasoned and balanced approach is to teach that abstinence is preferable, and also teach the safest way to practice non-abstinence. This approach assumes that a strong percentage of the students will not choose abstinence, and therefore must be taught safe technique, in order to reduce pregnancy and the transmission of disease.



The problem with this approach is that teaching safe technique undercuts instruction on abstinence—it undermines the integrity of the moral teaching and immediately puts in question the moral, emotional, physiological, psychological, and practical advantages of remaining abstinent.



Imagine this approach in other areas:



--Don’t do drugs because they will kill you and fry your brain and wreck your life. But if you do, and we know some of you will, use clean needles, and know the source of your cocaine, and do it in moderation, and snort with a friend.



--Don’t rollerblade without a helmet, but if you do, don’t go down hills or reach speeds exceeding 30 mph



--Don’t talk with strangers, but if you do look around for clues on where you are.



--Don’t play with matches, but if you do, have a fire extinguisher handy and. . .



--Don’t get in fights at school, but if you do, let me show you how to make your first shot a good one.



Choosing the Best

To get more information on at least one of the abstinence-only programs that is gaining in popularity, but came under fire, we looked at information on a program called Choosing the Best. There are elementary, middle school, and two high school courses. The one for grades 8 through 10 includes the following topics:



Sex, Emotions and Self-Respect: Teens learn how guys and girls view sex differently, while grappling with the emotional impact of sex before marriage.



Sex, Alcohol and Respect: Teens hear painful stories of mixing alcohol and sex, as they learn startling statistics about alcohol.



Sex, STDs and Honesty: A powerful video introduces students to the consequences of sexually transmitted diseases. They see for themselves the damage of specific STDs.



Sex, Pregnancy and Responsibility: A real-life teen couple shares the struggle of an unintended pregnancy. After teens evaluate choices and consequences, they see the value of being abstinent until married.



Sex, HIV and Compassion: After watching two young adults share how it feels to live with AIDS, teens separate myths from facts about HIV/AIDS, and in the process, learn compassion.



Sex, Love and Healthy Choices: Teens hear others share why they’ve chosen abstinence. After evaluating the options for themselves, students are given the opportunity to commit to abstinence until marriage.



Sex, Limits and Self-Discipline: Beginning with self-discipline, teens learn practical ways to handle sexual pressure from peers and others.



Sex, Saying “NO”and Courage: Practical role-plays enable students to develop and sharpen assertiveness skills.



Choosing the Best completed a federally-funded study on its program, which showed a 26% reduction in sexual activity among participating 9th grade students nationally, and a 47% reduction in Pike County, Georgia, where the curriculum was presented by more experienced educators. Amazingly, when all three of the Choosing the Best programs were taught, there was a cumulative reduction of between 50% and 60%.



One Academic Study

The Waxman report ignores academic research that is underscoring the effectiveness of abstinence education. The findings of An Analysis of the Causes of the Decline in Non-marital Birth and Pregnancy Rates for Teen from 1991 to 1995, Joanna K. Mohn, MD, Lynne R. Tingle, PhD, Reginald Finger, MD, MPH included the following:



This study demonstrates that the higher proportion of teen females abstaining from sex accounted fro most of the reduction in single teen births and 67% of the decrease in single teen pregnancies from 1991 to 1995. These findings support the significance of the growing movement of teens choosing to abstain from sex. . . .The increase in teen abstinence has been attributed to the fear of HIV/AIDS and STDs, and to the rise of abstinence-only sex education. Empirical studies are beginning to reveal effectiveness of the abstinence-only approach. For example, Bearman & Bruckner (2001) found that teens who took a plede to abstain from intercourse by an average of 27 to 36 months. The end result from teens abstaining, as this study demonstrates, is fewer births to single teenage women. The fact that more teens are abstaining also means fewer teens are at risk fro sexually transmitted diseases.



The best use of time in our schools would probably be to teach math instead of sex. In the results of an international study released last week, we’ve learned that American students have fallen further beyond most of the world in math scores. The U.S. students were behind most other countries in overall math literacy and in every specific area tested in 2003, from geometry and algebra to statistics and computation. We’re just better than Mexico.



“The international test is not a measure of grade-level curriculum,” says ESchoolNews (free registration required), “but rather a gauge of the skills of 15-year-olds and how well students can apply them to problems they might face in life. It also aims to give the United States an external reality check about how it is doing. “



How about teaching proper math skills and less on how to properly use a condom?



Just a thought.



If parents are going to capitulate to the schools in this area of responsibility, however, the abstinence-only programs are the only approach that makes any sense at all. And there are plenty of quality programs, such as Choosing the Best, to choose from.

--James Jewell

Blogview from a Hot Tin Roof

Sex, Islamophobia, Sports, Iran and Much More

Perspectives Discovered During the Week Ending Dec. 10, 2004



Pearl Harbor and 9-11: In a post that cites the service of his 77-year-old father who survived a kamikaze attack later in the war, Douglas at Belief Seeking Understanding asked on the 63rd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack what will be remembered of 9-11-01 after the same number of years elapses. Two generations later, his oldest child will be 77 on that day. He writes: “I hope (my children) will have gratitude for the hard-won victory of the free nations.”



John Stott: Since David Brooks wrote his column on Stott last week, there has been a lot of blogging on the Brit Brooks says would be the evangelical pope, if there was one. Daddypundit provides his notes from a lecture by Stott in 1986 on developing a Christian impact on society. I couldn’t find mine from a Stott Green Lake (WI) series in 1972 or from Urbana 73 (man, am I aging myself).



European Islamophobia?: Mark Kilmer suggests at Political Annotation that it is the Europeans who aren’t handling Islam responsibly. He writes: “I'll argue that the people of Europe do not live in free territory, being slammed together in a morass of social democracy. Their "Islamophobia" thus manifests itself in violence, leaving the European planners confused that the European masses could slip from control in the utopia they're fashioning. In the United States, any anger at Islam manifests itself as words written on the internet and angry talk. And we deal with it.”



Ideological Diversity on Campus: David Mobley provides a Physicist’s Perspective on the need for different viewpoints in academia, agreeing with a Jeff Jacoby column in the Boston Globe. David writes: “As a scientist, I know that the work we do always benefits from healthy criticism. It makes you do more careful science and make more certain your evidence is bulletproof. If you're only trying to persuade people who think what you're trying to prove is correct, it's easy to get lazy and not do the best job you can. Sure, it's EASIER. But the quality of the product -- the science -- isn't as good.”



Iran Watch: It is increasingly evident that Iran is the next country in the Middle East to keep an eye on, and there are both good and bad signs. It Is What It Is points us to a BBC report: “Iranian students have interrupted a speech by President Mohammad Khatami to mark Student Day at Tehran university. Students chanted "Shame on you" and "Where are your promised freedoms?" to express their frustration with the failure of Iran's reform movement.”



Thinking About Sex: Joe Carter at the Evangelical Outpost is upset by Henry Waxman’s one-sided report on government-funded sex education and provides a critique and wish-list for sex education that would “incorporate critical moral reasoning.”



Steel Nazi: Derek Gilbert, a Weapon of Mass Distraction, has an interesting news bit called No Steel for You, on the shortage of steel, because of production problems in Japan and the building boom in China. This may impact the price of everything from cars to washing machines in the next few years.



Democracy on the Move: Wes Roth stayed up late and to watch the Karzi inauguration, a great moment in the world movement from thuggery to democracy. He files a report —with pictures.



Trailer Trash: Jan Bear at A World of Speculation says the Clinton library looks like an enormous single-wide mobile home on stilts.. That’s perfect, when you think about it.



Sports, Circuses & Politics: Long Island attorney Tony Iovino at A Red Mind in a Blue State writes a great little column on the state of sport, and how we are as much to blame as the sportmen, even the Islanders. A good read.



The UCC Television Ad: Kent at Trolling in Shallow Water doubts the networks are being straight with their reasons and adds: “Yes, there are aspects of the UCC ad I find objectionable. But they are not necessarily the things that UCC claims the networks find objectionable.” And Eric Ragle feels that churches advertising to draw in homosexuals is dead-on. Eric says: “If there is any place on earth that those who are guilty of an abomination to God should be, it’s church. But if this message cannot be expressed via truthful means, then I reject this ad. Which is why I support those stations not showing this ad, although I agree with the message.”



America’s Worst Threat: Blogger-in-law Doug Payton (he coined the title) answers the Homespun Blogers Symposium question “What, in your mind, represents the single greatest long-term threat to the United States of America, and what should be done about it?” with a compelling argument that it is the collapse of personality morality, because without individual character there is nothing to build a common morality and “our society becomes more and more held together by the wisps of law rather than the steel of ‘common thought.’”



The Most Politically Incorrect Words: Tim at Broken Masterpieces suggests, rightly we think, that the most offensive words come from John 14:6: Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."



Interview Horrors: Colin Rowley includes a lot of fun and interesting items at An Idle Brain, including one this week on mistakes made while interviewing. He quotes Katherine Hepburn: “Death will be a great relief. No more interviews.”



Lobster Talk: Read about the similarity of lobsters and those who seek to limit the life and liberty of others, as Aaron Curtis at American Chronicle continues a discussion started at Metamorphosis. Aaron writes: “I found myself wondering: ‘Why would a lobster (human as described above or real) deny another lobster the chance of life, opportunity and freedom?’”



Same-Sex Marriage: At Let’s Try Freedom, Robert Hayes tip-toed into the perilous topic of homosexuality and same-sex marriage with a very good six-part series, drawing on his own understanding of Christianity and Catholic teachings. The last in the series calls for a division of sacramental marriages and other civil unions. Hayes says:



There will also be sacramental marriages, unions formalized by the church and following its teachings and principles. To receive a sacramental marriage, of course you must first have the approval of the church in question. . .



In essence, we will be renaming the institution of secular marriage, as currently practiced, to "civil unions", and removing the religiously-based restrictions on its composition. We will also be strengthening the notion of religiously-organized marriage as being an entity separate from what happens down at the country courthouse.

Although I may have some quibbles, I think this thought and others presented in the series are worth considering. Take a look.



Saving the “Offensive” Redlands Seal: Ric Ottaiano at Release the Hounds highlights Redlands, California’s battle to save the city seal from the ACLU. He writes: “Although this happened several months ago, I recently came across this story about the ACLU's thus far successful effort to strong-arm the City of Redlands to redesign its 80+ year old seal and remove the cross from its lower right quadrant. This came on the heels of the also successful effort to coerce the City of Los Angeles to remove a Latin cross from its seal.

--James Jewell

Jonathan Edwards Wisdom in a Post 9-11 World

In the days after 9-11-01 Americans turned to God for solace and church attendance increased, if temporarily. The smell of death and the fear of vulnerability quickened our spirits and sobered our thoughts. While the horrors have faded in our consciousness, as post-9-11 people we do tend to view the world more cautiously and eternity more closely.



An interview done by PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly with Notre Dame history professor George Marsden on great American theologian and preacher Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) is pertinent for both a 9-11 world and for the newly visible evangelicals. Marsden is author of Jonathan Edwards: A Life.



Here are a few excerpts from Marsden’s comments on Edwards:



The Tenuousness of Life: Edwards had a sense of the tenuousness of life. He talks about how we're "walking on rotten canvas." In the 18th century that was easier to understand; lots of people lost most of their children. Cotton Mather, who lived just before Edwards, had 15 children, only two of whom lived to adulthood, and he went through three wives. When there was always that possibility that you or anybody else you knew might die at any time, there was a much greater sense of the need to depend on something else. Post-9/11 America has gained a little bit of that sense -- that things aren't necessarily just upward and onward; that lots of things can go very wrong. Edwards's kind of theology is addressing the dimension of the human condition that consumer culture tends to ignore -- that most people don't succeed, and things do go wrong.



We tend to live with the illusion that we're going to live forever. Of course, we do live longer than people then did, but we don't face the reality that life is limited. I think you can learn from 18th-century people. With the precariousness of the world today, things can go very wrong. It's good to be reminded that we're not here forever, and one ought to face that.



A Model for Evangelicals: Also, Edwards has something to say to American evangelicals. They would benefit by having him among their spiritual founders. For one thing, it would be good to have more emphasis on a founder who was a profound thinker. There is a tendency toward anti-intellectualism in American popular religion. In some ways, that's its strength, because it's very easily shared and spread. But that also leads to some shallowness. Edwards has a very deep theological expression to propose to people. I think there would be a good basis for recovering some more depth in evangelical theology -- particularly a tendency within evangelicalism (to which I am essentially sympathetic) to make one's own religious experience the center of what the religion is about. It loses sight of God as the real center.



The Centrality of God: The most striking thing about Edwards's theology is its God-centeredness. He is always starting everything with reference to "What is God doing?" and then trying to understand us in that light. He has a very dynamic view of how God works in the world -- that God is essentially love, which means that God is essentially an active being who is relating to creatures. The whole purpose of creation is to express God's love to creatures. Creation isn't simply something that went on long ago -- that God wound up the universe and then it runs on abstract laws. Creation is an ongoing process. Edwards could go out in the fields and get a sense of the beauty of God's love in the beauties of nature; they are pointing toward the love of God, the redemptive work of God and Christ. He's constantly emphasizing that the essence of religious life is true affections directed toward God. Even in the Awakenings that he was dealing with in the 18th century, he was criticizing people who were celebrating their own experience too much, in a way that religion could get them to talking about themselves or what they get out of it. He was always referring them back to the centrality of God in all that they talk[ed] about.



Edwards is a fascinating and important founding father and this entire interview is worthwhile reading.

--James Jewell

Ten Things to Do Before Being Generous at Christmastime

So you’re feeling generous. The Christmas season does that to many of us. Perhaps it’s the recognition of the great gift of God, His Incarnation.. For some it’s just time to get a tax write-off before the year ends. Whatever your motivation, it’s a good idea to give--because when you give you take the focus off yourself and at least temporarily release the grip money has on your life.



You may have favorite charities, or you may be looking for something new. How should you begin?



Here are the ten things you need to do before giving away your money or your time to a charity:



1. Start with your values. Think about the things that are important to you—hunger, evangelism, children, curing a particular disease, etc. What needs push your buttons? Think about your obligations. Search the Scriptures.



2. Don’t forget your church: While there are many needs met by organizations that spend a lot of money presenting their work and raising funds, don’t forget your local church. The Scriptural teaching on giving is quite clear that the local body of believers should be your first concern.



3. Support your friends: If you have a friend who has to raise his or her support as a missionary or works at an organization that has their employees handle their own fundraising, that’s a good place to start. They need your help, and if you trust their values and judgment, it can give you some assurance.



4. Think about it: While its not a big deal to be spontaneous with small gifts—dropping a few dollars in The Salvation Army kettle or similar on the spot decisions—if you’re going to give a sizeable gift, don’t do it immediately, in response to a strong, emotional appeal. Allow your head to catch up with your heart. Think about it. Do some research. Pray about it—ask God for guidance.



5. Consult the charity watchdogs: If you are thinking about giving to a Christian organization, you can get information on a group’s legitimacy, efficiency, financial transparency and practices, and other information online from Ministry Watch. For organizations that are not expressly Christian, consult GuideStar.



6. Find new missions to support: These two groups and others such as the ECFA or the BBB Wise Give Alliance have lists of organizations that address every possible need. You can also consult publications such as the Chronicle of Philanthropy.



7. Determine if a group needs your money. Check out the size of an organization’s endowment; determine how much of a cash balance they had remaining at the end of their last fiscal year. Charities should be spending most of their money every year—it keeps them accountable to donors, and its why you give them money.



8. Be clear about a group’s programs: Before you send money or volunteer time, get detailed information from the organization on its mission, its goals, what programs it has to address problems, what it sees as success. Do its passions match yours? Is it forthright about what it is doing and why? Get literature or at least look at a group’s website.



9. Can you get the kids involved?: Particularly at Christmas, it’s a great idea to involve your children in a project, whether it’s a service project or a giving project—such as packing shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child, or shopping to help an inmate’s child through Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree. Helping kids learn about the joy and value of giving to others is a great new priority for the holiday season.



10. Find the joy: What would give you joy? God loves a cheerful giver and so does everyone else. Get a kick out of giving a little beyond your means. Find some up close and personal enough to see someone smile as a result of your efforts.



Go ahead, get generous! If you do it the right way, it will become a tremendous Christmas tradition.

--James Jewell