Mindless Churches & Youths: "Generational Blackmail?"

          Dr. James West, a philosophy Professor at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, posts a good question in his post, "Generational Blackmail."  These kind of questions have been posed often so as to exclude Biblical, Confessional, and liturgical worship.  “Oh, the young people won’t like it…they won’t come...we better do this.”  These type of questions have been posed--often--to introduce worship chaocities (not to mention the toleration of non-catechetical perspectives nationwide).

          Well, young people don’t like doing research, writing papers or doing careful thinking either, but the College Profs insist otherwise—hat tip and salute to the Professors.  I took an English literature course last semester.  Without missing a beat, the Teacher “imposed” Shakespeare on us with all the old language.  She didn't ask if we liked the old English.  We had no choice.  No one complained either, but all were edified. 

         

The picture is put up for the mindless worship that is tolerated today.  Unfortunately,

many clerics are supportive. Reformation Anglicanism believes a war on the quest for

continued ignorance and illiteracy must be waged.  We recommend this audit to our

"good old Book of Common Prayer," to wit:  "Pastor/Rector:  `Luni et stulti omnes

sunt.'  Congregation:  `Et semper illiterati.'"  Thank God for good Pastors and Teachers

who did not and are not accomodating the quest for ignorance, generally, Confessional

Churchmen.

          This is a good question from For Clavigera. See:  http://forsclavigera.blogspot.com/2012/05/generational-blackmail.html

Generational Blackmail?

It seems like every other day I'm told another reason why young people are leaving the church: because Christians fight too much or because Christians are too political or anti-gay or don't care about social justice. Millennials, we're told, are leaving the church because the church won't bless their cohabitation or provide them with contraception for pre-marital sex. They're leaving because they don't care about fights over creation/evolution or abortion or worship style or what have you. In sum, it seems we're regularly informed that if the church doesn't change, young people are going to leave.
And what exactly are we supposed to do with these claims? I think the upshot is pretty clear. Indeed, am I the only one who feels like they're a sort of bargaining chip--a kind of emotional blackmail meant to get the church to relax its commitments in order to make the church more acceptable?
Could we entertain the possibility that millennials might be wrong? 

Dangers of an Uneducated Ministry: Franklin Graham Steps in It

Billy Graham (l) and son, Franklin Graham (r)

RNS is reporting the following at:  http://www.religionnews.com/politics/election/black-churches-defend-obamas-faith.  It's another story of a cleric without much of an education venturing into areas in which he's not trained--not to mention theology.  I saw the original MSNBC clip.  Pretty poor answers by Franklin. The NAACP ate his lunch, but turned to their standard race-baiting line to good effect.  Fact is, Obama supports partial-birth abortion--homocide in the first degree--and Franklin coulda' and shoulda' taken an higher and more educated approach.  Unfortunately, he's ill-equipped.  Further, NAACP's claim of "bearing false witness" is a bit much.  Even further, NAACP's claim about "political wedges" created by religious views is laughable.  Poor Franklin, again, ham-handed and hapless.   The danger of ill-educated and uneducated ministers. Here's RNS's story.

WASHINGTON (RNS) Evangelist Franklin Graham apologized Tuesday (Feb. 28) to President Obama for questioning his Christian faith and said religion has "nothing to do" with Graham's decision not to support Obama's re-election.

Graham's apology came after a group of prominent black religious leaders criticized the evangelist for saying he did not know whether Obama is a Christian and suggesting that Islamic law considers him to be a Muslim.

Graham, president of the relief organization Samaritan's Purse and the son of famed evangelist Billy Graham, said he now accepts Obama's declarations that he is a Christian.

"I regret any comments I have ever made which may have cast any doubt on the personal faith of our president, Mr. Obama," he said in a statement.

"I apologize to him and to any I have offended for not better articulating my reason for not supporting him in this election -- for his faith has nothing to do with my consideration of him as a candidate."

Graham said he objects to Obama's policy stances on abortion and same-sex marriage, which Graham considers to be in "direct conflict" with Scripture.

More than a dozen members of a religious subgroup of the NAACP had accused Graham of "bearing false witness" and fomenting racial discord.

"We can disagree about what it means to be a Christian engaged in politics, but Christians should not bear false witness," the NAACP statement said. "We are also concerned that Rev. Graham's comments can be used to encourage racism."

When asked in a recent MSNBC interview if Obama was a Christian, Graham responded, "I cannot answer that question for anybody." He went on to say that because Obama's father was a Muslim, "under Islamic law, the Muslim world sees Barack Obama as a Muslim."

By contrast, Graham said there is "no question" that GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum is a "man of faith" because "his values are so clear on moral issues." Santorum has also faced criticism for saying the president has a "phony theology" that is unbiblical.

"By his statements, Rev. Graham seems to be aligning himself with those who use faith as a weapon of political division," the NAACP said. "These kinds of comments could have enormous negative effects for America and are especially harmful to the Christian witness."

Signatories of the open letter included presidents of the National Baptist Convention, USA; the National Baptist Convention of America; the Progressive National Baptist Convention; as well as bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.

(So-called) Bishop Eddie Long's Wife Ditching Eddie (Second Divorce for Eddie)

http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb/bishop-eddie-longs-wife-1248978.html

Bishop Eddie Long's wife decides again to seek divorce

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The reconciliation of Vanessa and Eddie Long didn't make it through the day, as the wife of the charismatic New Birth Missionary Baptist pastor has decided against withdrawing her petition for divorce filed late Thursday afternoon.

Enlarge photo

John Amis, APVanessa and Eddie Long, the beleaguered pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, have been married for more than two decades.Related

• Long accused of sexual coercion
• Eddie Long case officially dismissed
• Megachurch had modest beginning
• Photos: Eddie Long's career
• Statement

"Mrs. Long continues to hope that this matter may be resolved expeditiously, harmoniously and fairly; however, she has determined that dismissal of her divorce petition is not appropriate at this time," Kilpatrick Townsend partner Michael W. Tyler said in a prepared statement.

"To avoid any undue confusion, Mrs. Long's future statements, if any, will be issued through her attorneys," he said. A spokesman for Kilpatrick Townsend refused further comment.

Three statements regarding the divorce were sent to media outlets Friday. In the first, Vanessa Long announced she was seeking to end her 21-year-marriage following "a great deal of deliberation and prayer."

Then, around lunchtime, in a statement sent through New Birth's public relations firm, Vanessa Long was quoted as saying, upon further "prayerful reflection," she was withdrawing the divorce petition.

"I love my husband," she was quoted in the second press release. "I believe in him and admire his strength and courage."

Long, a New Birth elder, said her decision to seek a divorce was driven by "years of attacks in the media that frustrated and overwhelmed me." She and her husband "mutually agreed to find healing," Vanessa Long is quoted in the release.

Six hours later, her attorneys announced she was proceeding with the divorce "consistent with her original [statement] made this morning."

In the divorce filing, Vanessa Long, 53, said her marriage to the New Birth pastor was "irretrievably broken" and there was "no hope of reconciliation." The couple has been in a "state of separation," according to the petition.

"Vanessa is, and has always been, a loving, dedicated and committed wife and mother," Bishop Long said in a statement Friday night. "My love for her is deep and unwavering. It remains our sincere desire to continue working together in seeking God’s will in these circumstances."

Vanessa Long has kept a low profile since the September 2010 lawsuit filed against her husband by former New Birth members Anthony Flagg, Spencer LeGrande, Jamal Parris and Maurice Robinson alleging the bishop used his influence, trips, gifts and jobs to coerce them into sexual relationships.

Though she has never spoken publicly about the allegations, she provided her husband with a symbolic lift when she appeared by his side at New Birth the Sunday after the lawsuit was filed. The bishop, who told his congregation that day he planned to "vigorously" fight the allegations against him, reached a settlement with his accusers in late May after months of mediation.

A bio on New Birth's website describes Vanessa Long as "the quiet strength in the Long family ... an awesome woman of God in her own right. She is an inspiration to many of the women at New Birth as they watch her lovingly and quietly support her husband in every sense of the word."

This would be Bishop Long's second divorce. His first wife, Dabara S. Houston, alleged she was the victim of "cruel treatment" and claimed she was afraid of her husband's "violent and vicious temper," according to Fulton County Superior Court records. She and her son "had to flee [the couple's Fairburn home] in order to ensure their safety," the documents say.

The couple was married in 1981 and separated after a couple years, according to the documents. Long's first wife made the abuse allegation in a counterclaim after he petitioned for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

It's time to teach religion in schools - USATODAY.com

By Stephen Prothero

I know it's uncouth to say, "I told you so," but in this case I did.
Three years ago, in my book Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know — And Doesn't, I described the United States as a nation of religious illiterates. Though Americans are deeply religious, I argued, they know very little about their own religions, and even less about the religions of others.

I based this conclusion on scattershot data — a Gallup question here, an anecdote there, and a quiz I gave to my Boston University students — because there was no comprehensive national survey of U.S. religious literacy. Last week, however, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released the first nationwide survey of American religious knowledge, based on interviews with 3,412 adults who answered 32 questions on the Bible and the world's religions.

Not surprisingly, the nation as a whole flunked. Respondents got only 16 out of 32 questions right on average, for a score of 50%.

The release of this study has been catnip for atheists and agnostics, who rose to the top of the class on this survey. Non-believers answered, on average, 21 questions correctly, or five above the national average. Their score — 66%, or a D in my book — isn't much to write home about, but it does show that people who think religion is poison know more about it than people who think it is the antidote to our ills.

If atheists and agnostics are in heaven over these results, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth among Roman Catholics, who finished in the back of the class on this survey, with only 15 questions right on average. Prior studies have shown that Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes are doing little to educate American Catholic children about their faith, and this study confirms that Catholic religious education is badly broken. Fewer than half of the Catholics surveyed (42%) were able to name Genesis as the first book in the Bible.

Read all at:
It's time to teach religion in schools - USATODAY.com

Flee the R-Rated Church

This is an exceedingly serious problem. Some prudent words from John MacArthur.