CHR Comment: A summary of diagrams about how the “temple” of traditional Evangelicalism conflicts with Jesus’ teaching and how progressives would redefine the church.
Source: Progressive Evangelicals: Who We Are And What We Believe | Huffington Post
Category: modern church
Why Is Christianity Declining?
Ten proposed reasons for why Christianity is fading.
CHR Comment: This is a helpful list of reasons why Christianity is in decline in the United States. What’s missing from the article is solutions. The author intends to write about that in a later article.
Source: Why is Christianity declining? | Religion News Service
Catholicism’s Empty Quarter
Québec, a flourishing Catholic region for centuries, is now Catholicism’s empty quarter in the Western Hemisphere. There is no more religiously arid place between the North Pole and Tierra del Fuego; there may be no more religiously arid place on the planet. And it all happened in the blink of an eye.
CHR Comment: Weigel attributes the rapid decline of Catholicism in Quebec to a delayed interaction with modernism and churchmen’s involvement in political intrigue. When they finally lost control, they rapidly lost their congregation. This begs the questions: how should a church address the challenges raised by modernism and how may they act as citizens and as Christians in addressing the issues of governance?
Source: Catholicism’s Empty Quarter | George Weigel | First Things
Pakistani Christian Girl Kidnapped, Father Murdered
The family of a Pakistani man who was killed while trying to rescue his Christian daughter from a forced Islamic marriage has been given hope for justice after the men who killed him were charged over the murder by state authorities.
CHR Comment: There is progress on this sad story as authorities seem willing to act.
Conservative Icon Phyllis Schlafly Dies at 92
Phyllis Schlafly helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment.
CHR Comment: Schlafly was a devout Roman Catholic, influenced by her religious convictions to speak up about changes in American culture and law.
Source: Conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly, founder of Eagle Forum, dies at 92
Faith and Law
CHR Comment: Letters to the editor at USA Today on the topic of religious liberty, which is creating on-going discussion.
Conscience and Abortion
“I’m really troubled by the idea that the state can just say … ‘Your religious freedoms don’t matter to us,'” a California pastor says.
CHR Comment: The article describes the affects of current legislation on a church and a hospital employee as well as proposed legislation regarding conscience, another example of the religious liberty issue in American culture.
Source: This Nurse Objects to Being Forced to Help Abort Babies
Norway State Church Sees Exodus
Norway’s state church has seen a record fall in membership after making it possible to join and leave the church electronically.
CHR Comment: The historically Lutheran state church is allowing people to leave the church through an online process, which the article describes as cleaning up the rolls. Membership in the state church involves paying taxes to support the institution.
Source: Norway state church sees exodus after allowing online exit – The Washington Post
Egypt’s Christians Say They Are at a Breaking Point
While Imam Mahmoud Gomaa, appointed to keep the peace between two faiths, blames journalists for exaggerating the problem, a local bishop says, “We are at a breaking point.”
CHR Comment: The article describes the continued atmosphere of persecution in Egypt. Copts in America want to demonstrate about the situation but Copts in Egypt are afraid of reprisals. This illustrates the sense of intimidation they are experiencing. Muslim rule has at times presented an atmosphere of peace while having strict rules that prevent Christian communities from growth and freedom. (E. g., not allowing the building or repair of churches, conversions to Christianity, etc.)
Source: Egypt’s Christians Say They Are at a ‘Breaking Point’ – The New York Times
Solomonic Palace at Gezer?
Solid evidence has once again been unearthed proving that passages from the Bible were based on actual historical events.
CHR Comment: Steve Ortiz, from the Tandy Museum of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary of Fort Worth, Texas is director of the excavation. The interpretation provided in the article will likely be disputed by other archaeologists.
church history review 