What does Henry Kissinger mean by “the messianic aspect of the Iranian regime”?
The legacy of the hostage crisis, the decades of isolation and the messianic aspect of the Iranian regime represent huge obstacles to such a diplomacy. If Tehran insists on combining the Persian imperial tradition with contemporary Islamic fervor, then a collision with America […]

Jim Wallis in his book God Politics elevates national and global material poverty as one of the central issues that Christians should be forming their political philosophy and activism around.  BlueChristians like to emphasize the number of verses in the Bible that mention the poor as proof of this conviction (especially focusing on the prophets), although context, not just the number of verses, […]

Today RedBlueChristian completes its second week online.  By my count, 114 posts have been published so far (this one makes 115).  By the end of today, we will average close to 9 posts/day. 
I surveyed the topics and “leanings” (red?, blue?) of our first 100+ posts.  Obviously such an analysis is subjective.  Nevertheless, by my estimation, 37 of […]

What do you think of the Christian Pragmatic Progessive Party Platform?
Just a thought.  It would be interesting to create an online forum of somekind in order to write a RedBlueChristian Party Platform.   
 
 

Should politicians who are active in a campaign be allowed to speak in churches?   I personally do not think they should be allowed in the worship services.  I do, however, think it is appropriate, if not responsible, for churches to conduct educational forums with opposing candidates. 

Christianity Today “BOOKS” article reports on two who say we were!
The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government, according to a book to be released later this month by Westminster John Knox Press—a division of the denominational publisher for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Christian Faith and the Truth Behind […]

dcypl left a comment in my ALLY OF NEITHER post giving an Australian Christian’s point of view. I’ve been hoping that visitors to this site would come from points beyond the United States in that I’m interested in their take on the various issues discussed here.
Considering the various actions of the U.S. at home and […]

A few days ago Newsweek published an interview with Tim LaHaye asking him to comment on the question “Are we in the end times?” (Dr. Jackson noted this interview over at SmartChristian). CNN recently did a similar story on air with both LaHaye and co-author Jerry Jenkins.
I’m less interested in the interviews themselves than in […]

Article: Are Conservative Christians Being Bought Off?

Barry Lynn’s book Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom will soon be released in which he explains why the Religious Right’s dream for America is a nightmare.
Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and a Christian minister, deplores Religious Right attempts to demolish the wall between church and state. […]

Over at Mere Comments, Russell D. Moore writes on the happenings at Greg Boyd’s church in St. Paul (also linked to by John Gillmartin). Moore states,
…the seeming political isolationists on the evangelical left and the postmodern ooze are hardly apolitical. They constantly call the church to a Kingdom view of sustainability or opposition to global […]

I have, at least for today, decided to consider for the first time in my Christian life that maybe, just maybe, it might be necessary to develop a political philosophy. I come to this task with the fear that I could become something that I despise and that something is becoming a partisan. From my perspective there […]

Interesting article on how religion is playing an ever greater role in democratic governments. Instead of democracy destroying religion, religion keep winning. Especially when you look at groups such as Hamas that were elected:
The spread of democracy, far from checking the power of militant religious activists, will probably only enhance the reach of […]

Michael Gerson, the recently resigned Bush speechwriter and adviser, talks with Christianity Today about how Evangelicals should engage themselves in the public square.  
He is accused of sounding a lot like Jim Wallis.

The prevailing sentiment I detect regarding the war in Lebanon among the Christians in my congregation and community is frustration.

There’s frustration that groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as countries like Syria and Iran are unwilling to accept compromises, democracy, or peace
There’s frustration that Hezbollah began this latest war
There’s frustration with Israel, which they […]

Church Shrinks from Controversial Pastor’s Focus on Things Above
From this morning’s NYTimes …
Like most pastors who lead thriving evangelical megachurches, the Rev. Gregory A. Boyd was asked frequently to give his blessing — and the church’s — to conservative political candidates and causes. […]
After refusing each time, Mr. Boyd finally became […]

Iv’e brought up free speech issues before. This one is particularly over the top. Photographer Jill Greenberg intentionally makes chidren cry then takes photos and gives them provocative titles. Her main ire is against the conservatives. In my opinion, this is abusive. Here is a link to the photos. Am I wrong, or is this […]

U.N. Panel Takes U.S. to Task Over Katrina
Under the circumstances (i.e., the present membership of this UN committee) can this be taken seriously? Isn’t this really a case of the pot is calling the skillet black?
Looking around the world today can one ignore the human rights abuses of China, Viet Nam, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, […]

Posted in the: It might happen here someday too department.
A Canadian professor has been fined two weeks pay by a Nova Scotia university for telling a student that homosexuality is an unnatural lifestyle. But despite the disciplinary measures imposed against the educator, he says he refuses to succumb to the administration’s “intimidation.”Cape Breton University (CBU) […]

Following the defeat and scandals surrounding Ralph Reed, many are saying that the strength and heyday of RedChristians in the public square are over.  
I personally believe that the public influence of RedChristians and BlueChristians are more embodied in activist organizations than in individual Christian politicians.  What are your thoughts?

Steve Kangas publishes a website called Liberalism Resurgent, among which one can find the expostulation that the New Testament is liberal and the Old Testament is conservative:
The New Testament is a liberal’s paradise; almost every principle espoused in it is one that liberals — not conservatives — espouse today. (The only exceptions are its pronouncements […]

In recent decades the phrase “cycle of violence” has become popular among academics and politically active celebrities. These words are typically employed when speaking about groups that blow up wedding parties and behead civilian hostages. By contrast, in these same intellectual circles the term “evil” is reserved for corporate executives and Presidents of the wrong […]

After struggling to define a post-911 foreign policy strategy, Dems have hit on one
Peter Beinart, of the New Republic and author of The Good Fight, believes he’s discovered the Democratic party’s national security strategy for the 2006 elections.
In reporting on his “eureka,” Beinart makes the following claim:
The Democratic Party’s single biggest foreign policy liability is […]

Here’s how Ed Peck, chief of the U.S. mission to Iraq under Jimmy Carter, and deputy director of the cabinet task force on terrorism under Ronald Reagan, answered the question: But Mr. Ambassador, do you believe that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization?
Well, a terrorist organization is in the eye of the beholder. (emphasis added)
Watch the […]

Religious apartheid in Europe?
A EUROPE DIVIDED INTO MUSLIM / NON MUSLIM AREAS MAY BE THE ONLY ANSWER The director of the group Jihad Watch says things have gotten so bad in Europe that the only solution to the Islamic problem might be to divide the continent into Muslim and non-Muslim enclaves.
Much has been made of […]

Ann Coulter is interviewed at BeliefNet.  The title tells it all: Church Militant: Ann Coulter on God, Faith, and Liberals.  The subtitle takes us further to the edge: The conservative pundit explains why liberals are “godless” and why she considers herself a good Christian. 
I just finished Ann’s book Godless, and although she is a very good writer, I […]

I mentioned in the comments of a post below my admiration of Ole Anthony who, like Jim Wallis, gave his whole life to ministry in communal living. Anthony, possibly better known as the publisher of The (Wittenburg) Door Christian satire magazine, also is founder and head of the Trinity Foundation. The non-profit Trinity Foundation buys […]

I think so. Do you agree?

A Theistic Evolutionist Turns Off the Light
Dr. Russell D. Moore at Carl F. H. Henry Institute for Evangelical Engagement has a fascinating, but sad, post up in today’s “Moore to the Point.”
Howard J. Van Till of Calvin College is the most lauded and prolific defender of theistic evolution among American evangelicals. […]

Van Till has long […]

In the shadow of Seattle’s Mt. Rainer on vacation, I just started reading Jim Wallis’ God’s Politics.  Right away, I began to feel Jim just wasn’t being honest and straight-forward.  In the first chapter, he argues that he is a true RedBlueChristian.  The subtitle states it all, Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It.  It all […]

Over at the dark christian, a very blue christian site, they are commenting on these quotes from the red side of the christian world. I have to admit they are powerful in a negative way. The red-blue divide is so polarized they have a struggle even talking to each other. The extreme of […]

See here.

I’ve yet to meet a politically conservative Christian who is in favor of a theocratic form of government. “The government we have now is sufficient,” is the answer I always receive. “All politically conservative Christians are doing is voting their conscience, as it is informed by the Bible,” is a popular refrain.
I’ve also never met […]

James Kushiner, at Mere Comments, links us to Religion Without Foundations: The split in the mainline denominations is about more than politics, an article by Jim Tonkowich at the Weekly Standard.
An excerpt,
The left–also known as progressives, liberals, revisionists, and (in some circles) heretics–base their convictions on individualism, subjectivity, and majority vote with passing references to Scripture […]

Thought provoking article from an Australian perspective:
The Rev Franklin Graham, son of the famous evangelist Billy Graham, is on record saying about Islam ‘I believe it is a very evil and wicked religion’. More extreme still, past president of the Southern Baptist Convention in the US, the Rev Jerry Vines, is on record saying that […]

The American Spectator has an interesting and topic relevant article called The Liberal Jesus.
A plethora of new books is poring out explaining why Jesus is not a Republican. Supposedly millions of conservatives believe that the Savior does have a political registration. So liberal theologians and activists are rushing to the barricades to correct the record.

Great article by Ross Douthat on the spate of books predicting an emerging reconstructionist theocracy that is about to overtake the US. And here I thought the 10 commandments were being pulled out of public areas:
__
This is a paranoid moment in American politics. A host of conspiracies haunt our national imagination, and apparent incompetence is […]

Kevin Bussey, at Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee, posts on the drought in Texas this year. His focus isn’t on the need for rain, everyone already knows they need rain. His focus is on the decisions public officials in his area have made …
The City Council and the Lubbock County commissioners are expected to adopt […]

Although the United Nations sounds good, and the ideal is certainly one to be pursued.  However, in the real world, many are convinced that the United Nations actually divides and does more harm than good.  For example, the liberal Alan Dershowitz makes this point in his article How the United Nation Legitimizes Terrorists.
Well, should Christians support […]

Check out D. James Kennedy’s One Nation Under God site. 

Here’s an interesting essay on Abraham Kuyper, Calvinist, theologian, and former Dutch Prime Minister.
Declaring conservatism dead and liberalism dying, Kuyper sought to re-create a Christian perspective on politics and society that would form the basis for Christian social action. This he […]

This is no less bothersome to me than was the rise of the Christian Right, which took off in the late-70s and remains a potent force in Republican politics.
Both the Christian Right and Left risk subordination of the Gospel to political -isms and get the Church off-message. (Here’s a succinct statement of what that message […]

Macht, over at Prosthesis, delivers a smackdown on bad embryonic stem cell arguments. An excerpt,
For the ESCR opponent, the ethical question then isn’t “Should we throw out these embryos and let them go to waste or use them for something good?” If this were the dilemma, this might be a good argument. Rather the ethical […]

“I don’t think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men.” [Jan Egeland - UN Humanitarian chief]
This is an extremely condeming observation by a high ranking UN official; and it’s about time someone pointed out the obvious.
What are the chances he’ll still have his position this time next […]

So said the new Archbishop of Washington, DC, following a Sunday Mass for peace in Lebanon over which he presided.
The Washington Post reports:
The noon Mass, held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast Washington, was in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s call on Friday for Catholics around the world […]

In Springfield, MO, the thermometer topped 105 degrees Farenheit for five days between July 12th and July 18th, with the hottest day coming in at 113 F.
Is this evidence that Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth is… true? Hardly. The five days in July were 52 years ago in July of 1954! Evidently, that was quite a heat wave.
Regardless […]

I confess, that if you had to label me, I would be a Red Christian. I am very conservative on social issues like abortion and gay marriage. However, I detest the fact that in American life, there are only two parties. While I could not see myself voting Democrat because of their platform on social issues, […]

Kingdom Now, But Theocracy, Not Yet is an interesting article you might be interested in.
What are your thoughts? 
 

Recommended book:  Robert Clouse’s War: Four Christian Views. 

The church in America, I believe, is in crisis. The last twenty years of seeker sensitive tactics for evangelism and similar church service methods has only exasperated the already apparent shallowness and superficial spiritual life of the American Christian. One area where the lack of spiritual wisdom and shallow discipleship has expressed itself much to […]