Religion & Faith

Nearly two million students are graduating from college this month.  Appropriately, Time has ranked its “Top 10 Commencement Speeches.” I’d like to explore some of them in light of Scripture.

The best, according to Time (and a variety of other sources) is David Foster Wallace‘s speech to Kenyon graduates in 2005.  He advises them to be “conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and choose how you construct meaning from experience.”  Note the relativism: “meaning” is what you “construct.”

Read the entire story at God’s advice for graduates on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

Daniel LaPlante is serving a life sentence in Massachusetts for murdering a teacher and drowning her two children.  Now he is suing the state’s Department of Corrections and a prison superintendent, claiming that he has been denied access to items he needs to practice his Wiccan faith.  The list of 121 items he has requested includes dragon’s blood, dandelion, carrot cake with frosting, and pens in seven different colors.

He also wants access to medallions such as “Thor’s Hammer” and “Phases of the Moon.”  Of course, taxpayers would foot the bill as prison authorities hunt down such esoteric items and provide them free of charge to LaPlante.  In addition, the prisoner wants outdoor space rather than the prison basement to perform Wiccan rituals, and a communal meal on feast days.

Do you sometimes wonder how far we should take religious freedom?

Read the entire story at Prisoner requests dragon’s blood for Wiccan faith on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

It was a scene from a horror movie.  Rain was blowing sideways, tornado warning sirens were blaring, and baseball-sized hailstones were falling.  And that was at our home, which turned out to be far from the danger zone.

You may have heard about the storms that attacked our part of the world Wednesday night.  Numerous deaths and extensive damage resulted from at least three tornadoes.  More than 250 people were evacuated from one neighborhood.  Global news sources from England and beyond have reported on the tragedy.

Read the entire story at Trusting God in the storm on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

Tim Tebow is America’s most famous unemployed athlete.  Since his release from the New York Jets, the Heisman Trophy winner has been without a team.  What are his plans?

Last week, during a speech at Lake Michigan College, the quarterback told the crowd how he sees his future: “What I want to do with my life is impacting lives.  When a kid in a hospital is fighting for his life and I’m trying to win a football game, what really matters?  This game isn’t as important as a lot of us make it out to be.  If I can give him a little bit of hope, I can do something that matters.  That’s what I want my legacy to be about.  That’s how I want to be remembered.”

Read the entire story at What Tim Tebow will do in the future on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

“Good Boy Scouts Don’t Need God,” declares the headline in USA Today.  According to the author, dropping the requirement that Scouts believe in God is “the right thing to do.”  He quotes the president of the Freethought Society, who “is leveraging the new focus on Boy Scout inclusion policies to prompt a fresh look at its ban on atheists.”  Now that Scouts will include gay members, she hopes atheists will be next in line.

This is not the first time pressure has been brought against the Scouts on behalf of atheists.  The Freedom From Religion Foundation has petitioned President Obama to advocate for atheist Scouts.  A California bill would remove the BSA’s tax exempt status so long as it maintains its position on faith in God.  An editorial in The Washington Post criticized the Scouts for their faith requirement.

Read the entire story at Boy Scouts being pressured to accept atheists on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

Last Friday, the Internal Revenue Service admitted that it unfairly targeted Tea Party tax exempt applications for additional scrutiny.  The IRS picked cases with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names for further review, a practice it now admits was “an error in judgment.”  Two staff members with the ACLU, not an organization known for right-wing sympathies, commented that “even the tea party deserves First Amendment protection.”

Now we’re learning that the list of criteria for additional scrutiny was not limited to the Tea Party.  Groups focused on government spending, government debt, taxes and education were also unfairly examined.  Even those focused on ways to “make America a better place to live” or criticizing “how the country is being run” were flagged.  It is noteworthy that groups with “progressive” in their name were not targeted similarly.

Read the entire story at IRS targeted conservative causes for scrutiny on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

You probably attended church services yesterday.  It’s possible that an atheist you know did as well, in a way.  The rise of “atheist churches” is an oxymoronic fact in our culture.

One of the fastest-growing is in London.  Its leader asks, “Why is it that people who are atheists get married in a church?”  He then answers his question: “There is just something about these places, it’s a place of worship, where people have gone for more than 400 years and it’s the sort of place where your heart can rise up to those inspired things which is great.”  Here’s my question: What “inspired things” can their hearts “rise up to” if the God who inspired them doesn’t exist?

Read the entire story at My questions about atheist churches on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

Syria continues to make headlines as its civil war escalates. The United Nations estimated in mid-February that 70,000 people had been killed in this conflict, now in its third year.  Last Friday and Saturday, strikes attributed to Israel reportedly targeted a research center near Damascus involved in creating chemical weapons, as well as an airport and Iranian-made ground-to-ground missiles bound for Hezbollah.

In the midst of this physical war, Syrian Christians are facing something much darker—a spiritual war.  Christians in Syria have historically experienced a higher degree of freedom than in most other Middle Eastern countries.  Many of them have refused to denounce the Assad regime, fearing that extremists would replace the government and severely persecute religious minorities.  As a result, many of the rebels consider Christians to be loyal to Assad.

Read the entire story at Three ways to help persecuted Christians in Syria on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

“With its mix of jealousy, religion, murder, and sex, the Jodi Arias case shows what happens when the justice system becomes entertainment.”  So reported one newspaper, which likened her trial to O. J. Simpson’s.  The HLN network aired a daily show covering the case, which was featured on 48 Hours Mystery, Inside Edition, and every major media outlet.

Yesterday afternoon, Jodi Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend, Travis Alexander.  Arias claimed that she acted in self-defense, but he was found shot in the forehead and stabbed nearly 30 times, with his throat slit from ear to ear.  My focus this morning is not in the morbid details of the trial, which you can find anywhere on the Internet.  Rather, I’m interested in the fact that we’re so interested.

Read the entire story at Jodi Arias convicted of first-degree murder on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture

“I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been missing for 10 years, and I’m, I’m here, I’m free now. . . . I’m Amanda Berry.  I’ve been on the news for the last 10 years.”  This 911 call set police in motion to free Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight, three women from the Cleveland area who were abducted in separate crimes between 2002 and 2004.

Amanda’s call wouldn’t have been possible without the help of a neighbor named Charles Ramsey.  He was in his home when he heard screaming coming from the nearby residence.  He later explained: “So I go over there . . . and I say, ‘Can I help?  What’s going on?  And she says, ‘I’ve been kidnapped, and I’ve been in this house a long time.  I want to leave right now.’”  After attempts to pry open the door failed, Ramsey kicked at it.  “Luckily . . . it was aluminum, it was cheap,” he said.  “And she climbed out . . . She went to my house, we called 911.”

Read the entire story at Kidnapped woman found alive 10 years later on the
Denison Forum on Truth and Culture