An interesting debate has been started on the Jackson Sun website. The newspaper’s editorial page editor, Tom Bohs, wrote a column asking why so many conservative Christians are opposed to health care reform. He writes:

There are plenty of people who are perfectly happy with the system we have. Their argument is: Why tamper with a system that 80 percent of the people find adequate? It’s a good question. The answer is: You wouldn’t tamper with it unless you care about what happens to the other 20 percent of the people. So we are back to our basic moral dilemma. Should American citizens be entitled to adequate health care coverage with the cost borne by all?

It is interesting to me that the one group we have heard

…

The Olympics are about athletics, competition, and the power of sport to draw the nations of the world together. It’s also about politics. Would Los Angeles have gotten the Summer Games in 1984 if Moscow hadn’t hosted them in 1980? Would Beijing have hosted the games in 2008 if China wasn’t the fastest growing economy on the planet? Do you think Atlanta’s bid in 1996 was helped at all by the fact that it’s Coca-Cola’s world headquarters-one of the Olympics largest corporate sponsors?In its less celebrated moments, the International Olympic Committee has been accused of allowing political and economic influence determine its choice of host cities. Although it has sought to clean up its act, if you think the IOC is now completely incorruptible I’ve…

Ross Douthat has an insightful op-ed in The New York Times comparing Ted Kennedy with his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. The two died just 13 days apart, and they shared many other traits. Both were devout Roman Catholics and political liberals. But they differed on one significant point-abortion.

The op-ed shows how Eunice’s faith led her to value all human life. This fueled her care for the mentally retarded and the founding of the Special Olympics. It also led her to fight with the Democratic Party as it moved full-speed toward abortion rights.

In contrast, Douthat traces Ted Kennedy’s movement away from a pro-life position toward the staunch defender of choice he became:

In 1971, in a letter to a voter that abortion opponents

…

Next month I will be participating on a panel with a Jewish rabbi, a secular humanist, a Muslim, and a Buddhist. The event is part of the Interfaith Youth Core’s “Leadership for a Religiously Diverse World” conference. For most of my life I have been very comfortable in interfaith settings. In college I even majored in comparative religion and greatly appreciated my interactions with people holding other worldviews and theologies. In general I am very supportive of Christians learning about other faiths with the goal of fostering respect and understanding.But last week a judge in Quebec has pushed the value of interfaith education to a new degree, and I’m curious to hear what you think.

Here’s the scoop. Last year schools in Quebec introduced a new…

Okay, I’m taking the bait and entering into the traitorous waters of the health care reform debate. To be upfront, I have no strong opinion on the details of the legislation being considered. Like many other Americans, I believe the system is broken and needs reform. However I remain skeptical about the best way to improve it.There is one aspect of the debate that has finally motivated me to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard. That is the general response from pro-life Christians who are adamantly opposed to government involvement in any new health care program.An article in USA Today reports that a newly formed organization of conservative Christians called the Freedom Federation has great fears that any government run healthcare system would use

…

Last year during the presidential campaign, an interesting trend was observed. The Christian segment of the population once believed to be a monolithic voting block turned out to have more diversity of thought and opinion than previously believed. The hold of the Religious Right, Christian Coalition, and other GOP-leaning groups over the evangelical brand started to loosen.What emerged was a new, generally younger, more urban, and less politically idealistic group of Christian voters. Michael Lindsay, author of Faith in the Halls of Power, refers to them as “Cosmopolitan Evangelicals.” According to Lindsay they have the following characteristics:● They reject signifiers of “populist” Christianity such as the Left Behind books and Thomas Kinkaide paintings.● They are less involved in local churches, but highly involved with parachurch organizations.● They

…

A political dissident is arrested for leading a movement that threatens the stability of a region. He is ambushed and apprehended by his enemies, detained without a public trail, and tortured by soldiers at the command of their political leaders.

No, I’m not describing Kalid Sheikh Mohammad or any other detainee held at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I’m speaking of Jesus of Nazareth. The fact that Christians draw their faith, life, and identity from a Messiah who was the victim of political torture seems ironic in light of new research by the Pew Forum that indicates 62 percent of white evangelicals believe torture of suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. The research shows that people who attend church regularly were more likely to…

It’s not easy being green…especially if you’re an evangelical.

Richard Cizik was ousted from the leadership of the National Association of Evangelicals for his vocal support of environmental efforts, what many Christians call “creation care.” Now Cizik finds himself a very popular figure being invited to many conferences and speaking to the younger generation of Christians who take environmental issues like global warming very seriously.

But does Cizik’s departure from the NAE represent the failure or the future of evangelicalism?

There is a battle going on to define 21st century Christianity in North America. Will it continue to be a block whose moral agenda is limited to issued related to sexual/reproductive ethics: abortion, same-sex marriage, and the preservation fo the Western nuclear family? Or will evangelicals embrace a…

News sites have been buzzing with the results of a Pew survey finding that those who attend church most regularly are also the most likely to say torture of terrorist suspects is “sometimes” or “often” justified. My colleague at Christianity Today, David Neff, has a well written post on the CT blog analyzing the data. Here’s an excerpt:

As more and more details have emerged about U.S. government use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (which our own government has called “torture” at other times), the debate has been shaped by the questions, “Does it work?” and “Did it work?” In my opinion, the picture emerging from the evidence suggests that not enough attention was paid to what we did know about effective interrogation before we rushed into the use…