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 may not…

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 rationalize torture than…

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 wider moral agenda…

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 of…

Two weeks ago the American Religious Identification Survey [ARIS] released its findings and announced that “secular” Americans now account for 15 percent of the population. That is up from 8 percent in 1990 and just 2 percent in 1962. Among the young the trend is even higher. Only 25 percent of people between 21 and 45 years old regularly attend church. Who is responsible for this dramatic downturn in commitment to church attendance? According to Al Mohler there are two culprits: the government and single adults.

In a blog post from March 19, Al Mohler discusses a column in The Wall Street Journal by W. Bradford Wilcox who believes “the expansion of the government sector to offer cradle-to-grave social services contributes to the secularization of society.” According to Wilcox, and Mohler…

It is an honour to be here. A particular honour to be with you Mr. President. The world participated in the celebration of your election. Now the hard work begins. And now, also we should be as steadfast for you in the hard work as in the celebration. You don’t need cheerleaders but partners; not spectators but supporters. The truest friends are those still around when the going is toughest. We offer you our friendship today. We will work with you to make your Presidency one that shapes our destiny to the credit of America and of the world. Mr President, we salute you and wish you well.

And great news about your blackberry. I had the opposite problem. I got my first mobile phone the day after I…

‘Tis the season for giving…or not. Contrary to what many believe, it turns out that conservatives and not liberals are the most charitable givers. Nicholas Kristof at The New York Times has a really great op-ed on the subject. Here are a few surprising results from the research.

1. Red states are most likely to give to non-profits, and states in the Northeast are the least likely.

2. European countries give more humanitarian aid per capita than America, but they don’t give as much individually.

3. The least charitable are the French.

4. Gays are one of the most charitable groups in the US.

5. Some of the stingiest in the US are secular conservatives. (I guess they don’t love God or their neighbor.)

6. “If donations to all religious organizations are excluded, liberals give…