Religion | Ain't Complicated

Freer Again?

This sounds like good news from Kazakhstan:

According to the Constitutional Council (CC), the amendments to the religion law, passed by the Kazakhstan Parliament in late 2008, are in conflict with the country’s Constitution, CC chairman Igor Rogov said.

[…]

The bill passed by the parliament involved, in particular, changes and amendments to the section of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which imposed liability for violating the law on the freedom of religion and religious associations.

It also suggested detailed regulation of religious groups.

A Different Mumbai Story

The Times of India reports: Four hurt as mob disrupts baptism

MUMBAI: At least four persons were injured in an attack on the Christian community at Gangapur dam near Nashik on Monday.

The incident occurred when members of Navjivan Fellowship Church were conducting a baptism ceremony at the dam. A group of 10 to 12 unidentified men, armed with sticks and cricket stumps, disrupted the ceremony and roughed up those present at the event. “They did not even spare women and children as the rampage continued for over one hour. The attack was so meticulously planned that the group did not leave behind a single clue, which could help ascertain their identity,’’ said Winston Daniel, who was injured in the head during the assault.

An hour?

Did these Christians not defend themselves?

Christians Adrift

This is not the faith of our fathers!

Half of Americans who call themselves “Christian” don’t believe Satan exists and fully one-third are confident that Jesus sinned while on Earth, according to a new Barna Group poll.

Another 40 percent say they do not have a responsibility to share their Christian faith with others, and 25 percent “dismiss the idea that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches,” the organization reports.

Pollster George Barna said the results have huge implications.

“Americans are increasingly comfortable picking and choosing what they deem to be helpful and accurate theological views and have become comfortable discarding the rest of the teachings in the Bible,” he said.

[…]

By a margin of 71 percent to 26 percent adults “noted that they are personally more likely to develop their own set of religious beliefs than to accept a comprehensive set of beliefs taught by a particular church,” the report said.

Nearly two-thirds of “born again Christians” adopted that stance.

Revive us again!

And what are we — what am I — to do about it?

Shall I truly give up in passing the faith along Read it all

Another Orissa Update

I know I’m blogging here only once a week now!

But it seems urgent I remind us of Orissa.

Orissa: insecurity and hatred await Christians forced out of refugee camps

There is no sign that the long journey of suffering by Orissa’s Christian community is anywhere near its end. The government has decided to shut down refugee camps and force Christians to leave but no one is providing them with any guarantee as to their security against further violence once back home; instead, they are still the object of hatred and rejection.

[…]

“Christians in Kandhamal are treated like animals. They live in fear and cannot find shelter, anywhere. They cannot live in dignity. The money they got [from the government] is not enough to buy food; their fields lie abandoned, burnt; their homes all but destroyed.”

Christians Without Borders

I don’t usually read Covenant News but the above headline caught my attention. Here you have the opening and closing paragraphs, with my own title borrowed from the body:

Our Banner, Our Emblem, Our Flag of Allegiance

The relationship between church and state continues to be a subject of great interest and importance to me, particularly the dangers of statism and its inevitable by-product, nation-worship. For example, I think the flying of the American flag in our churches is a bad idea. In my opinion, it sends all the wrong messages. For one thing, it confuses the kingdom of God with the kingdom of man. We wonder, “Where does America stop and Christianity begin?” For another thing, Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world. It transcends tribe and nationality. And it is God’s primary agent of activity in the world. Because of this, the nation-state is always seeking to usurp Christ’s kingdom authority. Allegiance to the nation replaces (or at least actively competes with) allegiance to Christ.

[…]

There is reason for thinking that if Christians could look, not at their own country, but at a man – the God-Man whose kingdom unites people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation – there would be no need for displays of national patriotism in their churches. By its very nature, the church is different from any other society on earth. And the cross, not the flag, is the point of intersection between the church and the world. The cross of Jesus Christ is the secret of being in the world without being of it. It is the source of freedom for us to be given to the world as broken bread and poured-out wine. It is our banner, our emblem, our flag of allegiance. Let us fly it high!

Here is some further reading from one of my own sites:

God Loves Muslims

Floyd McClung writes:

How would Jesus respond to Muslims? We know how. He would treat them like he treated the Samaritan woman at the well, the Roman centurion who came to Him for help, and the tax collectors and prostitutes. Jesus would treat Muslims like he treated Simon the Zealot – the Zealots were urban terrorists of the day – he would invite him to follow Him! Jesus would treat Muslims like he treats you and me. With love, respect, and huge compassion and amazing grace.

One of the greatest challenges we face as followers of Jesus in today’s world is how to respond to Muslims and violence in the Middle East. Some believers are fearful that Muslims are our enemy and are “out to destroy our way of life.”

Should we circle the wagons in alarm and fear? Should we warn everyone how bad Muslims are and alert people of their plots to “destroy our nation,” as one American believer said to me?

No fear! No hatred! No, none for us who follow Jesus. We have a calling from God to love Muslims. They are not our enemy. The real enemy wants us to see people as our enemy.

He’s right, of course.

But will the average Christian accept that?

Replacing the Irreplaceable

Here’s a piece of a piece at American Thinker:

We can replace almost anything in our lives — human organs, currency and credit, electronic records and documents – but ultimately these things do not define life.

What matters in life is the yearning of the human spirit for goodness and truth and the courage and grit to make that yearning into deeds and words that matter. Men who personify these values, unlike hearts and dollars, are irreplaceable. It is not they who have died: They are immortal. It is rather us who die each time one of these rare few leave this world. We have forgotten, in our busy rush to nowhere, how to replace the irreplaceable.

If they don’t make them like they used to, why not?

And who will?

Next, personalize the matter: “Am I rare or run-of-the-mill? Would I be placed in the irreplaceable category?”

How would you go about replacing the “irreplaceable”?