“We don’t do God,” his spokesman, Alastair Campbell, insisted while he was Prime Minister. But since leaving office, Tony Blair has converted to Roman Catholicism, launched a faith foundation and yesterday gave his strongest endorsement of the church yet. Speaking at a conference in London organised by the Holy Trinity Brompton Church, Mr Blair warned…
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The Middle East is known to be the both the birthplace of Christianity and the current home to some of the world’s most ancient Christian communities. But Christianity’s rich history in this region is not enough to secure its future. In the past decades, a combination of low birth rates, extensive emigration and growing persecution…
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The global 12 million member United Methodist Church, now likely the world’s 9th largest communion, is no longer a predominantly liberal U.S. denomination. Its quadrennial governing General Conference, which met for 10 days in Tampa ending May 4, refused to alter the church’s official disapproval of homosexual practice. Some news stories huffed disapproval and surprise.…
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The U.S. military taught its future leaders that a “total war” against the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims would be necessary to protect America from Islamic terrorists, according to documents obtained by Danger Room. Among the options considered for that conflict: using the lessons of “Hiroshima” to wipe out whole cities at once, targeting the “civilian…
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has spent much of his career praising the socialist ideas of famed atheists such as Karl Marx and Fidel Castro. Now in the thick of a prolonged battle against cancer, however, the leftist leader is drawing inspiration more than ever from a spiritual leader: Jesus Christ. Chavez has been praying for…
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Now backed by a parliamentary supermajority, Benjamin Netanyahu has tremendous room to maneuver on Israel’s most pressing issues: peace with the Palestinians, possible war with Iran, and the growing rift at home between religious and secular Jews. The stunning partnership with the opposition Kadima party, announced overnight Tuesday just as the nation was expecting him…
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As some totalitarian-minded governments escalate their attacks on parental rights and homeschooling, the Vatican’s delegation to the United Nations called on the world to respect families, the rights of parents to direct the upbringing of their children, and non-governmental forms of education. The Holy See’s representatives also called on governments last week to stop indoctrinating…
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Why do you want to fight in the war? The blunt question sprang suddenly into Jasmin’s mind, surprising the spiritually seeking Croatian soldier with its clarity. It happened in 1991, at the start of the war in the former Yugoslavia. He responded, “I want to fight for good, to defend my country. I want to…
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I’ve read more than once the claim that most early Christians were universalists. And this is occasionally supported by the further opinion that several early (first six centuries) theological schools were universalist in their teaching. This seems implausible to me. However, I’m certainly not someone who is a student of the history of the early…
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Many Jewish voters this November will find themselves at a crossroads: Will they accept their deep disappointment with Barack Obama and vote for his reelection, or will they overcome their own discomfort with Christian evangelicals and vote for the Republican candidate? The irrepressible argument about the appropriate relationship between the Jewish community and Christian conservatives…
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