Category Archives: Today’s News

Acton Institute: Abraham Kuyper on The Separation of Church and Art

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From the Summer 2011 Issue of Religion & Liberty:

Artistic genius and nobility of soul are not mutually exclusive, and wherever artistic genius may dwell within a noble soul, how could the artistic eye be closed to the entirely singular exaltedness that focuses on the name of Christ? Why should an image, an embroidered scene, an oratorio, or a hymn be produced only for ecclesiastical use in order to inspire the gifted creator of these artifacts with sacred passion? Art also enjoys its lower and higher spheres of development, and how could it be any other way than that in its higher spheres art must ascend to the sublime, and in that sublimity, it automatically encounters the wonders of religion, incorporates them, and reproduces them in artistic form?

Read the entire piece.

SCOTUS to hear important case on Religious Freedom today

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Today (October 5, 2011), the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a very important case concerning religious freedom. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC has to do with which employees of a church-run school count as ministers and, thus, whose employment status lies within the sphere of that church’s autonomy.

From the Heritage WebMemo:

What is religious liberty, and who is it for? The answer to those questions depends in part on our notion of religion itself.

Does religion have to do merely with doctrines and beliefs, or does it also concern the application of those beliefs? Is it something only to be preached about and celebrated in seminaries and worship services, or is it something to be practiced in daily life and work? Is religion solely private, or does it also take public form?

Our assumptions about the nature of religion—whether it is purely a private matter or is to be practiced in daily life—affect which people and institutions are considered “religious.” This, in turn, shapes views about what religious freedom protects and who should enjoy that protection.

Should religious freedom extend only to a small subset of the population—for example, to churches and monasteries, priests and nuns? Or should it apply to a broader range of groups and citizens, including schools, hospitals, and nonprofits as well as teachers, secretaries, doctors, therapists, and directors of charities?

The Durbin Debit Card Tax

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The old joke, “I’m from the Government and I’m here to help” comes to mind with Bank of America’s recent decision to begin charging its customers $5.00 a month for using their debit cards for merchant transactions. The initial reaction is to make a pile on BOA, but Mike Brownfield at the Foundry.org traces the source of the problem (and it’s a BIG problem) to Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) amendment to last year’s Dodd-Frank Wall Street financial reform bill.

Your gay neighbors aren’t a normal family

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Mark Bidwell, until last Sunday, was the “pastor” of the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit, a “church” in Ferndale, Michigan which – according to the Detroit Free Press – is “tailored for gay, lesbian, transgender and transsexual worshipers.”

Why has Mark Bidwell resigned his position as pastor of the church? Why did the Ferndale Police Department relieve Bidwell of his position as a volunteer chaplain?

As reported by the Detroit Free Press, on September 20 the 52 year old pastor found a gay lover online and invited him to his home for sex. Later that same evening the two men invited another man to join them for sex. Imagine the media response if Bidwell were the straight pastor of an evangelical church in the same scenario. However, it isn’t the sex scandal that the media cares about in Bidwell’s case, because in the homosexual community, sex with multiple partners at the same time isn’t scandalous. It’s the routine.

What has shocked the media, as well as community leaders in Oakland County and Ferndale, is not the illicit sex with multiple partners. It’s that Bidwell’s sex partner dosed them both with Crystal Meth. Bidwell’s partner later died at Beaumont Hospital.  And even though Crystal Meth is an illegal substance, amazingly law enforcement authorities can find no reason to charge Bidwell with a crime.

Homosexual activists want you and me to believe that “gay partners” are just normal family-types who want to raise children and be good neighbors. That’s a lie. Mark Bidwell’s story is closer to the reality of the gay lifestyle. Your gay neighbors are not the modern version of Ward and June Clever. They are caught up in a lifestyle driven by sexual abberation that can only be overcome by the gospel. Mark Bidwell’s problem is your problem: sin. Therapy won’t solve this problem. It took the incarnation of the Son of God, His sinless life in perfect obedience to His Father’s will, and his penal, substitutionary death on the cross to overcome the power of sin and death.

Affirming the illicit behavior of gay men in the name of love and acceptance is the cruelest form of love. It’s dishonest. The tragic story of Mark Bidwell shouts that truth loud and clear.