Scrolling around...July 19, 2013

Roman Catholics in decline in Brazil, Protestants on the rise
A new report from the Pew Research Center has revealed Brazil's changing religious landscape.

America's Most Saintly City Is New York?
New York City is far from America's so-called "Bible Belt," but a new list argues the Big Apple is still the nation's "most saintly" city.

According to real estate blog Movoto, NYC handily beats out Colorado Springs (among other cities in Colorado, California, and Arizona) to claim the title.

 

Movoto's list stands in stark contrast to Barna Group's list of "most Bible-minded" cities and Gallup's list of "most religious" cities, which CT reported earlier this year....

Church in the Metropolis
It seems that denominationalism has had its day. A 2009 Barna survey found that denominational commitments have gone squishy in mainline Protestant churches, and Evangelicals don’t fare much better than the rest. After a similar survey, Ron Sellers of what was then Ellison Research said that Protestants are as “loyal to their denominations as they are to their toothpaste.”

Denominationalism may recover, but its diseases look terminal. This toothpaste isn’t ready to return to the tube.

Like most everything, this development has its pluses and minuses. Denominations were born of a catholic spirit. They enabled believers to maintain their distinctive beliefs without de-churching the rest of the Christian world. It would be tragic if the decline of denominations left the church less catholic. Plus, without thick denominational loyalties, Christians abandon their churches at the first shimmy of trouble. Once upon a time, Anglicans stuck it out because even an incompetent pastor and an ugly carpet were preferable to joining the Lutherans. Today Lutheranism is a live option. And the Barna survey found that low denominational loyalty often expressed a weak adherence to Christianity itself. Slightly less than half of the respondents were “absolutely” committed to Christianity, and most might be enticed to explore other religions...

First New England, Then the Nation: The Spread of Physician-Assisted Suicide
On May 20, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed “The Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act,” legalizing physician-assisted suicide (PAS) throughout the state. This event matters not only because this law governs life and death, but also because Vermont is the first state to sanction PAS through the legislative process, via the votes of elected representatives. The law also represents the spread of PAS from the West Coast to the opposite side of the United States.

While neither of these characteristics may alarm right-to-life and disability rights advocates (who perhaps are concerned solely for the people of Vermont), policy scholars know that both of these attributes greatly enhance PAS proponents’ ability to spread the scourge of voluntary euthanasia throughout New England and eventually nationwide...

Noonan: A Bombshell in the IRS Scandal
...The IRS scandal was connected this week not just to the Washington office—that had been established—but to the office of the chief counsel.

That is a bombshell—such a big one that it managed to emerge in spite of an unfocused, frequently off-point congressional hearing in which some members seemed to have accidentally woken up in the middle of a committee room, some seemed unaware of the implications of what their investigators had uncovered, one pretended that the investigation should end if IRS workers couldn't say the president had personally called and told them to harass his foes, and one seemed to be holding a filibuster on Pakistan...

So You Want To Sin, Do You?
 I get that. I’ve been there. I've been there today. And yesterday. And the day before. Can I beg just four or five minutes of your time? Then you can go and sin all you want. But first I want you to read just a few words and take a moment to consider them.

Consider, Christian, that Christ came from his Father’s side, where he had existed eternally, to this world of sorrow and death; that God himself was manifested in the flesh, the Creator made a creature; that he who was clothed with glory would now be clothed with mortal flesh; he who filled heaven and earth with his glory would be cradled in a manger; that the almighty God would flee from weak man—the God of Israel escaping into Egypt; that the God of the law would become subject to the law, the God of the circumcision circumcised, the God who made the heavens and earth laboring with Joseph as a small-town carpenter... image

Eric Metaxas and Tim Keller helped lead Kirsten Powers to Christianity
New York City is not known as the mecca of Christianity, but nationally-known journalist Kirsten Powers who was not a believer discovered that God can use the influence of only two or three people among millions to change a person's life, according to comments she made in an interview with Focus On The Family today, Thursday, July 17.  
 [I actually found this from April 19, 2013 broadcast Focus On the Family here]

"The people I know around here (New York) don't do daily Bible readings. This isn't like the South," she said.

With bestselling Christian author Eric Metaxas and respected pastor Tim Keller in the neighborhood there is always a chance a person in a secular environment can become a believer. In Kirsten's case, it was a chance invitation from a friend of Eric Metaxas to her to attend a service at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York, that caused her to see the world in a whole different light.

Well-know pastor Tim Keller's powerful sermons over a two-year period persuaded Kirsten that history and logic were powerful evidence that Jesus Christ is who He said He is. The daughter of atheist parents, she didn't have a strong theological background and didn't know what to do with her newfound faith...

'The Bible' Miniseries Earns Emmy Nomination; Roma Downey Calls It a 'Blessing'
"The Bible" miniseries has been nominated for an Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Miniseries or Movie" category, it was announced Thursday morning.

History Channel's biblical miniseries will be competing with five other programs for the category's top spot, including FX Network's "American Horror Story: Asylum," HBO's "Behind the Candelabra," HBO's "Phil Spector," USA's "Political Animals" and Sundance Channel's "Top of the Lake."

The show, which was produced by husband and wife team Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, has also been nominated for "Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special" and "Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie" for its premiere episode, "Beginnings."...

Top 17 Most Outrageous Pro-“Choice” Signs During Texas’ Abortion Debate