Theology in the News

A new study by the Southern Poverty Law Center describes a big rise in hate groups across the country.

By its count, there are now more than 1,000 active extremist groups in the U.S. Experts say the largest increase comes from militias that consider the federal government their enemy.

Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the law center, has been studying hate groups for a long time. But Potok says even he was surprised when he started counting extremists for his annual report.

“We have absolutely explosive growth of these groups in 2009,” Potok says. “And what we have now found is that that growth continued through 2010. We have a higher hate group count than we’ve ever had.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization that tracks extremist movements, says there are three major reasons for the increase: the bad economy, the wide reach of the Internet, and changing racial patterns in the country.

Experts say the most negative energy seems to be coming from people who think the federal government is conspiring to take away their freedom.

….continue reading

Hat-tip: Dr Jim West

Share this:

Telegraph:

Share this:

As if we didn’t already know, but it’s always nice to have a bit of research reinforce it

Marriage cheers you up, improves your diet and helps you live longer, researchers say.

It brings better mental and physical health, reducing the chance of premature death by 15 per cent, according to major studies in seven European countries.

And the longer a marriage lasts the more the rewards accumulate – the only catch being that the relationship has to be loving and supportive.

John Gallacher, a Cardiff University academic who reviewed the European studies, said the happily married were more likely to eat healthily, have more friends and take better care of each other.

‘Marriage and other forms of partnership can be placed along a sliding scale of commitment, with greater commitment conferring greater benefit,’ he added.

‘That marriage generally indicates a deeper commitment might explain why marriage is associated with better mental health outcomes than cohabiting. Cohabiting relationships tend to be less enduring. The most widely accepted explanation is that being in a committed relationship means better social support is available.

‘Commitment seems to provide networks of supportive and helpful relationships, beginning with the spouse or partner, leading to more healthy lifestyles and better emotional and physical health.’

The research findings were reviewed by Dr Gallacher and his doctor son David in an editorial for the British Medical Journal.

….continue reading

Share this:

Due to my educational background and personal interest, I will post from time to time on the intersection and convergence between psychology / psychiatry and societal trends, morals, ethics and theology.

The following piece of research reported in the Huffington Post is a prime example of this intersection / convergence, and is further proof that the devaluing of marriage, and our new social construct of – what I term as – “Disposable marriage”, has potentially severe repercussions on our children from a psychological vantage point.

Children with divorced parents are at an increased risk of suicidal thoughts, with boys especially vulnerable to the effects of marital breakups.

These new findings were revealed by the recent study, “Suicidal Ideation Among Individuals Whose Parents Have Divorced,” conducted by Esme Fuller-Thompson, a professor at the University of Toronto.

Using a sample of 6.647 adults, 695 of whose parents had divorced before they were 18, Fuller-Thompson found that men from divorced households were three times as likely to have seriously considered suicide, while women had an 83 percent higher chance of having done the same.

Even when Fuller-Thomson adjusted for additional factors like parental abuse and addiction, which often accompany divorce, men still had twice the likelihood of having had suicidal thoughts. These findings suggest that divorce can have seriously adverse effects on children. We asked Esme Fuller-Thompson to help illuminate her study and its implications.

…..continue reading

Share this:

I don’t mean to keep blogging on the issue of abortion, however, it seems to be a hot topic recently.

Saturday marked the 38th anniversary of the infamous Roe vs Wade legal case, in which a Supreme Court decision struck down laws across the nation protecting unborn children.

President Obama’s statement commemorating the anniversary has generally not been well received across the Christian blogosphere, and he’s been charged with uncritically praising the ruling.

Here’s what he said:

Today marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, and affirms a fundamental principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.

I am committed to protecting this constitutional right. I also remain committed to policies, initiatives, and programs that help prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant women and mothers, encourage healthy relationships, and promote adoption.

And on this anniversary, I hope that we will recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights, the same freedoms, and the same opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.

David over at Anglican Samizdat made these lucid and blunt observations:

Killing an unborn baby has nothing whatsoever to do with a person fulfilling his or her dreams: for sane married couples, having children is their dream and a career is the means of supporting the dream.

If killing an unborn child is a family matter upon which government should not intrude, infanticide would be too. Obviously this is rubbish since the government’s job is to restrain evil, particularly evil inflicted on the innocent and vulnerable.

Indeed.

The president made his statement as thousands of abortion opponents planned annual March for Life rallies, with many hoping that the new Republican-run U.S. House will enact new restrictions on the practice.

I was recently advised that there’s a subtle difference between “Pro-abortion” and “pro-choice” and as I’d never encountered this before, I asked for an explanation, and this was the response:

I don’t like abortion, but I don’t think anyone with any sense does. But given the heinous depravity of man, I don’t think it should be off the table as an option. I’m not for it, but I am for a woman’s right to make choices about her own body–choices that most people can never fathom, let alone fully comprehend.

That’s where my ambiguity lies. I definitely don’t think it’s a desirable alternative, and I definitely think that it destroys people in both a literal and figurative sense, but there are enough legitimate reasons for it to be available that ruling it out en globo is irrational.

And:

Stuart, there is a real difference between someone who says that laws shouldn’t be enforced in that arena and someone who says that abortion is good for the human race or who actually uses it as a form of birth control.

Is this a legitimate distinction for Christians?

Share this:

Fascinating:

Share this:

I want you to know that I thought long and hard before deciding to post on this.

This “Late-term” abortionist is charged by prosecutors with killing seven babies outside of the womb, born alive during the sixth, seventh and eighth month of pregnancy.

He is also charged with the death of a woman.

I’m not going to provide any other details except for a link to the Associated Press article, and I warn you in advance that this piece is graphic in description, and deeply upsetting and disturbing.

Associated Press Link

I will make one observation however, and that is to note the irony of the global outcry, disgust and criminal charges in response to this case, compared with when the baby still resides just six inches inside the womb.

Share this:

OK, I’m acutely aware that today in the US is Martin Luther King Day and I have a shameful confession to make, namely, I don’t know an awful lot about him.

This was aptly proved by my dismal performance on the Christian Science Monitor Quiz. I’m not telling you my score as I’ve already embarrassed myself enough.

What I do know is that he was an activist for racial equality and civil rights, an outstanding orator, a Christian, and a singularly brave man.

But that’s pretty much it. I excuse myself for being an Englishman rather than American, and I can’t be good at everything

So, two things. If you take the quiz, I’d love to know your score. And can you tell me anything more about Martin Luther King, so I might learn something new.

Share this:

The [non] news that there is a 13th Zodiac sign – Ophiuchus – coupled with the [non] new revelation that the Earth’s “wobble” has shifted the zodiac signs, has caused an Internet earthquake. Both “zodiac” and “Ophiuchus” were trending on Twitter and folk appeared to be genuinely dismayed, angry and fretting.

Of course, the fact that this “news” is over two thousand years old is neither here nor there:

Sofia Whitcombe began her day with the startling realization that she might not be exactly who she thought she was.

“My whole life, I thought I was a Capricorn,” the 25-year-old publicist said. “Now I’m a Sagittarius? I don’t feel like a Sagittarius!” It felt, she said, like a rug had been pulled from under her feet.

“Will my personality change?” she mused. “Capricorns are diligent and regimented, and super-hard-working like me. Sagittarians are more laid back. This is all a little off-putting.”

Countless people reacted on social networks Friday to the “news” that the stars have shifted alignment, astrologically speaking. No matter that the astronomy instructor who started it all in a weekend newspaper interview said it was an old story — very old; 2,000 years old, actually — and that astrologists were insisting it wouldn’t change a thing. The story had traveled around the blogosphere like, well, a shooting star.

Some people seemed angry. “I believe it’s a zodiac scam,” said Jose Arce, a 38-year-old from Fort Lee, N.J., who runs a body shop. “I’ve known myself to be a Sagittarius, I believe, since I was born. So to come up now with some new sign? It’s unacceptable!”

[.....]

Astrologers across the country reported a wave of calls, e-mails or website hits from concerned clients. “People are more attached and loyal to their signs than they thought,” said Eric Francis, editor of PlanetWaves.net, who said he had had 25,000 hits on his site since midnight. “It’s interesting how many people are panicking their sign is wrong.”

…..read all

The fact this has caused such brouhaha is intriguing however, in that it shows humans are disposed to reach beyond the [so called by atheists] “rational” to find meaning and explication in their lives.

Personally I feel that astrology is complete bunkum, but the fact that it’s so prevalent in our society certainly needs further analysis from a Christian perspective.

Are folk in reality desperate for the ability to predict the future and gain a sense of control? Are folk desiring for the supernatural? Are folk searching for meaning within astrology?

Any thoughts…..

Share this:

Following hot on the heels of the news that New York is now officially the abortion capital of the world, with a staggering 41% of pregnancies ending in abortion, the Baptist Press brings us this grim news:

At some point in 2010 — 37 years removed from the 1973 Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision — a doctor in the United States performed the nation’s 53 millionth legal abortion, a sobering stat that ethicists say should drive the public to speak up for the unborn.

[.....]

“Fifty-three million is the population of a medium-size country. Imagine the outcry if the people of Spain (46.1 million people) were destroyed by another nation,” C. Ben Mitchell, professor of moral philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and a consultant to the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, told Baptist Press. “Yet most of the world is silent about the destruction of the unborn. Christian love demands that we weep compassionately for the unborn, pray fervently that the killing would stop, work urgently for alternatives to abortion, and become the voice of the unborn in the public square.”

The United States has one of the highest abortion rates for the developed world and also some of the world’s most liberal abortion laws.

….read all

I will lay my cards on the table from the outset and freely admit that I’m pro-life and anti-abortion, and before anyone cites the exceptional circumstances – medical threat to the life of the mother, or conception through rape – please note that I’m acutely aware of these tragic circumstances and am empathetic. However, I will strongly maintain that exceptions should not make the rule and that the vast majority of abortions are simply no more than sacrificing the unborn to the modern god of convenience.

I am particularly motivated by such Scriptures as:

Proverbs 31:8

Open you mouth for the speechless,

In the cause of all who are appointed to die.

Share this: