The Great Dialogue

SEE:  http://www.pewforum.org/2014/02/10/russians-return-to-religion-but-not-to-church/

SEE:  http://www.pewforum.org/2014/01/14/religious-hostilities-reach-six-year-high/

Entry Pageviews United States 1236 Russia 157 Germany 122 Ukraine 25 Romania 20 Poland 17 Sweden 13 Netherlands 10 Malaysia 7 South Korea 6

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-25960225    

QUESTION:  DO YOU THINK THAT RELIGIONS SHOULD BE ABLE TO CLEARLY DEFINE WHAT THEY BELIEVE? SEE THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE WEBPAGE, SCROLL DOWN; VOTE!

SEE:  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/science/new-truths-that-only-one-can-see.html

SEE:  http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/30/publics-views-on-human-evolution/

From USA TODAY One-third of Americans reject human evolution While nearly two-thirds of Americans say humans have evolved over time, a third of U.S. adults disagree, according to new survey results from the Pew Research Center. The Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project report released Monday found that 33% think "humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time." Sixty percent agreed with evolution. Among those who agree with human evolution, about half attribute it to "natural processes such as natural selection." Whereas, 24% of adults say "a supreme being guided the evolution of living things." The survey also found disagreement across political and religious lines. http://usat.ly/1cj234B Get USA TODAY on your mobile device: http://www.usatoday.com/mobile-apps Dr Schmoyer    

And let it always be said he knew how to keep Christmas well! SEE:    http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/18/celebrating-christmas-and-the-holidays-then-and-now/

SEE: https://www.barna.org/barna-update/faith-spirituality/611-christians-more-like-jesus-or-pharisees#.Uqmwl_RDuSo "Finally, the question of authentic faith—is a particularly sore topic for many Millennials—who are often leaving church due in large part to the hypocrisy they experience. Again, no research is a perfect measure, but this study points out a sobering possibility: that the perception so many young people have of Christians contains more than a kernel of truth. Just as the New Testament writer Paul demonstrates in Galatians 2:11-16, the responsibility of the Christian community is to challenge hypocrisy just as boldly as other kinds of sin."

If I Were the Devil  If I were the Prince of Darkness I would want to engulf the whole earth in darkness.  I'd have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree.  So I should set about however necessary, to take over the United States.  I would begin with a campaign of whispers.  With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whispers to you as I whispered to Eve, "Do as you please."  To the young I would whisper "The Bible is a myth." I would convince them that "man created God," instead of the other way around. I would confide that "what is bad is good and what is good is square."  In the ears of the young married I would whisper that work is debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not to be "extreme" in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct.  And the old I would teach to pray —...

...Sadly Disturbing in view of the fact two of our congregation are preparing for missionary service in Senegal: http://www. pewforum .org/2013/06/20/ arab -spring-restrictions-on-religion-findings/

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/vatican-surveys-bishops-on-modern-families-same-sex-couples/story-e6frg6so-1226753912965

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/03/more-white-evangelicals-than-american-jews-say-god-gave-israel-to-the-jewish-people/

Although dated, this is very interesting material. SEE: http://www.pewforum.org/2008/05/01/religion-in-china-on-the-eve-of-the-2008-beijing-olympics/

SEE:   http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/

I've just finished reading Reza Aslan's ZEALOT:THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JESUS OF NAZARETH, and I'd encourage others to read and react to it. In short, Aslan paints Jesus as an illiterate peasant whose death proved he was not the messiah. He believes that Paul fought a theological war with Peter, John, and James the brother of Jesus who was the "bishop of bishops" in the early Church and essentially ran the Jerusalem assembly..Of course, Paul preached a gospel of salvation by faith, James of adherence to the law and thus, Aslan supposes, of "works." Paul won in large measure because the Christians remaining in Jerusalem were wiped out with the rest of the population when Rome leveled the city in 70 AD. The crux (ignore the double entendre) of Aslan's argument comes when he asks why the apostles would not only preach the resurrection but stake their lives on it and due for it if the resurrection did not in fact happen. I've asked myself that exact q...

See:   http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uks-gay-marriage-law-clears-parliament-19682653#.Ueax6NLkOSo Britain Legalizes Gay Marriage By CASSANDRA VINOGRAD Associated Press LONDON July 17, 2013 (AP) Britain on Wednesday legalized gay marriage after Queen Elizabeth II gave her royal stamp of approval, clearing the way for the first same-sex weddings next summer. Lawmakers cheered as House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said royal assent had been given — one day after the bill to legalize same-sex marriage in England and Wales cleared Parliament. The queen's approval was a formality and is the last step necessary for a bill to become law. The law enables gay couples to get married in both civil and religious ceremonies in England and Wales, provided that the religious institution consents. The Church of England, the country's official faith, is barred from performing such ceremonies. It also will allow couples who had previously entered into civil par...

Something about Psalm 82 keeps returning and returning to my mind. It's the way it deals with "gods." Here's how it opens: "God takes his stand in the council of heaven; he gives judgment in the midst of the gods." This harks back to a time when the Hebrews could actually contemplate a pantheon of gods. It was just important that God be the head god, so to speak. This is reflected even in the words of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." But even in this Psalm a second view is presented: "Now I say to you, You are gods, and all of you children of the Most High; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals and fall like any prince." Who's this talking about? Gods? Or human beings? The Eastern Church talks about Christians becoming gods--"deification"--but they clearly are speaking figuratively to a certain extent. They never forget the distinction between the Creator and the creatures. Is this wha...

From the Writer's Almanac on July 10: It's the birthday  of theologian  John Calvin  ( books by this author ), a leader of the Protestant Reformation, born in Noyon, France (1509). His teachings form the basis of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches. He studied for the priesthood, but as Martin Luther's ideas spread to France, Calvin became uneasy about his Catholicism. When he was 22, he experienced a "conversion," in which he felt that God had called him to forsake the Catholic Church. He went to Switzerland and wrote  Institutes of the Christian Religion  (1536), and it became a rallying point for Protestants all over Europe.