I wrote in an earlier post about how difficult it is to work constructively against race problems since we live in racially segregated worlds. Here are a few more thoughts…
In Divided by Faith, a book on how evangelical religion interacts with the race problems in America, Michael Emerson and Christian Smith did extensive interviews [...]

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Here’s my summary of a little parable I just read in the book Divided by Faith, by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith.
Imagine that two friends, Maridel and Parker, decide to lose weight by checking in a six-week camp-style program (O.K., a “fat farm”). Upon arrival, they are separated and sent to different compounds.
In [...]

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I heard Tony Campolo, the well-known speaker, author, and radical Christian, speak at a conference a few years ago. His topic was gay marriage, and he ended his talk with an appeal to support children through Compassion International. As you can hear in this two-minute audio clip (which I’ve used at MHCC before), [...]

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Friends are still sending me emails that say that the death-rate of US soldiers in Iraq isn’t all that different from the murder rate in big cities like Detroit. The implication, I guess, is that people die everywhere, so why get upset over some deaths in Iraq? Or maybe the idea is that [...]

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Last night, Saddam Hussein was executed in Iraq. No matter how you feel about capital punishment or the war in Iraq, it’s pretty obvious that he deserved it, and not just in a “wages of sin is death” kind of way. MSNBC has posted a video which shows Saddam, on the very first [...]

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If you’ve got some time and patience to invest, here’s an extremely enlightening article by New Testament scholar N. T. Wright called God, 9/11, the Tsunami, and the New Problem of Evil. Wright challenges prevailing views on war, God’s role in the world, and interpreting evil in light of the gospels. Well worth [...]

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For many centuries after Christ, Christian pilgrims in Europe found spiritual meaning in traveling to the Holy Land, especially to the birthplace of Christ. The rise and spread of Islam didn’t interfere with these peaceful pilgrimages. But as the year A.D. 1100 approached, things changed. Seljuk Turks, aggressive and warlike converts to [...]

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Mike Zukowski sent me this link to a Philip Yancey story called “Postcard from Africa” in Christianity Today. In Africa, AIDS, death, poverty and strong Christianity live with one another. My persistent thought while reading this story: African Christians will certainly lead us in the Kingdom of Heaven.

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At the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, our group got to see a short video from World Vision depicting AIDS through one woman’s eyes. I found it moving. Now I invite all of you to watch it online. You’ll need a high-speed connection and about 15 minutes.
Our church is raising money for a [...]

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“The greatest use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.” James Truslow Adams. Last week at Willow Creek’s Leadership Summit, I heard Bill Hybels interview rock superstar Bono on his faith and his passionate work against poverty and AIDS in Africa. Bono is one of the world’s most [...]

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