Month: June 2005

June 15, 2005

Orthodox pulling out of NCC?

For its All-American Council in Toronto next month, the Orthodox Church in America has issued a study paper on its relations with sister Orthodox churches and the wider ecumenical community. While the paper is advertised as nothing more than “fodder for deliberations,” it nonetheless makes a strong recommendation for cutting the ties with the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. Continue Reading...
June 15, 2005

Affirming the rule of law

On this day, 790 years ago, the rule of law was affirmed in Britain. On June 15, 1215, King John of England signed the Magna Carta at Runnymede. Viewed as the basis of English common law, which greatly influenced the foundations of American society and government, the Magna Carta recognized a law greater than the will of the king. Continue Reading...
June 15, 2005

What’s your theological worldview?

You scored as Reformed Evangelical. You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God’s Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. Continue Reading...
June 14, 2005

‘Civil Society…is Never Enough’

A quote from a speaker at the CRC’s Synod 2005, endorsing the Micah Challenge and the ONE Campaign. He also intimated that churches could never hope to match the $40 billion pledged recently to cut aid debt for African nations. Continue Reading...
June 14, 2005

The new space capitalists

After SpaceShipOne was awarded the Ansari X Prize last year, Paul G. Allen became “the best-known member of a growing club of high-tech thrillionaires, including the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who find themselves with money enough to fulfill their childhood fascination with space,” reports John Schwartz in today’s New York Times. Continue Reading...
June 14, 2005

Energy bill heads to Senate

A contentious energy bill passed by the House is scheduled to be taken up by the Senate today. House Republicans are calling for swift passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, but some Senators are threatening to put off a vote until their concerns about offshore oil drilling are met. Continue Reading...
June 13, 2005

A lot of hot air

“Wind Farms Costly for Kansans, New Study Finds: Consumers would pay higher bills, reap few green benefits,” by James M. Taylor, Environment News, May 1, 2005, The Heartland Institute. Via the highly recommended Evangelical Ecologist. Continue Reading...
June 13, 2005

Implications of total depravity

From Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Black Cat, first published in 1843: And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Continue Reading...
June 13, 2005

The precondition for aid – civil society

The Wall Street Journal editorializes today on the latest thuggish brutality from one of Africa’s saddest stories – Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe (subscription required): One of Africa’s poorest countries, Zimbabwe, is suffering through a brutal forced relocation reminiscent of the Khmer Rouge’s “ruralization.” Continue Reading...