Christianity Today articles from April 2005

Christianity Today archives from April 2005

The energizer editor.(Inside CT)(Stan Guthrie)(Editorial)
April 1, 2005... SENIOR ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR--it's a laborious title, to be sure. And that's why it has been an appropriate new title (since November) for Stan Guthrie. We've already indicated in this column that Stan is a workhorse. He's one of the heroes of...

Tsunami shakeup.(Readers Write)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... AFTER MUCH PRAYER, I've come to the conclusion as a Malaysian that the tsunami is a wake-up call for both believers and nonbelievers ["After the Deluge," February]. It's time for the church to wake up. Many of us have been compromising our...

College Brothels.(Readers Write)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... VIGEN GUROIAN'S "Dorm Brothel" [February] could have been written about my college experience. I graduated from a small, private, liberal-arts college in the Midwest 11 years ago. I felt the same pressure a young coed in the article...

Messianic orthodoxy.(Readers Write)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... THERE ARE MANY in the larger evangelical community who are puzzled over the pronouncement from some leaders of Messianic congregations concerning missions and evangelism in your February article "Jacob vs. Jacob." While those comments are...

Murder suspects arrested: arrests of non-Muslims in family killing ease Copt-Muslim tensions.(Interfaith Relations)(Jersey City, New Jersey killings)
April 1, 2005... The arrest in March of two non-Muslim men in the gruesome murders of a Coptic family in Jersey City, New Jersey, has lowered religious tensions in the area. In the weeks before the arrests, uncertainty surrounding the killers created anger and...

Ashcroft's revenge: challenge to suicide law gets new life.(Euthanasia)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The U.S. Supreme Court announced February 22 that it will decide whether the federal government may ban doctors from prescribing drugs to allow terminally ill patients to kill themselves. In 2001, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft declared,...

Near the end: Terri Schiavo's life hangs in the balance again.(Life Ethics)
April 1, 2005... After receiving three short-term legal extensions, the parents of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo filed half a dozen additional motions to try to prevent a feeding tube from being removed on the March 18 deadline established by Circuit Court Judge...

Mel Gibson, with the National Religious Broadcasters Board of Directors Award, for his work on the Passion of the Christ.(Honored)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Mel Gibson, with the National Religious Broadcasters Board of Directors Award, for his work on The Passion of the Christ. The award honors Christians who demonstrate integrity and creativity while making a significant impact on society.

Focus on the Family.(Retired)(Don Hodel replaced by James D. Daly)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Don Hodel, as president and chief executive officer of Focus on the Family, on February 25. James D. Daly, the chief operating officer of the Colorado Springs ministry, has been named to succeed Hodel. Hodel joined the staff at Focus in May...

Died.(Passages)(J. Richard Butler)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... J. Richard Butler, former executive director of Church World Service, on January 25 in New York. Butler was 74.

Youth for Christ/USA.(Appointed)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Daniel S. Wolgemuth, as president of Youth For Christ/USA. Formerly an executive with several companies, Wolgemuth has served on YFC'S national board for the last decade.

Washington Bible College/Capital Bible Seminary.(Appointed)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Larry Mercer, as president of Washington Bible College/Capital Bible Seminary, effective July 1. Mercer formerly was a professor at Moody Graduate School.

Union University.(Elected)(David S. Dockery chair of Council for Christian Colleges and Universities)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... David S. Dockery, president of Union University, as chairman of the board of directors for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Dockery is the first president of a Southern Baptist college or university to hold the position.

Mennonite Central Committee.(Appointed)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Robert William Davis, as executive director of the Mennonite Central Committee, effective June 1. Davis is currently with Freedom from Hunger in Davis, California.

'Healing a sick land': German evangelist bolsters reconciliation efforts.(Evangelism)(Reinhard Bonnke travels to Nigeria)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... NIGERIA German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke attracted about 2 million Christians and Muslims to a five-day evangelistic campaign in Jos (pop. 650,000). Christians who invited him to speak said the event has given a major boost to efforts at...

Food fights: state governments increasingly regulate church potlucks.(Law)
April 1, 2005... U.S. churches are facing more and more legal hurdles to holding potlucks. In Minnesota, potlucks are exempt from food safety inspections only if food is not prepared in the kitchen. In Wisconsin, a church that holds more than 12 public...

Quotation marks.(HeadLines)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... "I'm not going to kick gays, because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?... This crowd uses gays as the enemy. It's hard to distinguish between fear of the homosexual political agenda and fear of homosexuality." George W. Bush,...

New times, new leaders: firing of Millard Fuller the result of longstanding tensions.(Ministry)(Habitat for Humanity International)
April 1, 2005... The board of Habitat for Humanity International (HFH) fired founder and president Millard Fuller and his wife, Linda, on January 31, mostly because of a strained relationship that pitted a combative visionary against a no-nonsense board that...

Killer taxes: missionaries face a choice: pay up or get out.(Missions)(Kenyan tax policy)
April 1, 2005... KENYA Kenya, with about 2,300 missionaries from 30 countries, is a missionary magnet in East Africa. Suddenly high taxes could change all that. The tax code, written in the 1970s, targets nongovernmental agencies that raise money through...

Go figure.(HeadLines)(statistics regarding religious groups)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... 80% 13- to 17-year-old Americans who say they had few or no doubts about their beliefs in the past year. 65% American teens who say they prayed alone a few times a week or more often. 1,092 New sex abuse claims filed...

Legal beat.(charges dismissed against Philadelphia Four )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... JUDGE PAMELA DEMBE dismissed all criminal charges against the "PHILADELPHIA FOUR" on February 17. Charges against seven others were previously dismissed. The four, members of the evangelistic group Repent America, were arrested during a...

Cloning developments.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... IAN WILMUT, who cloned Dolly the sheep in 1997, in February received British government permission to clone human embryos to study motor-neuron disease, which kills cells that control movement in the brain and spinal cord. Wilmut and colleagues...

Jim Towey: earlier this year, President Bush elevated Towey, already director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, to be assistant to the President.(Q+A)(Interview)
April 1, 2005... President Bush's main legislative faith-based initiative, the Charity Aid, Recovery, and Empowerment Act, failed to pass in 2001. Will you try again? I hope, now that the President is not running for reelection, that some of those politics...

Death sentence? Immigration bill could jeopardize asylum seekers, critics say.(Immigration)(REAL ID bill)
April 1, 2005... The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in February that would make it harder for asylum seekers to gain their freedom. Supporters of the "REAL ID" bill, introduced by Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., say it...

How serious are democrats? Making abortion rare will take more than words.(Where we stand: CT's views on key issues)
April 1, 2005... THERE'S MUCH to cheer in some leading Democrats calling their party to change course on abortion rhetoric. There's John Kerry proclaiming in January, "I don't want abortion. Abortion should be the rarest thing in the world." There's Howard Dean...

Aliens in our midst: attaining asylum in the land of the free is harder than you'd think.(Where we stand: CT's views on key issues)
April 1, 2005... IMAGINE you have just suffered abuse at the hands of a dictatorship, but have somehow managed to escape to the United States. Afraid you will be persecuted again, you apply for asylum status. You are sent to one of nineteen...

All churches should be multiracial: the biblical case.(Cover Story)
April 1, 2005... In Divided by Faith: Evangelicals and the Problem of Race in America (2000), sociologists Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith argued that much of the racial dysfunction in the American church today is the result of an individualized...

Harder than anyone can imagine: four working pastors--Latino, Asian, black, and white--respond to the bracing thesis of United by Faith.(A CT Forum)(Panel Discussion)
April 1, 2005... Noel Castellanos is the founder and president of the Latino Leadership Foundation, and was founding pastor of La Villita Community Church in inner-city Chicago. Bill Hybels is senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South...

Solid performers for a new season: a winning line-up of resources for preaching and teaching.(Special Advertising Section)(Advertisement)
April 1, 2005... Even before warm weather arrives, spring training begins. After celebrating or lamenting the previous season (whichever is appropriate), a few trades, and a short winter of rest, anticipation of the new season drives baseball players and teams...

So, you want to be like Christ? 8 disciplines to get you there.(Special Advertising Section)
April 1, 2005... Part I of 2: Charles Swindoll discusses the first four disciplines of his new eight-discipline book, So, You Want to Be Like Christ?, an in-depth study for those of us who want to delve deeper into the fundamental elements of Christian life,...

Ten reasons to use Bible software.(Special Advertising Section)(Buyers Guide)
April 1, 2005... There are many ways Bible software can help the Christian Bible student, but here are ten functions, along with software, that Bible students will find useful. 1: Searching the Bible by Theme and Cross-Reference. The NAS Electronic Bible...

The evangelical scandal: Ron Sider says the movement is riddled with hypocrisy, and that it's time for serious change.(The CT Interview)(Interview)
April 1, 2005... RON SIDER has been a burr in the ethical saddle of the evangelical world for decades. His 1977 book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, took fellow believers to task for materialism in the face of desperate global needs. Sider, who is...

Naming the horror: why we must resurrect the language of evil.
April 1, 2005... EVERY DAY I PRAY, "Deliver us from evil." Yet I long for the vocabulary of evil to make a comeback and be restored to our common language. My wife and I recently saw the movie Hotel Rwanda, a moving account of one man's moral growth, and...

Up from secularism: Howard Dean, new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, vows to reach out to evangelicals.(Politics)
April 1, 2005... THE DAY BEFORE he was elected chair of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean visited leaders of different Democratic constituencies, outlining a way for Democrats to reach out to evangelicals and people of other faiths. He sought to...

Thinking straighter: why the world's most famous atheist now believes in God.(Profile)(Antony Flew)
April 1, 2005... ANTONY FLEW, one of the world's leading philosophers, has changed his mind about God. And he has agnostics worried. Some are mystified and others are angry. Typical of many responses is this one skeptical blogger: "Sounds to me like an old...

The risks of regime change: Middle Eastern Christian might end up more repressed under democracy than under dictators.(Update / Middle East)
April 1, 2005... RECENT U.S. IRAQ POLICY has moved from toppling a genocidal autocrat to seeking to create a pluralist, prosperous Arab democracy and inducing neighboring regimes to replicate it. The mainstream media discuss what this might mean for the region...

Longing to be heard: it's dangerous and lonely to be an Iraqi Christian--at home or in exile.
April 1, 2005... NEARLY 40,000 Iraqi Christian refugees in Jordan and Syria are unlikely to return home any time soon, despite the recent national elections. Lack of safety is their biggest concern. "We voted, but we don't know whether elections will change the...

Members of one another: Iraq's endangered church looks to Western fellowship for help.(Bearing the cross: how you can help persecuted Christians)
April 1, 2005... NUHAD TOMEH, head of relief for the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), recently asked children in Baghdad what they would most like to see happen in their war-torn city. A 12-year-old boy named Khalad said he'd like to be able to go to...

Discovering God.(Reflections: quotations to stir heart and mind)
April 1, 2005... I AM GROWING accustomed to the grace of gradual illumination, so it is a delight and no real surprise when I see God's messages to me in the scattered rainbows on my wall at sunrise. LUCI SHAW in Weavings IF WE CANNOT see God in the...

Therapeutically incorrect: atheist psychiatrist argues that gays can change.(Speaking Out)(Robert L. Spitzer)(Interview)
April 1, 2005... Robert L. Spitzer argued in 1973 that homosexuality is not a clinical disorder--key to the American Psychiatric Association arriving at the same conclusion. Thirty years later, Spitzer caused another stir when he argued that some people who...

Finding heaven: where is heaven, and how will we experience it before the final resurrection?(Good Question)
April 1, 2005... --LINDA MONTGOMERY, Wichita. Kansas ONE POPULAR VIEW locates heaven in a separate, non-material world. In recent centuries scientists and clergy seemed to strike a bargain: science gets the body (and other physical substances), while...

Compliant but confused: unpacking some myths about today's teens.(Always In Parables)(Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... I HAVE GOOD NEWS for the sainted souls who serve on youth minister search committees at churches across the land. Your job just got easier. To identify promising candidates, you only need to ask two questions. First, "Have you read Soul...

A model of intolerance: the 'religious bigot' who used the courts to bring down slavery.(Editor's Bookshelf)(Though the Heavens May Fall)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... THOUGH THE HEAVENS MAY FALL Steven M. Wise Da Capo Press 320 pages, $25.00 STEVEN M. WISE, veteran animal-rights lawyer, finds inspiration in the 18th-century antislavery activist Granville Sharp. And Christians who want to act effectively...

Thou shalt not be negative: overly positive thinking and prosperity teaching undermine Joel Osteen's bestseller.(Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... YOUR BEST LIFE NOW: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential Joel Osteen Warner Faith, 320 pages, $19.99 ON THE COVER of Your Best Life Now, Joel Osteen flashes the sort of smile that suggests a man who not only succeeds in everything but...

A Resilient Life: You Can Move Ahead No Matter What.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... A RESILIENT LIFE: You Can Move Ahead No Matter What Gordon MacDonald Nelson Books, 243 pp., $19.99 Quitter-Gene Therapy Confessing he's always had a "quitter's gene," Gordon MacDonald (Ordering Your Private World) reflects on how he...

Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... THREE VIEWS ON EASTERN ORTHODOXY AND EVANGELICALISM Stanley N. Gundry, series editor; James Stamoolis, general editor Zondervan, 304 pp., $14.99 East Meets West Are Eastern Orthodoxy and evangelicalism compatible? In this scholarly...

Jesus' guide to spiritual formation: the Lord's modified creed was key for disciples' growth.(Interview)
April 1, 2005... SCOT MCKNIGHT'S The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others (Paraclete, 2004) shows how an ancient Jewish prayer, the Shema, encouraged early Christians to emphasize love--and how it can form us spiritually today. A professor of religious...

48 Days to the Work You Love.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... 48 DAYS TO THE WORK YOU LOVE Dan Miller Broadman &, Holman, 224 pp., $19.99 Scoring a Better Job What if "going to work" meant doing what you enjoy the most each day? The president of the Business Source, a consulting firm for both...

To Fly Again: Surviving the Tailspins of Life.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... TO FLY AGAIN: Surviving the Tailspins of Life Gracia Burnham with Dean Merrill Tyndale House, 224 pp., $19.99 Jungle Wisdom In her follow-up to In the Presence of My Enemies, former missionary hostage Gracia Burnham offers short...

Verdict that demands evidence: it is Darwinists, not Christians, who are stonewalling the facts.(The Back Page)
April 1, 2005... IT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST--and angriest--post-election hissy fits: In The New York Times, Garry. Wills credited White House political adviser Karl Rove for getting millions of religious conservatives (whom he compared to Muslim jihadists) to the...