Category Archives: Religion and Culture

Complaints Claim “Real Men Provide” is Sexist Toward Women

A fascinatingly simple and pithy billboard in North Carolina has generated an unusual amount of attention and angst:

A billboard appeared last weekend on a highway connecting the city of Winston-Salem to Greensboro that reads, “Real men provide. Real women appreciate it.”

One woman is organizing a protest against the billboard, calling it insulting — but only insulting to women:

Molly Grace, a boutique owner in Winston-Salem, said she sees the sign as an attempt to silence women who want to be seen as equals to men.

“It’s absolutely, absolutely insulting to single mothers, to women who Read more

SPLC: And Then They Came for the Atheists

Hemant Mehta of the “Friendly Atheist” blog was recently aghast that Ayaan Hirsi Ali — a Somali born woman who grew up Muslim but is now an atheist and outspoken critic of Islam — was added to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of “anti-Muslim extremists.”

The SPLC, of course, is famous for its list of “hate groups.” They’ve affixed that label to certain conservative Christian organizations that say homosexuality is an evil that can and should be cured — but not churches that merely believe it’s a sin…

But now, a couple critics of Islam have joined the club, which makes me wonder why anyone should take the SPLC seriously at this point.

Mehta is blind to his own irony: He says it’s fine for the SPLC to designate “hate groups” who speak out about homosexuality, but he’s suddenly offended when those who speak out about Read more

Mohler: Christians Face Stark Choice over Sexuality, Faith

Churches, institutions, and individuals committed to the Christian church’s historic sexual ethic, held consistently over two millennia, now find themselves faced with a stark choice — join the sexual revolution or face the consequences.

Those consequences include social marginalization, overt discrimination, the censure from the cultural elites, and worse. Christian colleges and schools are now openly threatened with the loss of tax-exempt status and participation in federal and state student aid.

Christian employees in businesses large and small are told to get with the program or get lost. Getting with the program does not mean simply working amiably with all, regardless of sexual orientation. It means openly and enthusiastically celebrating every demand and aim of the LGBT community.

Entire professions will soon be closed to many Christians who, for example, cannot, without violating their Christian conscience, perform sex-reassignment surgeries.

Think the US military may soon be one of those professions?  (Religious freedom Read more

Atheists Rush Internet Poll to Defeat Christian Grade Schoolers

Update: Mehta appears to have thought better of the post and appears to have pulled it down.

A group of atheist keyboard commandos is waging a campaign to mob an internet voting contest to help a specific public school win a new playground.

The reason they want to help that school? The “competitor” school is Christian.

From Hemant Mehta, the “friendly” atheist [emphasis added]:

Let’s help them out! (I’m sure the kids at the Christian school can just pray for a new playground…or get donations from parents who are already paying private school tuition.)…

Your minimal effort can help these kids get a nice new playground while also making the Baby Jesus shed a single tear.

The two schools are Kettle Read more

Unbroken Movie Documents Fighting, Faith, Freedom

Update: Franklin Graham describes the faith of Louis Zamperini here.  Notably:

He found a Bible that had been issued by the air corps and began reading.

Seems some documented good came from the US military issuing Bibles during World War II.

Unbroken, the Laura Hillenbrand biography on Louis Zamperini (which made the 2012 CSAF Reading List), has been made into an Angelina Jolie-directed movie to be released on Christmas day.

A small controversy is brewing over the movie’s admitted generalization of “faith,” despite the importance of the Christian faith to Zamperini’s life story. Ultimately, this should be little surprise, given that the book Unbroken (reviewed here) similarly spent very little time on the topic — while Zamperini himself devoted a substantial portion of his autobiography, Devil at My Heels (reviewed here), to his conversion and faith experience.

Christianity Today columnist Alissa Wilkinson noted Unbroken seems to lack the “redemption” from its “Survival. Resilience. Redemption.” tagline (the same conclusion reached here about the book). Without knowing the actual story, one might think Zamperini’s inspiring story was one of self:  Read more

We Believe.

We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit
And He’s given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the resurrection
And He’s coming back again, we believe

Read more

NFL Rightfully Regrets Penalty on Player Prayer

An NFL player who recalled shades of Tim Tebow was penalized during a football game for praying in the end zone:

Referees in Monday night’s game took exception to Kansas City’s Husain Abdullah actions after he slid in the end zone and prostrated himself…

Abdullah, a devout Muslim, placed himself in the traditional position for Islamic prayer, not too much unlike Tebowing.  Also not unlike Tebow, Abdullah did not complain about the penalty and even put a somewhat lighthearted spin on the issue:  Read more

Christianity on Marriage, Divorce, and Homosexuality

Drs. Al Mohler and Russell Moore wrote in March on the topic of whether Christians are “hypocrites” for publicly opposing “same-sex marriage” while re-married divorcees make up large portions of their congregations. In short, Dr. Moore made the point that even if how they got there wasn’t right, the relationship between remarried men and women was still a marriage, in the Biblical definition.

The Southern Baptist Convention recently voted to break fellowship with a Southern California church that chose a “Third Way,” claiming they took no position as a church on “same-sex marriage.” The SBC disagreed and severed the relationship. Mohler and Moore again wrote on the topic of homosexuality and Biblical marriage in the Read more

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