“But for those of us for whom the New Testament is not merely a record of the past but a challenge to the present, it is occasionally worth asking ourselves whether the distance separating the Christianity of the apostolic age from the far more comfortable Christianities of later centuries — and especially those of the developed world today — is more than one merely of time and circumstance.” – Opinion | Are Christians Supposed to Be Communists?
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“While there are always clergy members and theologians swift to assure us that the New Testament condemns not wealth but its abuse, not a single verse (unless subjected to absurdly forced readings) confirms the claim.” – Opinion | Are Christians Supposed to Be Communists?
“World Christianity, too, is being transformed. Projected to hold steady as a portion of the global population (which will require 750 million more believers by 2050), Christianity will continue increasingly to make its home in the Southern Hemisphere, and especially sub-Saharan Africa, where almost 40 percent of Christians will live in 2050. By then barely a quarter of world Christians will be found in Europe and North America combined.” – While West grows secular, the world gets religion – StarTribune.com
“The enthusiastic attempt to make religion relevant through modern design was also in some ways its downfall. The contemporary yet comfortable form of the A-frame, Buggeln writes, “seemed too common, too facile, a hasty solution to a more profound spiritual problem.”” – The Quietly Dangerous Suburban Church
“People very understandably associate religious institutions with very real harm and danger,” Stedman says. “But institutions are also places where people share ideas and where they organize, and heal, and hold each other accountable.” – How to take Christ out of Christianity
“Liberal Protestant churches, which have famously lax requirements about praxis, belief, and personal investment, therefore often end up having a lot of half-committed believers in their pews,” writes Connor Wood, a PhD candidate in religious studies at Boston University. “The parishioners sitting next to them can sense that the social fabric of their church isn’t particularly robust, which deters them from investing further in the collective.” – How to take Christ out of Christianity
“Many liberals would like to see the idea of evil replaced by a discourse of harm: we should talk instead about how people do damage to each other and themselves. But this view poses a problem of evil remarkably similar to that which has troubled Christian believers. If every human being is born a liberal – as these latter-day disciples of Pelagius appear to believe – why have so many, seemingly of their own free will, given their lives to regimes and movements that are essentially repressive, cruel and violent? Why do human beings knowingly harm others and themselves? Unable to account for these facts, liberals have resorted to a language of dark and evil forces much like that of dualistic religions.” – The truth about evil | John Gray
“The digital world can be an environment rich in humanity, a network not of wires but of people,” said Francis, adding: “The Internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God.” – Pope Francis says the Internet is a ‘gift from God’ – latimes.com (via new-aesthetic)