First Links - 12.15.11

Patrick Henry Warned Us about Extravagant Government Acton Commentary , Thomas S. Kidd The Church Of Kathleen Sebelius Wall Street Journal , William McGurn Advocating Same-Sex Marriage: Consistency Is Another Victim Public Discourse , Matthew J. Franck Atheist Display Displace Nativity Scenes in . . . . Continue Reading »

Evangelicals Love Affair with Shoddy Stats

“Evangelicals love to believe bad things about themselves,” says Kevin DeYoung . “And often what they believe about themselves is not true.” Everyone seems to love stats about bad Christians. Non-Christians like to see that we really are fakes. Christians like to think the . . . . Continue Reading »

Give The Creed for Christmas

First Things ’ video, The Creed: What Christians Profess, and Why It Ought to Matter , should be on your Christmas list this season. Produced by actor, director, and writer, Tim Kelleher, The Creed is a remarkable film about why the radical claims made in the Nicene Creed are so important to . . . . Continue Reading »

Thinking about Lutheran Evangelism

The Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) sponsors a fine online journal entitled “Let’s Talk,” which is a venue for Chicago-area pastors, theologians, and laity to contribute articles about issues facing the Lutheran church in the urban . . . . Continue Reading »

Profiling Plantinga

A friend wrote me today, saying, “When I was studying philosophy in graduate school I never imagined that I would live to see a thoughtful profile in the New York Times on Alvin Plantinga, let alone a respectful discussion of his new book on religion and science and the renaissance of . . . . Continue Reading »

Tim Tebow and the Atheocracy

First Things is a magazine devoted to exploring issues of religion and public life, and like it or not the biggest such issue today is the debate over Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. I’m not at all surprised that many his find his public displays of piety off-putting, but I have been struck by . . . . Continue Reading »