When Good Theologicans Do Bad Things

 In the age of cancel culture where one mistake from the past can cause you to be silence before the public for an indefinite period of time, Trevin Wax (click here for a bio) asks whether prominent theologians should also suffer that fate. It is both a legitimate question to ask as well as a piece of damage control considering the theologians he mentions.

In an article posted on the The Gospel Coalition website (click here for the article ), Trevin asks how we should react to the significant sins committed by  Karl Barth, Jonathan Edwards, and Martin Luther. But more importantly, he also asks how those sins might have factored in the theologies of those men.

Karl Barth's sin that merits much public scrutiny was his long-time affair with one of his assistants. Wax goes on to say how Barth employed a torturous theological defense of his affair. Jonathan Edwards's sin was his defense of and participation in slavery. Though Edwards condemned the slave trade, he both defended slavery and owned slaves. Martin Luther is also included because of his later on in life, virulent anti-Semitism. Of course much of how Luther responded to those he disagreed with was virulent.

Before mentioning these sins, Wax starts off well by attacking the all-or-nothing approach that we can take towards famous theologians. For some have treated famous theologians, such as these three, as impeccable  authority figures while others have canceled theologians out at the first indication of human weakness or sinfulness. Wax then describes with some detail Barth's affair. Then he discusses the importance of the purity of heart that theologians should have and how one's own sin can affect one's own theology.

Wax then goes on to discuss 3 ways in which theologians, and, in fact, all Christians, could be participating in sin. They are open rebellion against God, practicing sin because one was blinded by their culture, and finally struggling against the sins one is committing. Of course, the third option should be chosen by all of us because we all have a particular set of sins that we struggle most with. However, Wax notes that while Barth's long-time adulterous affair puts his participation in that sin in the first category, he acknowledges that both Edwards and Luther were practicing their sins because of the effects that their own cultures had had on them. Luther grew up in Europe where anti-Semitism had a firm grip on the nations and societies there while, similarly, Edwards grew up and lived in a place and time where white supremacy reigned.

Wax then goes on to talk about the weaknesses of his model of thought here in that people can go from open rebellion to one who is struggling with a given sin.

Wax finishes his article by rightfully telling us that we should look into the details of each time a famous theologian participates in a serious sin. For those three theologians are not the only theologians who have given into a significant sin. We can think of John Calvin and how he had at least one heretic as well as multiple witches killed for their beliefs and/or practices, Or there J. Gresham Machen and his racism. Another that some unbelievers could mention was Billy Graham and his misguided political support for Richard Nixon despite Nixon's racism and anti-Semitism.

Wax finishes his article rightfully talking about the complexity of the human sinful condition. And throughout the article, Wax rightfully cautions us to not take an all-or-nothing approach to how we react to theologians who are involved with serious sins.

Some questions inadvertently come up from Wax's article. The first one is does being a famous theologian merit a hall pass for one's sin from the Church. In other words, would an ordinary believer be automatically excommunicated from the Church should they have practiced adultery as Barth had? Should we discount the faith of those Christians from the South who joined Edwards in defending slavery or those Christians who are anti-Semitic like Martin Luther was while we honor Edwards and Luther as believers?

Another question that could be asked is, are there other factors, besides one's personal sins, that can affect or even corrupt the theology of famous theologians? We might ask this about the writers of the confessions that our denominations cling to so passionately. Just to pick an example, was the theology of the Westminster Devines, those who wrote the Westminster Standards affected by the authoritarian culture that was so  prominent in England during their time? In other words, does it take the sinfulness of a theologian for us to step back and take a balanced view of their work and so otherwise put the theologies of others on too high a pedestal?

Another question we could ask here is, does the Gospel we believe allows for some believers to commit any sins they want because their faith has given them a get-out-of-eternal-jail card? And thus, can some of us live any way we want to as long as we know that our sins have been forgiven. The answer to that question is a complex 'no.'

Finally, we should go back to Wax's last paragraph and apply it to ourselves as well as to how we should look at the failings of other fellow Christians. That our human condition brings a complexity to how we should look at ourselves and others as being both believers and still being sinful. Our own sinful condition should curb any tendency to harshly condemn the sins of unbelievers too. Here it would be most important to remember what James said at the end of the second chapter of his epistle: 'Mercy triumphs over judgment.'

Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For May 25, 2022

May 24

To Tony Phelps and his article on how Luther helped him, a Calvinist, learn about the Gospel. This article appeared in Heidelblog.

There are many things to love and appreciate that came from Luther. There are also things to like from the Westminster Standards and the Heidelberg Catechism. But I have to disagree with mandating subscriptions to any set of confessions. Why? It is because those standards often cover too much material and thus become unnecessarily divisive in the Church.

But there is another reason to be leery of subscriptions. Subscriptions lure people into traditionalism and traditionalism is just a mirror image of narcissism.

How are traditionalism and narcissism related? Both put a set of time periods on a pedestal that is way too high. Thus traditionalism claims that those from its favorite periods of time have everything to teach and nothing to learn from those who live in the here and now. Narcissism simply states the converse. Thus both are shutting their ears to the wisdom that the Church fallibly speaks both throughout history and today.

Do traditionalists mean to say that Martin Luther, John Calvin, Zacharias Ursinus, and the Westminster Devines had nothing to learn from today's social justice warriors.? The answer is a resounding 'YES!' Do narcissists mean to say that social justice warriors have nothing to learn from Martin Luther, John Calvin, Zacharias Ursinus and the Westminster Devines? Again, the answer is a resounding 'YES!'  So traditionalism and narcissism share the same problem. Both display much arrogance over their favorite set of time periods against all other time periods. And arrogance is a real spiritual problem for the Church.

And so what do we do with a quote from Luther like the one below:

Although the works of man always seem attractive and good, they are nevertheless likely to be    mortal sins.

Certainly our works cannot not merit any favorable standing before God. But does that imply that working against racism, the polluting of the environment, economic classism, war, patriarchy, and other injustices are mortal sins? Was working against the Nazis in Bonhoeffer's time a mortal sin? Does this quote from Luther give a possible explanation as to why Vladimir Lenin observed what he did in 1905?

Religion is one of the forms of spiritual oppression which everywhere weighs down heavily upon the masses of the people, over burdened by their perpetual work for others, by want and isolation. Impotence of the exploited classes in their struggle against the exploiters just as inevitably gives rise to the belief in a better life after death as impotence of the savage in his battle with nature gives rise to belief in gods, devils, miracles, and the like. Those who toil and live in want all their lives are taught by religion to be submissive and patient while here on earth, and to take comfort in the hope of a heavenly reward. But those who live by the labour of others are taught by religion to practise charity while on earth, thus offering them a very cheap way of justifying their entire existence as exploiters and selling them at a moderate price tickets to well-being in heaven. 

Are quotes like the above one from Luther, not Lenin, a contributing factor as to why predominant branch of the Church has often sided with wealth and power of a given country  over the past few centuries and have thus contributed to the above quote from Lenin?

Does Tony point out many contributions that Martin Luther makes to our understanding of the Gospel? Most certainly. Luther's Bondage Of The Will and his Commentary On The Epistle To The Galatians are two of my favorite books. But should we also see that laxity in subscription to a set of confessions which allows for responding to social injustices as signs of not making Christ the center of our faith? The answer is a resounding 'YES!' if we want to be like those Christians whom Lenin observed and became stumbling blocks to his listening to the Gospel. 

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To Michael De Sapio and his article that explores the question of whether music has progressed. This appeared in the Imaginative Conservative blog.

What I would like to add here is that, from what I've seen, music is listened to for one of two reasons. One reason why people listen to music is for music to act like a drug and make them feel a certain way. So they listen for music that expresses how they want to feel. Another reason why people listen to music is to listen to music that expresses how they already feel from experiencing life. In the first instance, people are using music like they use drugs. In the second case people are using music to express how they experiencing life

So which music will be listened to depends on why people are listening to music. Thus the length of time a particular kind of music remains listened to is not necessarily an indicator of its quality as it is a measure of the audience over time

Now as much as De Sapio likes classical music, music has advanced since the classical time period. Only the some of the sources for that progress come from outside of Western sources. Rhythmic  development from Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa go well beyond what is heard in classical music. The added influence of Africa to classical music create Jazz. Jazz developed in many ways beyond Classical music both in rhythm, harmonies, and virtuosity. Modern music has added a host of rhythmic developments that call for more percussion instruments and a greater prominence of those instruments in the playing of the music along with odd and irregular meters, and polyrhythms. In terms of harmony, chord substitutions and polytonality have been more common place in music and we have the quarter-tone system from India--Western music relies on half-tones.

But the real issue here is whether musical tastes have progressed or digressed. And again, this goes back to why people listen to music. People who use music like they would use a recreational drug to make them feel the way they want to feel will tend to prefer simplicity in their music. Simplicity  in music is fine as long as there is variation.  That is because not all of life is simple. But when simplicity in music rules the day, music digresses and loses the ability to be expressive The loss of expression in music only causes music to digress and that is because music is first about communication. Music is meant to communicate what life is about. And life is, at times, very complex and complicated.

Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For February 24, 2021

Feb 18

To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost that favorably compares Martin Luther with Rush Limbaugh. This appeared in Heidelblog.

Loyalty blinds us. It blinds us to the faults and sins of our objects of loyalty. Clark demonstrates that blindness by minimizing the faults of both Luther and Limbaugh.

First, Luther contributed to the anti-semitism that grew over the ages. That is because though Luther, in the latter part of his life, called for harsh treatment of the Jews who would not believe in Christ, there was often no strict boundary between anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism over the centuries. He basically called for their removal from the country and for people to persecute them. And one cannot simply relegate his anti-Judaism to mere frustration.

Limbaugh greatly contributed to the divisiveness that we see in our nation today. It isn't that he was just occasionally bombastic, he greatly promoted black-white thinking when it comes to viewing one's ideological opponents. His popularity made his promotion of such thinking even more effective. So he deserves much credit for polarization that we see today. If Limbaugh was a Christian, then he very much needed to read the parable of the two men praying.

But Limbaugh not only promoted black-white thinking, he mocked weakness. An example of that was when he mocked Michael J. Fox for how he moved during a interview. We should remember that Fox has Parkinson's disease and Limbaugh expressed doubt as to whether that was the reason for Fox's movements.

We should also mention that not only did Luther and Limbaugh come from similar backgrounds, so does Clark seeing that he also comes from the Midwest. And, unfortunately, Clark weds his theology to his conservative politics which is why he likes Limbaugh so much.

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Feb 23

To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost quote of an article by Edward Feser who used the writings of Eric Voegelin to associate Critical Theory and other liberal leftist belief systems with Gnosticism. This appeared in Heidelblog.

Cited article found at
    http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-gnostic-heresys-political-successors.html

Context is to words what location is to real estate. And the context for the article cited by Clark is that it a conservative apologetic that relies on black-white thinking. According the article cited by Clark and written by Feser, those wearing the white hats are conservatives who defend Western Civilization because Western Civilization has its roots in the Christian faith.

The bad guys are those who in the interest of science, social justice and equity have ventured off into liberalism, socialism, communism, scientism, progressivism, globalism, and so on. Fesser calls such apostate projects because they have they emerged from a Christianity Civilization but their 'theological roots' have been taken away.

So while Fesser goes on to count Critical Theory as an offspring of that which was mentioned above, he then uses the writings of Eric Voegelin  to try to label it as Gnostic because Critical Theory, like its predecessors. is divorced from natural reason and natural theology and thus imitates Gnosticism in the ways he mentions. But what Voegelin doesn't mention is that what he calls Gnostic descendants do nott share the key belief that Gnostics had: that the physical world was evil and the spiritual world was good. In contrast, all of the Gnostic traits that Voegelin attributes to Critical Theory and its predecessors could also easily be attributed to Christianity and thus Voegelin must spend some time distinguishing Christianity from Gnositicism.

But there is something else that is an important part of the context of Feser's article. It is apparent from the beginning that Feser's complaint about the predecessors to Critical Theory that these movements progressed without the blessing of the Church. So regardless of the appeals to natural reason and natural theology, we are dealing with a Roman Catholic view of the relationship between Church and State. And confirmation of that comes from Feser's own short biography that says he approaches religion from a Roman Catholic point of view.

Now Feser's Roman Catholic perspective neither makes his views right or wrong. But what is surprising is that a Reformed 2K theologian would find no fault with the Roman Catholic approach to politics and ideologies.

The credentials for Critical Theory, along with Critical Race Theory which was mentioned at the beginning of the above quote, wasif found first in observation. Both find significant fault with the fruits of Western or Christian Civilization. And thus the above article serves as an apologetic in a turf battle over who gets to define the reality we currently live in. But also, we should note that a significant portion of Critical Race Theory is based on the experiences of and approaches taken by Martin Luther King Jr who applied the Christian faith to the issues of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism. And here we should note that King's starting point was that of observation.

That last point is important because many Conservative Christian theologians and thinkers tend to reduce reality to what they can deduce from theology. Thus Clark, along with Feser and Voegelin, could possibly be seeing Western Civilization in idealistic terms. And for as much as they do that, they have removed the facts on the ground from their view of Western Civilization.

We should note one other point. That seeing Communism, and my guess is that we could include Socialism too, as being apostate is partially shared by people like Martin Luther King Jr saw them from how William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, saw them. Temple saw Communism as a 'Christian Heresy' in that it had some essential Christian concerns but it also included tenets that no Christian could accept. But instead of employing black-white thinking, King went on to say that we need a hybrid approach that employed the best of Communism and Capitalism while leaving out the weaknesses of both ideologies (see http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/ows/seminars/aahistory/Pilgrimage.pdf ).

It is the recognition of both the valid points made by another ideology and the weaknesses of either an old status quo or one's personal pet beliefs that allows one to more fairly examine and interpret Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, and their predecessors along with one's own isms. Unfortunately, that is what Clark, Feser, and Voegelin failed to do. 

Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For November 7, 2018

Nov 4

To Joe Carter and his blogpost that cites a Joseph Loconte article on Luther’s 95 theses and what that did to promote religious liberty and a free conscience. This appeared in the Acton blog.

There are problems with Loconte's article on Luther and conscience. Besides the fact that appeals to our conscience do have a limit, we should note what else Luther supported. He sided with wealth and power by supporting a brutal suppression of the Peasant's Revolt as well as he, later on in life, expressed strong anti-Semitism sentiments and suggested harsh treatment of the Jews in Germany with the purpose of seeing them gone through attrition.

From these two facts, we see that even Luther put limits on the conscience: the consciences of some with whom he disagreed. The limits we should note about the conscience here is that we can't excuse our oppression of others on our consciences. This excusing of visiting injustice others occurred during Jim Crow when some Christians used the Scriptures to defend segregation and white supremacy. Here one could say that they included an appeal to consciences as a defense of their abuse of others. At least that is how they saw it and the same could be said of those who owned slaves or supported slavery that preceded Jim Crow.

How some Christians used their religious beliefs to defend the oppression of Blacks is an important point to bring up here because a similar defense is being made for Christians being able to discriminate against the the LGBT community. Though there are significant differences between the past marginalization of Blacks in during slavery and Jim Crow and how many religiously conservative Christians want to discriminate against the LGBT community today, the basic theme of not sharing society with a targeted group as equals is what both kinds of discrimination have in common.

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Nov 5

To Caroline Roberts and her blogpost that references an article by Samuel Gregg that speaks of what is good and bad about our economy. In listing what is bad, Loconte lists several entitlement programs as causing current and future harm to our economy. Roberts’s article appeared in the Acton blog

In actuality, the article cited (see  https://stream.org/economy-booming-but-theres-trouble/ ) is rather disingenuous with its claims about the economy and especially about entitlement programs.
Is the economy improving? Yes, but it has been for a while especially during much of Obama's Presidency. In other words, part of the success of the economy has to do with the momentum created by what went on during the Obama Administration.
But is the economy improving for everyone? No. Wealth disparity continues to grow and with that there is a growing disparity in political power so that the wealthiest gain more and more political power. Wages for many jobs have not increased significantly for decades when accounting for inflation. Basically, we have an economy that revolves around the whims of major shareholders rather than one that accounts for the needs for everyone.

The grouping of entitlement programs as being blamed for 70% of the Federal budget is deliberately deceptive. Both Social Security and Medicare are self-funded and thus cannot negatively contribute to the National Deficit or Debt. In fact, the Federal Government has borrowed more money from the Social Security Trust fund to finance its spending than any other lender including China. Realize that that fund is financed by individual payers for their collective future for when they retire and much of that spending goes to corporations. Thus we are seeing a transfer of funds from the middle and lower economic classes to the higher ones. Also, to include Social Security and Medicare with programs that are not self-funding in this 70% of Federal spending is deliberately dishonest. In addition, one of the reasons why we have some current spending problems with Medicare is because of Federal laws that prohibit Medicare from negotiating lower drug costs with Pharmaceutical companies.

To merely call self-funded programs like Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs is false labeling. To call the non-self funded programs entitlement programs without including other labels is highly selective. Along with Social Security and Medicare, these programs are survival programs for many in this nation.

From an overall perspective, the most apparent reason for calling for cuts in these entitlement programs is that those with wealth want to pay less and less in taxes while enjoying the benefits from living in and/or doing business in our nation at the current and previous tax rates. Basically we have an ongoing Ayn Rand Coup of the government. But let's suppose we cut those "entitlement programs," what happens? This has been occurring in Greece and even the IMF has come to the conclusion that national austerity policies lead to economic harm. From other perspectives, these cuts lead to a society and culture that value things over people. Such according to Martin Luther King Jr maintain what he called the 'triplets of evil': racism, materialism, and militarism.

The Poor Epitomy Of Conservative Christianity's Approach To Social Justice

The reaction to social justice movements from religiously conservative Christians, those from the Reformed Tradition to be exact, has been quite predictable. It is one of discreditation. And that discreditation takes a peculiar form: it seeks to show, in an all-or-nothing manner, the flaws in the theological approach of those pursuing social justice to conclude that their pursuit of social justice is wrong with little or no redeeming contributions. Take the following quote from R. Scott Clark's article from his blog called Heidelblog:

For Luther and for Calvin, the idea that there could be a social movement that would bring about heaven on earth was a theology of glory. It conflated heaven and earth. It failed to recognize the depth of human depravity and the consequences of the fall and sin.

See, because no social movements can bring perfect social justice to earth at the present time, social justice movements have nothing to contribute seems to be Clark's message here.

We should note another overused, conservative Christian characteristic in Clark's rebuttal of social justice movements: authoritarianism. Note who Clark is primarily referring to here. Is he primarily referring to one of the prophets from the Old Testament? Or is he primarily referring to one of the Apostles from the New Testament? BTW, he will refer to the Apostles later but in a supporting role.  Or is even referring to Jesus? Again, he will refer to Jesus later but in a supporting role. The answer to all three questions is a resounding NO! He is referring to two heroes of Clark's highly revered Reformation: Luther and Calvin. And this preference for reformed heroes over Biblical examples should remind us of how Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their preference for their traditions rather than the Word of God (click here).

So what we have here in Clark's article on social justice and on Calvin (click here for the article) is a typical conservative approach to social justice from a religiously American conservative Christian perspective. And it matters not that not all religiously conservative Christians in America substantially adhere to the tenets taught by Reformed Theology, Clark (click here for a short bio) still presents a typical American conservative Christian response to social justice. 

The typical response is to approach the subject deductively in an all-or-nothing manner after using one's theology, a theology that has been defined solely from the past, to adequately identify all of the issues involved. There is no need for these religiously American conservative Christians to listen to current facts on the ground to compel them to act. There is no need for them to change from supporting the status quo. And that, unfortunately, is part of a rich tradition of conservative Christianity in the last few centuries. It is one where the predominant branch of the Church, in given countries, has supported the status quo--or those with wealth and power to be more precise. Why? Because they are riding on its coattails.

So let's get to Clark's article and his misplaced focus on Calvin. And unless one is use to listening or reading those who have given way to some authoritarian personality type, his article strangely begins about Calvin and on whether he was a tyrant during his reign in Geneva. After all, we have to first dispel the allegations against Calvin before using him as an authority figure whose words and example should be followed without much questioning. Oddly enough, there is no attempt to mitigate Luther's anti-Semitism.

Then Clark goes on to support the quote given above. He describes 3 forms of eschatology where one of the forms does not belong to the others. In other words, 2 of those eschatological forms are defomred while the Reformed one is not perfect but is correct enough. Suffice it to say, if one is working from a deformed eschatological perspective, one's work in social justice will be described as being antagonistic to the Gospel. Please note what Clark says below:

There is a case to be made that Calvin was implicitly Amillennial in his eschatology. Was decidedly critical of “the chiliasts” (historic premillennialists) but however one comes out on that question he was committed to Luther’s distinction between the theology of glory and the theology of the cross, which he laid out at the Heidelberg Disputation in 1518. In short, a theology of glory is a theology that 1) seeks to present one’s self to God on the basis of works; 2) that elevates human reason above divine revelation. The theology of the cross looks to Christ and his righteousness imputed, received through faith alone, resting in Christ alone, according to the Scripture alone.

And just as, in the Gospels when the question was asked if anyone good can come from Nazareth, the question Clark implies is whether anything good can come from a deformed eschatology. And again, without examining any facts on the ground, Clark is determined to deductively dismiss all social justice movements.

It is at this point that Clark then appeals to biblical characters to support the stands taken by his heroes from the Reformation. Clark notes that Jesus said that his kingdom is not of this world and that means that it is not found in activism. In addition, the examples of the Christians in the book of Acts do not show activism to be a tool to be used.

The argument of a lack of examples provided by New Testament Christians to discredit social justice activism assumes the following: that today's Christians have never faced any circumstances or situations that were significantly different from what those 1st century Christians faced and thus their examples are adequate in guiding all of our behavior. What logically follows Clark here, which he would criticize in another article, is biblicism (click here for that article and click there for a definition of biblicism).

Clark finishes by returning to Calvin and how he was faithful because he  remained steadfast in employing the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, and the use of church discipline. Thus, there is nothing else that we would need to consider, implies Clark. All of our questions have been answered by selectively, and solely, looking to the past to adequately interpret and guide us in how we react to the present. There is no need to look at today's facts on the ground to determine whether we should join efforts to provide social justice.

There are many practical and biblical flaws in Clark's reasoning. Again, he shows the typical religiously American conservative Christian's reaction to social justice movements. He approaches them from deductive approach only using only his theology from the past to determine what they are about. He, in an authoritarian manner, primarily appeals to heroes such as Calvin and Luther to provide examples of how we should live in today's world. And finally, his use of selective statements from Jesus and the examples of the Christians from the book of Acts is an implementation of biblicism as well as an example of only looking to the past to understand the present. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Calvin and Luther were people from the Bible, his appeals to their examples would also be a form of biblicism.

Since too much time and space has already been taken to explain Clark's views on social justice, an abbreviated response is required. And one such response would be to point to the work of Martin Luther King Jr. Now, I agree with Clark's preferred school of eschatology and with the fact that we can't bring God's kingdom to earth. And that would put me at odds with the eschatology of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, I find it impossible to dismiss most of King's words about and works for social justice. Rather, King's words and efforts are far more biblical regarding social justice than Clark's conclusions. All we need to do is to compare what King said and did with what the Old Testament prophets said and did or to compare King with what James wrote such as what he wrote about the rich in James 5.

Why do I side with King here despite his deformed eschatology? It is because we have to apply God's Word to today's facts on the ground rather to the facts on the ground of past Christians. It's not that we cannot learn from them, we must. But we live in significantly different worlds and thus we must go beyond what their word and actions. And despite his problematic eschatological views, that is what King did that Clark failed to do despite his theologically correct eschatology.

 

ONIM For November 6, 2017

10 Best Fact Checking Sites Found Here.

If you are not sure about the validity of a news story linked to below, you can use  mediabiasfactcheck.com to check out the credibility of the source of most of the stories linked to here.


Christian News

• Trump's Narrow Circle Of Faith Advisers Tells Him Only What He Wants To Hear -- Religion News Service
• 3 Ways To Remember The Reformation -- Anxious Bench
• 95 More For The Modern Church's Door: Sparking A Reformation In The Entertainment Church -- Ponder Anew
• The Reformation: 5 Ways It Changed Our World -- Evangelical Pulpit
• In His 'Ninety-Five Theses,' Luther Called On Believers To Repent. What Does That Mean? -- Religion News Service
• A Journey From RANN To "The Witness: A Black Christian Collective" -- The Witness: A Black Christian Collective
• Same Rebel, New Level: Levrae's Departure From Evangelicalism -- The Witness: A Black Christian Collective
• Why Liberty University Kicked An Anti-Trump Christian Author Off Campus-- Atlantic
• Pat Robertson Urges Trump To Pardon Everyone, Then Stop Mueller Probe -- Huffington Post
• Responding To CT's Editorial Against The Nashville Statement -- A Coalition For Biblical Sexuality
• Nashville Statement -- A Coalition For Biblical Sexuality
• Pope Francis Requests Roman Catholic Priests Be Given The Right To Marry -- Yahoo News

World News

• Maryland Investigating Kushner Companies Over Apartments -- CNN
• Investigators Probe Kushner Company Over Allegations Of Vermin-Infested Properties And Aggressive Debt Collection -- Newsweek
• How Economic Theories Serve Big Business -- Evonomics
• WSJ Editorial Board Calls For Mueller's Resignation And Accuses Clinton Campaign And DNC Of Collusion -- Business Insider
• Decline And Fall: How American Society Unravelled -- Guardian
• Disrespecting China's National Anthem Could Result In Three Years In Prison -- Fox News
• When Prosecutors Decide Who Keeps Their Public Defender, Injustice Is Certain -- ACLU
• Who Is New York Terror Suspect Sayfullo Saipov? -- CNN
• New York Terror Suspect 'Wanted To Kill As Many People As He could': Complaint -- ABC News
• Nikki Haley Tells United Nations: You're Not The Boss Of U.S.  -- Miami Herald
• Trump Court Pick Rated 'Not Qualified' Sits Through Humiliating Senate Hearing -- Huffington Post
• 'Nonchalant' Suspect Arrested After Colorado Walmart Triple-Slaying -- Reuters 
• Bump Stock Maker Resumes Sales One Month After Las Vegas Mass Shooting -- Huffington Post
• Hillary Clinton Defends Funding Anti-Trump Dossier In Late-Night Interview -- ABC News
• House Democrats Sue For Records On Trump International Hotel Lease -- Yahoo News
• Poll: Majority Of Democrats Now Have Favorable Opinion Of George W. Bush -- Business Insider
• Pilger Interviews Ex-CIA Chief Duane McClarridge -- Vimeo
• Public School In Minnesota Requires English Course Aimed At Eradicating White Privilege -- Fox News
• Religious Extremism By Any Other Name -- Investors Business Daily 
• Portrait Of Las Vegas Gunman: A Narcissist On A Losing Streak -- Yahoo News
• The Radicalization Of Joan Didion -- New Yorker
• Shoppers Pulled Guns In Response To Thorton Wallmart Shooting, But Police Say That Slowed Investigation -- Denver Post
• What Killed The Democratic Party? -- Nation
• The Supreme Court Has An Ethics Problem -- Politico Magazine
• How Russian Hackers Pried Into Clinton Campaign Emails -- McClatchy 
• Robert Mueller's Brilliant Strategy For Outmaneuvering Trump Pardons -- Slate
• The Ozone Hole Over Antarctica Just Did Something It Hasn't Done In Decades -- WMAR News
• House GOP Simultaneously Pushes For New Abortion Band And End To Adoption Tax Credit -- Intercept
• American Charged With Subversion In Zimbabwe Goes To Court -- ABC News
• Saudi Arrests Of Princes Consolidates Another's Power Grab -- AP News

Israel-Palestine News

• Palestinian Presidency Rejects Haaretz Report -- Aljazeera
• Israelis Attack Britons On Balfour Apology Mission -- Press TV
• After 98 Days In Prison, IDF Releases Conscientious Objector -- 972 Magazine
• Palestinian Girl, 11, To UK PM: Balfour Celebration 'A New Obstacle To Peace' -- Middle East Monitor
• Israel To African Refugees: You're Not Welcome Here -- USA Today
• After Airstrikes, Israeli Minister Warns Against Arms Shipments To Hezbollah -- Reuters
• Why Is The West Financing Palestinian Terrorism? -- Newsweek
• Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Denies Palestinians Live Under Occupation: 'This Is Judea And Samaria' -- Independent 

Racism News

• Russians Targeted U.S. Racial Divisions Long Before 2016 And Black Lives Matter -- NPR
• Family Tells Hearings That A 'White-Passing' Appearance Alters Police Reactions -- CTV News
• I'm A Black Man Who Moved To The Deep South. Here's What It's Teaching Me About Race -- Vox
• Black Lives Matter Founder Urges Australians To Fight Racism -- Fox News
• NYC Activists Protest Chinatown Gallery Exhibit For Being 'Racism Disguised As Art' -- Waging Nonviolence
• John Kelly Says Lack Of 'Compromise' Started Civil War, Defends Statues -- Huffington Post
• Ta-Nehisi Coates Tears Into John Kelly's 'Creationist Theorizing' On Civil War -- Huffington Post

Donald Trump News

• Trump Fumes As Mueller Probe Enters New Phase With Charges -- AP News
• A Brief History Of Manafort's Relationship With Trump -- Yahoo News
• Trump Is Use To Getting Away With Everything--Those Days May Now Be Over -- Independent
• Federal Judge Blocks Enforcement Of Trump's Transgender Military Ban -- Huffington Post
• Trump And His Allies Are Laying The Groundwork For A Saturday Night Massacre -- Washington Post
• Trump Reportedly Blames Jared Kushner For The Mueller Probe -- Week
• Intercepted Podcast: Criminal Indictments At Home, Secret Wars Abroad -- Intercept
• Trump Says He's 'Very Frustrated' He Can't Order DOJ, FBI To Go After Hillary -- Huffington Post
• These Psychiatrists Say Trump Poses An Imminent Threat To Humanity -- Nation
• 'I'm The Only One That Matters,' Trump Says Of State Department Job Vacancies -- NPR
• George Papadopoulos: Aide Who Lied To FBI Repeatedly Represented Trump Campaign, Records Reveal -- Independent
• Donald Trump Refuses To Rule Out Sacking Attorney General Jeff Sessions If He Will Not Investigate His Political Opponents -- Independent

Pick(s) Of The Litter

• Did The U.S. Military Just Send One Of Its Deadliest Warplanes To North Korea As A Message? -- Newsweek
• First Guilty Plea, Indictment Of Trump Aides In Russia Probe -- AP News
• The 12-Count Manafort And Gates Indictment, Annotated -- Washington Post
• Head Of Puerto Rico's Electrical Workers' Union Demands Corruption Probe Of Whitefish Energy Contract -- Democracy Now
• FBI Investigating Puerto Rico Power Contract: WSJ -- Reuters
• If You're Boycotting Israel In This Texas Town, Then No Hurricane Relief For You -- ACLU
• North Korea Nuclear Test Site Collapse Killed 200 People: Report -- Newsweek
• JFK Files: J. Edgar Hoover Said Public Must Believe Lee Harvey Oswald Acted Alone -- NBC News
• Climate Change Is Already A Health Crisis, Top Medical Journal Says -- Huffington Post
• How The Deadly New York City Truck Attack Unfolded -- ABC News
• How Weatherman Confused Violence With Militancy And Triggered The Downfall Of SDS -- Waging Nonviolence
• Inside Hillary Clinton's Secret Takeover Of The DNC -- Politico Magazine
• Uzbekistan Cooperated With CIA Rendition & Torture Post-9/11, As Gov't Boiled Dissidents Alive -- Democracy Now
• Asked If DNC Was Rigged In Clinton's Favor, Warren says 'Yes' -- CNN
• 4 NJ Police Officers Face Charges For Beating An Innocent Man On Fire -- ABC News
• Nestlé Pays $200 A Year To Bottle Water Near Flint--Where Water Is Undrinkable -- Guardian
• The Ugly History Of The Pledge Of Allegiance--And Why It Matters? -- Washington Post
• US Special Operations Forces Are In More Countries Than You Can Imagine -- Nation
• Hurricane Maria: More Than 900 People In Puerto Rico Have Died After The Tropical Storm -- Independent
• Yes, America. People Of Color Are Sitting Together In The Cafeteria. Here's Why -- Chicago Tribune
• GOP--I Wish You Were Really Pro-Life -- John Pavlovitz
• U.S. Must Invade North Korea To Wipe Out Kim Jung Un's Nuclear Weapons, Military Leaders Say -- Newsweek
• 26 Killed At South Texas Church, FleeingGunman Found Dead In Crash -- CBS News

ONIM For May 18, 2015

Christian News

• Church Of Scotland Votes Yes To Ministers In Civil Partnerships -- Christian Today (UK)
• US Appeals Court Orders Release Of Nuclear-Activist Nun -- Christian Today (UK)
• One In Eight Parents Fake Religion To Get Kids In Faith School -- Christian Today (UK)
• Martin Luther's 'Great And Worthy Undertaking' -- Christianity Today
• Sister Momeka: Liberate Christian Lands From ISIS -- Christianity Today
• David Platt: Urgency For The Gospel Led To Policy Changes -- Christianity Today
• 10 Interesting Facts About Evangelicals From Pew's Religion Report -- The Christian Post
• Fourteen Key Reasons For The Breakdown In Church Unity -- The Christian Post
• God's Judgment Is Coming To America And 'It's Going To Be Ugly,' Says Billy Graham's Daughter -- The Christian Post
• The Real But Overstated Decline Of American Christianity -- New York Times

World News

• Governor Said Nuclear Plant Fire Produced Hudson Oil Slick -- Yahoo News
• Elizabeth Warren Fires Back At Obama: Here's What They're Really Fighting About -- Washington Post
• FBI Violated Its Own Rules While Spying On Keystone XL Opponents-- The Guardian
• Activists Blocked Part Of Shell Fuel Transfer Station -- The Stranger
• The Divorce Surge Is Over, But The Myth Lives On -- New York Times
• Is Assad On The Brink Of Defeat? -- The Real News
• FBI's Warning Of White Supremacists Infiltrating Law Enforcement Nearly Forgotten -- The Grio
• The New York Times Claims BDS Is The Reason For "A Wedge Between Jews And Minorities" On Campus -- Salon
• U.S. Will Allow Drilling For Oil In Arctic Ocean -- New York Times
• Israeli Extremism Will Encourage Global Boycott -- New York Times
• A Black Freedom Rider's Assessment Of Whites -- Huffington Post
• Illinois Has No Business Boycotting Those Who Boycott Israel -- Chicago Sun Times
• Worry Over Shariah Law In Idaho Jeopardizes Child Support -- Yahoo News
• Harvard Faces Admissions Bias Complaint From Asia-Americans -- Bloomberg News
• A Nation Of Snitches -- Truthdigg
• College Student Tells Jeb Bush: 'Your Brother Created ISIS' -- Truthdig
• Mitchell: Stop Ignoring Black-On-Black Violence -- Chicago Sun Times
• Beverly Hills Becomes First In California To Ban Fracking -- Reuters
• Kayaktivists Face Down Shell In Seattle -- MSNBC (Video)
• Seattle Activists Throw 'Unwelcome Party' For Arctic-Bound Shell Oil Rig -- Waging NonViolence
• Two Students Killed Amidst Chilean Nationwide Protest For Free Education -- Waging Nonviolence
• It's Time For A New Political And Economic System--A Conversation With Gar Alperovitz -- Waging NonViolence
• While We Focus On Shootings, We Ignore Victims Of Police Sexual Assault -- ZNet
• The More Israel Represses The Nabka, The Stronger The Memories -- ZNet
• UN Issues Scathing Assessment Of U.S. Human Rights Record -- Huffington Post
• Man Indicted In Ferguson Rally Shooting That Injured Police -- Yahoo News
• Israeli Court Says Arab Village Must Make Way For Jewish Town -- Middle East Eye
• Wyoming Makes It A Crime To Collect Evidence Of Pollution On Public Land -- Addicting Info
• The Right-Wing Political Record Of Bernie Sanders -- World Socialist Web Site
• Chris Hedges Makes His Case For Revolt -- Truthdig
• Members Of A Canadian Indigenous Tribe Turn Down $267,000 Per Person To Allow A Pipeline To Be Built Through Their Land -- The Fusion
• Video: Texas Soldier Dies After Telling Jail Guards He Couldn't Breathe 20 Times -- Democracy Now
• City Shuts Off Water To Delinquent Residents; Hits Baltimore County Homes Hardest -- Baltimore Sun
• Battle Over Black Freedom In Columbia -- ZCommentaries
• The Awful Truth About Climate Change No One Wants To Admit -- ZNet

Pick(s) Of The Litter

• CIA Whistleblower Jeff Sterling Speaks Out Upon Sentencing To 3.5 Years In Prison -- Democracy Now
• Noam Chomsky: Western Media Is Still Manufacturing Consent -- Sputnik News
• Many Of The NSA's Loudest Defenders Have Financial Ties To NSA Contractors -- The Intercept
• Justice Dept Knows Scores Of Prisoners Are Innocent, But Says "It Is Not Their Job" To Set Them Free -- The Free Thought Project
• Noam Chomsky Explains How Islamic State Grew Out Of The Iraq War -- Truthdig
• Vatican To Recognize Palestinian State In New Treaty -- New York Times
• Israeli Soldiers, Palestinians Clash On 'Nabka' Day -- Al -Arabiya News
• Permafrost Thaw Would Have Runaway Effect On Carbon Release -- Truthdig