In Search of the City on a Hill

Recently I read a summary of this book by Dr. Kim Riddlebarger over at his blog.  He wrote the following:

For those of you interested in American church history and/or modern politics in light of the two kingdoms debate, you will certainly profit from Richard Gamble's recent book, In Search of the City on a Hill:  The Making and Unmaking of an American Myth.  You can find Gamble's book on Amazon here.

Gamble discusses in great detail the historical context for John Winthrop's famous 1630 sermon "A Model of Christian Charity" given onboard the Arbella before his group arrived in the New World.  As Gamble points out, near the end of his famous sermon Winthrop used the image of a "city on a hill" (found in Matthew 5:14) in a very conventional and biblical way (as an image of the church's witness and pastoral ministry).  Winthrop intended far less by his use of this metaphor than many have assumed.  

Go here to read the rest of Riddlebarger's article.  As an added bonus he includes a link to a recent interview Gamble gave with National Review Online.

I would add that the author is a ruling elder in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in America and professor at Hillsdale College, in Hillsdale, Michigan.  I had the privilege of meeting him a couple of years back at the Russell Kirk Center.  He is someone worth reading.  If possible, I'd like to work it out to speak in my community.

We Hate Bad Religion

A few days ago I began hearing about a video sweeping the internet condemning religion.  Kevin DeYoung, of University Reformed Church in Lansing, Michigan commented on it here and here.  His initial response was right on and the follow-up post indicates constructive engagement with the person who created the video.  This is a good example of people working through their differences.

Someone else has also commented on the video albeit from a confessional Lutheran perspective.  This response uses the medium of video and intersperses clips from the first video with responses from the author.  Go to this link to watch the video:  WHI - We Hate Bad Religion Too 


I can't say that the original video breaks any new ground.  I've pretty much heard it all before having come to faith on the tail end of the Jesus movement.  What's curious is how these arguments come around full-circle to new generations (kind of like clothes that once were fashionable coming back into fashion).

For those concerned about politics please know that the comments in the original video about evangelicals and politics are also answered in this fine book.

Onward. 

11 Republican Senators Permit Former Planned Parenthood Director to Become Federal Judge

I don't blog much about political matters but every so often one comes along that deserves comment.

When I saw this headline I was stunned - A Former Planned Parenthood Director receives a lifetime appointment to a federal court? Who's in bed with whom?

Thursday, May 05, 2011


Senate Democrats were able to confirm the former director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island to a lifetime federal judgeship after 11 Republicans voted to close debate on the nomination and allow it to come up for a final vote...



The cloture vote on the nomination of John J. “Jack” McConnell was 63 to 33 with 1 senator voting present and 2 senators not voting at all. Had 4 of the 11 Republicans who voted for cloture not done so, the nomination would have failed. A cloture vote requires 60 votes to succeed.


All 11 Republicans who voted for cloture—and thus to allow McConnell’s nomination to proceed—turned around and voted against the nomination itself on the final vote. That vote succeeded 50 to 44 and McConnell was confirmed.

The 11 Republican senators who voted for cloture and thus to permit McConnell to become a lifetime federal judge were: Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mark Kirk of Illinois, John McCain of Arizona, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Thune of South Dakota.

Now to be clear, all eleven who voted for cloture (to end debate) voted against his nomination.  But in the end his nomination only needed a simply majority to stand.  Talk about spineless!  These eleven senators are hiding behind their "No" vote on the confirmation to divert attention from their weakness in ending debate.  Everyone knows that once cloture ended his confirmation was assured given the fact that the Democrats are in the majority.  I thought that Republicans were the party of 'life'.  Silly me.    

Some of the eleven are predictable RINO Republicans.  Others have portrayed themselves as pro-life, evangelical Christians.  Some are spinning this in light of past Democratic actions that blocked President George W. Bush's judicial nominees asserting that they do not want to be that mean and that now is a time for bipartisanship.  What?  To allow someone on the federal judiciary with this baggage is beyond me.
 
Read the full story here:  11 Republican Senators Permit Former Planned Parenthood Director to Become Federal Judge CNSnews.com

HT: Pearcey Report

Flanders Field

Not Your Average Saturday

Today I did something quite out of the ordinary, at least for me. The last two Saturday mornings found me knee deep in a local river hunting ducks. Normally I would’ve done something in the great outdoors today as well. However, I was invited to attend a panel discussion at the Russell Kirk Center  on the topic of “Protestantism and American Politics.” The panel consisted of Dr. Richard Gamble and Dr. Darryl Hart from Hillsdale University along with Dr. Glenn Moots of Northwood University. Dr. William Stephenson from Calvin College moderated the discussion.

Glenn Moots led off with a review of Protestant thought concerning civil religion and church-state relations going back to the Reformation. Richard Gamble’s message was entitled, The Problem of America: The City on a Hill vs. The City of Man. Darryl Hart rounded out the panel with a discussion of the rise of the Evangelical Left and how this was caused by the Moral Majority. All three entertained questions before breaking for lunch. After the meal we reconvened in Dr. Kirk’s library for some additional discussion on civil religion.

Our group was not large – about 25 people – consisting of university professors, students, a couple of pastors and three Wilbur Fellows currently studying at the Kirk Center. Our host was the lovely and gracious Annette Kirk, whose home, Piety Hill, was the location for lunch.

During my years in Michigan God has allowed me to cross paths with a number of people who are directly involved in politics or who advocate public policy through think-tanks. I am not a political animal nor particularly well-read in this areas, yet I have grown to appreciate those who are called to serve in these vocations. As an American citizen I have much to learn from those whose business it is to address life in the City of Man. As a minister of the Gospel I remain committed to those things that pertain to the City of God. Today was a valuable lesson as I learn how to live as a citizen of both cities.

For additional resources (print and audio) go to http://kirkcenter.wordpress.com/

A Mormon on the Glenn Beck rally

I did not watch the Glen Beck rally but have read the analysis of others, including Russell Moore.  He notes how far we (evangelicals) have fallen in the last thirty years:  "It’s taken us a long time to get here, in this plummet from Francis Schaeffer to Glenn Beck. In order to be this gullible, American Christians have had to endure years of vacuous talk about undefined “revival” and “turning America back to God” that was less about anything uniquely Christian than about, at best, a generically theistic civil religion and, at worst, some partisan political movement."  That's one side of the coin. 

Gene Veith shows us the other side of that coin - a Mormon's view of the rally.  In short what the Mormons got out of the rally was legitmacy.  They now believe that the they have been embraced by evangelicals as Bible-believing Christians. 

I'm astonished that evangelicals now rally around a Mormon as their leader.  What happened to Schaeffer's distinction of "co-belligerency"?  Where is the basic understanding of Mormonism that it has a defective view of Jesus Christ (i.e. not in keeping with the Nicene or Athanasian Creeds)?  I believe that this is the fruit of thirty years of church growth, topical sermons, and "practical", consumer-oriented Christianity.  I shudder to think where we will be thirty years from now. 

Veith also has a link to David Barton's explanation as to why he supports Glenn Beck.  I've never had much use for his work and this statement is the final nail in that coffin.

Newfoundland.& Labrador Premier to Have Heart Surgery in US - CBC News

CBC News is reporting that NL Premier Danny Williams is to have heart surgery later this week. Though details are sketchy it is clear that he is not staying in Canada for the surgery but coming to the U.S. Hmmm. Ought to give us Americans reason to question Washington as our own government presses ahead with healthcare reform. Click on the link to read more.
 CBC News - Nfld. & Labrador - Heart surgery to sideline N.L. premier for weeks

I wrote about this phenomena a few weeks back posting a UTube video produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Click on this link to view another one of their videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPFK6aLJec8&feature=player_embedded

The Overton Window

Most folks have never heard of Joe Overton. A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting him via a mutual friend and the three of us enjoyed lunch together. Afterwards he spent an hour showing me around The Mackinac Center and telling me about his life's work of advocating sound public policy. Over lunch we discovered both of us were involved in Campus Crusade as college students. He attended Michigan Tech and I was at UW-Stevens Point. The groups from our respective schools went to the same conferences and retreats. So we probably crossed paths numerous times in college but never met. Tragically, he died in a small plane crash in 2003.

His name hit the national airwaves recently concerning "The Overton Window." Turns out that a principle he defined and that bears his name has become normal parlance in the realm of public policy. His principle has even been picked up by Fox News' Glenn Beck.

What is the Overton Window? Click below for a concise definition.

The Overton Window (Mackinac Center)

Mr. President, Stop Bowing

HT: Atlas Shrugs

Lindsey Graham Destroys Eric Holder

And now for a bit of politics...

U.S. Tops in Energy Resources - HUMAN EVENTS

Did you see this recent headline?  For some reason I missed it too.  Found it on Drudge or some other internet site.  It is based on a report from a US Congressional Committee.  Wonder why it hasn't seen the light of day? 

Here are the particulars:

The United States has largest energy reserves on Earth, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

 As shown in the charts below, the U.S. has 1,321 billion barrels of oil (or barrels of oil equivalent for other sources of energy) when combining its recoverable natural gas, oil and coal reserves.
While Russia is a close second with 1,248 billion barrels, other energy producing nations are far behind. No. 3 is Saudi Arabia (543 billion barrels), followed by China (494 billion barrels), Iran (426 billion barrels) and Canada (221 billion barrels.)

In addition, the report stated that the United States has tapped into only 13% or 21 billion barrels of its oil reserves, with the other 87% still untouched.

The report also noted that the United States has 28% of all the world’s coal reserves, with Russia again coming in second with 19%.

Click on the link for the rest of the article and some really good charts. 

U.S. Tops in Energy Resources - HUMAN EVENTS

Canadian Medical Tourism

Some might wonder why I have a couple of public policy websites (The Acton Institute and The Mackinac Center for Public Policy) listed on a blog that is largely devoted to reformed theology. The answer is simple: both organizations use logic, reason, natural law and free market thinking to argue for public policies that will improve the lives of the most people at the least cost. One might be surprised to learn that a number of believers are employed at both organizations. I say 'surprised' because you will not find Scripture being cited as the basis for public policy. Perhaps the pro-life movement and those involved with other causes consistent with Scripture can learn from this model.

This video is from my friends at The Mackinac Center for Public Policy. It chronicles the phenomena we see here along the US-Canada border -- scores of Canadians coming to the states for medical treatment. Thought-provoking.

Go to http://www.mackinac.org/ for more videos on this topic and other resources devoted free marketing thinking.

Jack Webb Schools Barack Obama on Healthcare

It's Friday and time for a bit of humor. Enjoy!

100 days of death

Jill Stanek has written a thought-provoking piece on President Obama's first 100 days in office. While most people are busy grading his performance on the economy, banking, the auto industry, foreign affairs, etc. this is the first article I've seen analyzing his actions with regard to the unborn. Her analysis is simply a timeline of his actions chronicling his political appointments and the legislation that he has signed since the election last November.

You can read the article in its entirety: 100 days of death. Now is not the time to grow weary.

HT: The Pearcey Report

Top 10 gaffes by Barack Obama and Joe Biden

Hey, its Friday. Time to let down a bit and have a laugh or two. Enjoy

Top 10 gaffes by Barack Obama and Joe Biden :: Toby Harnden

Different Presidents, A Different Corps

Wow, kind of says it all. What have we gotten ourselves into?

HT. Atlas Shrugs

The root causes of the Gaza conflict in less than 6 minutes

Here is an even-handed survey of the rise of militant Islam and its role in the world today. It is only about 5 minutes long. Be sure to catch the ending.

Dear neighbour, about what's going on in Canada

For the last few weeks there's been some political turmoil brewing in Canada. We in America have had our own excitement with the election of Barack Obama which has obscured the events unfolding up north.

I found a column written by CBC news reporter Neil MacDonald, who covers US politics from Washington, D.C. It is a sort of primer on Canadian politics and compares and contrasts their political parties to the two major U.S. political parties: Republicans and Democrats. And you thought that we had problems? Here is a sample:

My dear American neighbours,

I see the political crisis in Canada has finally made it into the Washington Post's Foreign Briefs column.

So, anticipating a flood of interest from all of you at the dog run in the morning, let me try to give you some idea of what's happening up there.

A few weeks ago, we had an election in Canada, a couple of weeks before yours, actually. A political party known as the Conservatives won.

Well, sort of. They didn't win in the sense that most of you understand winning. I'll get to that in a second.

They also aren't what most of you would consider conservative.

They support what you call socialized medicine, they believe in protecting a Canadian-controlled banking system, they believe in government as a vehicle for transferring wealth between regions, and they've actually muzzled party members who tried to make abortion a campaign issue.

In fact, instead of making his Sunday trip to church a photo opportunity, our Conservative leader refuses to discuss his faith in public. (Like many Americans, he's an evangelical Christian).

Different kettle of fish

So our Conservatives are a bit different from yours. Down here, you'd probably call them Democrats. And fairly liberal ones at that.

But, as I said, they won our last election, which is a pretty low-key affair compared to yours. The campaign lasted a few weeks instead of two years.

What's more, they won with only 37 per cent of the vote. Now, you can do that in Canada because our Parliament has three other political parties: The Liberals (again, pay no attention to the name, they tend to adapt their worldview as needed), the Bloc Québécois (a Quebec party that says it wants to break up the country, but hasn't actually done much about it for many years), and the NDP.

I'm not quite sure how to explain the NDP. The other parties like to call them socialists.

Some of their more doctrinaire members would like the government to nationalize or take a large financial stake in things like banks and manipulate the national economy by spending huge amounts of public money. You know, the sort of thing President George W. Bush has been doing this year.

I know, I know, it's confusing.

Read the rest by clicking on the link Dear neighbour, about what's going on in Canada

American Thinker: Death of Republican Party

Try this one on for size...

"Republicans had branded themselves as the Party of low taxes, responsible spending and limited government. Virtually everything President Bush has done since his tax cuts in 2001 has been the exact opposite.

* Prescription coverage for Medicare and Medicaid, the largest expansion of entitlements since LBJ.
* No Child Left Behind, sponsored by Ted Kennedy and leading to even more Federal intrusion into education and doubling federal spending on education.
* Increased steel and lumber tariffs.
* Ending the Freedom to Farm effort and expanded ethanol subsidies.
* Increases in the minimum wage, the first in 10 years.
* Increasing spending from about 18.4% of GDP to 20% and more, and turning surpluses into deficits.
* Campaign Finance Reform.
* And almost forgot, our President had the Justice Dept. file an amicus brief to weaken the 2nd Amendment in the Heller case.

And now this, a cumulative bailout of $1.8 trillion. Do you know how much $1.8 trillion is? It's what the entire Federal budget was in 2000. And Bush signed onto that much in just the last two weeks, on top of the $3 trillion regular budget. At this point, I don't care if we double the subsidies to mohair farmers or buy a bridge to nowhere. Bail out California, too -- just $7B, hardly a blip on the radar.

How long can you go on speechifying about the free market or limited government when this is your track record?

(If social issues, especially pro-life, are what drives your vote, explain why Roe v Wade has only been strengthened since 1973, all by a court with 7 of the 9 Justices, and every Chief Justice since 1953, appointed by Republicans. Name any other things the Republicans actually delivered for you when they had the Presidency, the Senate and the House, together. I'm waiting ...)...

Democrats are painting our current financial mess as a "failure of the free market." Worse, no Republican is answering the charge. In fact, our last presidential nominee said, "you're right."

Read the rest here - American Thinker: Time Of Death: Oct. 3, 2008

HT The Pearcey Report

Cal Thomas - Religious Right R.I.P.

I'm a bit late on this one but it is worth reading. Here is a snippet...

"When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, he will do so in the 30th anniversary year of the founding of the so-called Religious Right. Born in 1979 and midwifed by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Religious Right was a reincarnation of previous religious-social movements that sought moral improvement through legislation and court rulings. Those earlier movements — from abolition (successful) to Prohibition (unsuccessful) — had mixed results.

Social movements that relied mainly on political power to enforce a conservative moral code weren't anywhere near as successful as those that focused on changing hearts. The four religious revivals, from the First Great Awakening in the 1730s and 1740s to the Fourth Great Awakening in the late 1960s and early '70s, which touched America and instantly transformed millions of Americans (and American culture as a result), are testimony to that.

Thirty years of trying to use government to stop abortion, preserve opposite-sex marriage, improve television and movie content and transform culture into the conservative Evangelical image has failed. The question now becomes: should conservative Christians redouble their efforts, contributing more millions to radio and TV preachers and activists, or would they be wise to try something else?

I opt for trying something else.

Too many conservative Evangelicals have put too much faith in the power of government to transform culture. The futility inherent in such misplaced faith can be demonstrated by asking these activists a simple question: Does the secular left, when it holds power, persuade conservatives to live by their standards? Of course they do not. Why, then, would conservative Evangelicals expect people who do not share their worldview and view of God to accept their beliefs when they control government?"

Click on Cal Thomas to read the rest.