Note: There are helpful historical resources, linked at the end of this post. Also, if interested in the view of the Kingdom of Heaven as taught in the gospels, see the post "The Real Kingdom of Heaven"

Next week director Ridley Scott (of Gladiator fame) brings his medieval epic, The Kingdom of Heaven, to the Big Screen. The time period of the film, the medieval crusades, is a period of history of which much of the western world remains ignorant. Many in the west have been educated in the secular educational systems of the United States and Europe, where much of Christian history has been minimized, at times given a predominately negative slant. Therefore, an understanding of the people, times, and beliefs of the Crusades are caricatures at best for most of us. This film will bring great interest in the history of these times, so what is offered here is a brief context for what we will be viewing. As always, this film is a Hollywood story based upon history and will have its many shortcomings. Hollywood seldom has good things to say about Christianity, so I do not expect much to be done here. I'll comment more on the actual depiction once the film is in release. (Updated - World Magazine's Jamie Dean has done some research which shows some of the gross historical inaccuracies in the film. The usual contemporary re-visioning of history to be more in today's image than theirs...what is the world envisioned by the film? A world of tolerance, pluralism, and a distortion of the actual beliefs of the people involved) This was indeed a dark time in history, yet it bears heavily in our day with the current jihad declared against the West by certain Muslim radicals. Indeed, parts of the world have a long term memory of this protracted time of conflict. What follows is very brief, but I pray helpful, historical fly-over of the setting of this film and help you discern what you watch if you choose to see the film.

By the 7th century AD, the Christian gospel had spread throughout North Africa, the Middle East, parts of Asia, and all of Europe. Almost all that was once Rome, had been thoroughly Christianized. In 570 AD, Muhammad, who would become the prophet of Islam was born in Arabia. In 622 Muhammad flees the city of Mecca to Medina in what is known to Muslims as the Hijra. Eight years later, Muhammad’s armies conquered the city of Mecca establishing Islamic rule. Over the course of the next 300 years, the armies of Islam succesfully conquered the territories of Northern African, the Middle East, Asia Minor, Persia/Iraq as well as much of central Asia. Muslims had conquered the Iberian peninsula (including Spain), some parts of France (though they were successfully expelled due in part to the leadership of Charles Martel), parts of Italy, and much of the Mediterranean. Beginning in the late 7th century, the Eastern Byzantine Empire had withstood multiple Muslim onslaughts over the course of several hundred years. The major centers of Egyptian Christianity had fallen and Constantinople was consistently under siege. At the close of this period of Muslim expansion and conquest, the Christian world underwent a split. In 1054 the Latin West and the Greek East parted fellowship in what became known as the Great Schism . This was important in understanding a crucial dynamic leading up to the Crusades. East and West had split, though they were both Christian, and a call for aid would soon come from the East.

In 1095 the Eastern Byzantine Empire sent emissaries to the Western church to ask the Western Church and provinces to come to their aid. These events gave rise to Pope Urban II's calling of the First Crusade. The goals of the Crusade was to come to the aid of Eastern Christians under Muslim aggression, provide secure passage to pilgrams to Jerusalem, and recapture the church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The First Crusade led by Western princes was successful and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was established in 1100 under the rule of Baldwin I. The Crusader states in the Levent lasted for nearly nine decades until they fell to the Muslim leader and general Saladin in 1187. The movie “Kingdom of Heaven” is set during this time period during the last days of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Several other Crusades were launched over the next several centuries. Richard “the Lionheart” of England had some success in the Third Crusade reestablishing the city of Acre and regaining pilgrim access to Jerusalem. In 1291 the city of Acre once again fell to the Muslims bringing an end to Christian states in the Holy Land. The later crusades were filled with infighting amongst eastern and western Christians, harsh anti-semitism and Jewish persecution by lawless Crusaders, as well as crusades amongst Christians. Needless to say they were highly ineffective. After this period, The Ottoman Empire began its rise in the latter periods of the middle ages (1300-1600) becoming the dominant Muslim power in the world. The Ottoman Empire consistently advanced in the Balkans and on the eastern fronts of Christian lands. The Ottomans were held at bay by the Austrio-Hungarians as well as the Russian powers. The Ottoman Empire remained a nemesis to parts of Europe and was not thoroughly defeated until World War I when the modern Turkish state was established after the Allied victory. After World War II allied control led to the establishing of a Jewish state in Israel. This has inflamed the Islamic world to this day with many radicals unwilling to accept any Jewish presence in the Middle East.

A Brief Time Line in Reference to "The Kingdom of Heaven"

• 700-1000 – The Years of Muslim Conquest
• 1054 – The Great Schism between Western and Easter Christians
• 1095 Pope Urban II opens the Council of Clermont. Leaders from the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus come to ask assistance from the Western Christians.
• 1096-1099 – The First Crusade and the establishment of the Latin States

Timeframe depicted in Kingdom of Heaven Movie

• 1187 – The Battle of Hattin – massive defeat of the Christian forces which is featured in the film
• 1187 – The Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

Timeframe depicted in Kingdom of Heaven Movie

• 1291 – Fall of Acre – last Christian state in the Holy Land
  

Time Lines and References

• Crusades - from the Catholic Encyclopedia
• A TimeLine of the Crusades - from Christianity Today
• A Detailed Secular Timeline at About.com (can be a bit anti-Christian in slant)

Recommend Reading

Articles:

• The Real History of the Crusades by Thomas Madden
• How Could Christians Crusade by Bruce Shelley

Books:

• A Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas F. Madden - An excellent but brief history of the Crusades and the sociology of Christian Europe in that time.
• Also in an updated, but somewhat longer edition. The New Concise History of the Crusades, Revised Edition also by Thomas F. Madden

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Tonight, I had the privilege of spending some hours with my almost 4 year old, Kayla Joy. Mom, had a night out with some of the ladies from our Community Group at Fellowship Bible Church. Today, Kayla did not have a nap in the afternoon which meant that our time before she went to bed was a little sleepy, but especially sweet.

We took the time to look through our wedding pictures and I explained to her what marriage is, how God creates a new family when a man and woman marry, and how she would be my girl until the day (if that day comes) she were to marry. This of course was fascinating to her and she declared she just wanted me to be her Daddy for now. I wholeheartedly agreed!

What then took place is a precious moment, that I do pray I never forget. In the back of one of our photo albums was a picture of my water Baptism. My pastor at the time, Stephan Sharpless, an African American man, was praying for me in the pictures, taking me into the water, and raising me up. Kayla and I talked about what Baptism means and she said "when I am older, I would like to follow Jesus and be Baptized" I told her that I thought that would be great in due time. Then she said "but Daddy, who will Baptize me?" I looked into her little blue eyes and said "I will sweatheart, by God's Grace, if he so wills, I will" She filled with delight at that thought. Then it got really cute.

Kayla Joy (as word for word as I possibly can reproduce):

"Daddy, when I go down in the water and come back up, you know what I will become?"

At this I was thinking, "Wow, this is profound, what will she say?"

Thats when I become a mermaid, only girls can be mermaids

That was enough for me, but what she will become upon faith in Christ -- she will be changed, not to a mermaid, but to a human being whose future exaltation and glory will far supass even those wondrous realms of childhood fantasy...yes, even mermaidom.

Yes, Lord, thank you for mermaids! And thank you for the new birth - Father, may you visit your power on dear Kayla - to save her and have her rise anew.

Soli Deo Gloria, Amen

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There are many dead guys, who were not perfect, who were personally flawed, but also wrote great stuff. A new site just went up about the life and works of John Owen...very interesting. Owen lived in the height of religious strife England during the tulmuluous days of reformation and struggle for freedom.

An excellent timeline setting his life in context between other events in history is found on the site - very informative - See Owen Timeline

Looking forward to the next instrallment of John Piper's The Swans Are Not Silent Series which will feature John Owen. Volume 4 is described as follows:

This volume will, Lord willing, contain the biographies of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen. What unites these three is their tenacious defense of orthodoxy against the false teachings of their day. All three teach us to engage in theological defense and debate in ways that are life-giving rather than deadening. I believe this will be a relevant contribution to what the church needs today in its battle for doctrinal purity and loving interaction and cultural impact.

John Piper, Freshwords - March 30th 2005

To stand for truth amidst contemporary controversies and waves of teachings is always a tough task - Psalm 1 tells us that this will always be the case - there are those who will be called to delight in God amidst assembled masses of another mind. Thank God for the faithful who have walked ahead of us:

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

Hebrews 13:7

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Recently finished a great little book entitled "On Bullshit" by Harry G. Frankfurt. This little 67 pager does an excellent analysis and definition of BS in our day. I will most likely review the book in a coming entry but for now here are a couple of quotes (note, if the actual word BS is offensive, the following use it in the flow of the text - apologies, no offense intended)

For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He doe not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.

Harry G. Frankfut, On Bullshit (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005) 56.

Someone who lies and someone who tells the truth are playing on opposite sides, so to speak, in the same game. Each responds to the facts as he understands them, although the response of the one is guided by the authority of the truth, while the response of the other defies that authority and refuses to meet its demands. The bullshitter ignores these demands altogether. He does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.

Ibid, 60-61.

A friend today asked me to look into some comments made by Oprah Winfrey about the nature of religion (See video here). Due to my recent research into the nature of BS, I must categorize that Oprah is communicating the lies of another and then she is covering his lies with a bunch of bullshit. At least, that is my humble estimation of the estate of Oprah’s religiosity.

The Biblical Witness is very open about these matters:

• Jesus: "Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John 8).
• John: "He who has the Son, has the Life. He who does not have the Son, does not have the life" (1 John 5).
• Peter: "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
• Jesus: "He who believes has life; he who does not believe does not have life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).
• Paul: "If anyone delivers to you another Gospel, let him be anathema" (Galatians 1).

This list of passages from Greg Koukl - How to Do Postmodern Theology

Oprah, please do not demean the faith of 1/3 of the globe with your smattering of BS...

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There is no more startling and puzzling and marvelous and mysterious and heart thrilling concept in the entire Bible as this simple phrase found in John’s gospel. This Word (the divine Logos which was with God and was God, became flesh). The first question this provokes is this – What does it mean for God – infinite in being and perfections – to become something at all. By definition God cannot become other than he is, he cannot undergo mutation or violation of his nature. But yet this God did become! And what was it that he became? The divine Son, the pre-existent Logos who was with the Father before the Word began, became flesh. The brightness of deity put on the dim cloak of humanity, glory became dust, and dust became glorious. Did such a becoming do violence to the divine nature – my brothers, we must say NO! Rather, this becoming was a conjoining of natures in the one person – the divine taking on a lesser nature, but yet not a confusion of the divine with the human. One person, two natures – the wondrous God-Man Christ Jesus did step upon the earth.

For orthodox theology has specially insisted that Christ was not a being apart from God and man, like an elf, nor yet a being half human and half not, like a centaur, but both things at once and both things thoroughly, very man and very God.

GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy (New York: NY, Image books, 1959)
93. Originally published: New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1908.

In the midst of the mud and dirt of earth, in the midst of the sweat and blood of human flesh, God tabernacled, God dwelt among his own creation. Though the pristine glory of the one true God, upon which no man may directly gaze, was shrouded in the humanity, nonetheless the beauty of this man shone forth the being of God. “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” was the message – his very life was the beauty of God in perfected humanity.

He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men, yet he spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming yet He was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with Him and the little ones nestled in His arms. No one was half so kind or compassionate to sinners yet no one ever spoke such red-hot scorching words about sin… His whole life was love. Yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell… He saved others but at the last, Himself He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts which confront us in the Gospels. The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality.

James Stewart, The Strong Name

This person, the word made flesh, had come to earth to be a lamb, a lamb sacrificed to take away the sin of the world. What a thought! Humanity’s greatest dilemna, was to be remedied by the sacrifice of a lamb, and the lamb was God’s very Son, the 2nd person of the eternal, glorious, holy, unchanging, all powerful, wise, righteous, loving God.
Lingered in dust and dirt below the Lord of Glory did bestow

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When one speaks of events prior to their occurance, questions ought to arise. Either some trickery has occurred or a power beyond this world is at work. When the conjunction of event and prediction is mingled with one claiming to be the suffering Christ of the living God – true humble majesty has been displayed. The prophetic nature of Isaiah 52-53 is startling in its own right – but the content of the one predicted to come is all the more striking. Marvel at the description seen in these chapters. One who is to come would be:

• Marred, beyond human semblance…
• He had no form or majesty that we should look at him
• Despised and rejected by men
• He bore our grief and carried our sorrows
• Wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquity
• Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed
• Upon him was laid the iniquity of us all
• Oppressed, afflicted, as a lamb to the slaughter
• Yet Innocent and being cut off

Such a person would be marvelous indeed, but the Biblical fact that this was very God of very God, the Son of Man, Jesus – the divine and the human conjoined in one person. As such this astounds the mind and thrills the imagination. The humility and servitude of the suffering Christ – for the joy set before him – is the subject of this prophetic passage. Perhaps the most astonishing passage and revealing as to the purposes of God, comes to us in Isaiah 53:10:

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Who crushed, and killed, and sacrificed this servant of Isaiah 53? None other, none other, but God, YHWH. It was the will of the Lord to crush Him...Why? He would be the lamb of God, God’s very own sacrifce and substitute for sin would be made by his Christ, he himself being the lamb without blemish (innocent) offered for the sins of humanity. The substitution, propitiation, and intercessory work of God in Christ, is seen here in the humility of the Suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

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Believers today know so very little about the past, especially the Christian past. While secularists will only decry the injustices down by church and Christianity in the past - this is so much of a caricature of the actual facts. Yes, there were abuses and injustices and down right evil atrocities done (in contradiction to the teachings of Jesus) in the name of Christianity. But the truth of the matter is that more good has been done by the gospel of Jesus Christ than anything in history (See Christianity on Trial - Arguments Against anti-religious Bigotry by Carroll and Shiflett)

A few books you may want to check out on the church history side of things…very good reading

• I like Bruce Shelley’s Church History in Plain Language
• One that is a small volume is The 100 Most important events in Christian History by Curtis, Lang, and Peterson…
• The One Year Book of Christian History by E. Michael Rusten, Sharon O. Rusten is a fun book that has a reading form Church History every day.

Also, the Christian History Institute Web Site is a good place to get lost...

Out...

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A quick read of the top books read by believers these days shows how desperate the situation is to bring depth of thought back to Christ's church...man, we are a fluff reading bunch. ECPA: Bestsellers List

Also, note - the TNIV is #14 in the Bible list, despite what is probably the most aggressive, well funded, marketing campaign in history. As I have said...Just say No.

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Over the years I have read many of Greg Koukl's articles over at Stand to Reason Today I read his take on the beliefs of Brian McLaren.

I am greatly concerned that McLaren is now simply "itching the ears" - speaking from the spirit of our current age, telling people exactly what they want to hear. I cannot recommend reading his works unless one has a firm grasp on what actually reads on the pages of the Bible. When one rejects referencing the text of Scripture and simply tells us stories we need to ask what he is telling us. With the overwhelming endorsement of the New Testament - to watch for false teaching, to hold to sound doctrine (a great list list of Biblical and practical reasons for sound doctrine found here)

I'm all for being playful in my writing, but not for playing with the revealed truth - neither were the writers of the New Testament. I fear that McLaren is leading many off cliffs of confusion.

11And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,[a] 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[b] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

A few books I would recommend:

• On Postmodern Evangelical Scholarship - Reclaiming the Center - Confronting Evangelical Accommodation in Postmodern Times Millard J. Erickson (Editor), Paul Kjoss Helseth (Editor), Justin Taylor (Editor)
  
• Prophetic Untimeliness - A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance by Os Guisness - Book is very helpful on how to pursue "relevance" with "faithfulness" in the midst of the blowing winds of our times.
  
• Being Conversant with Emergent by DA Carson forthcoming
  

All of what some in Emergent desires - love for neighbor, compassion for the poor, love for enemy - is found in the same Scriptures as the desire for disciples of Jesus to know the "certainty of things taught" - after all this was the purpose of Luke's gospel. We need to be compassionate, evangelistic believers - loving others in his name and sharing the gospel of the grace of God which rescues us perishing sinners - to say that we are not in peril in our unbelief is to quote Paul (anathema).

Wanting to be a authentic, real kind of Christian - that trembles before both the grace and severity of God. And fall upon Christ for my refuge.

Out...

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Yes, they are serious. The scholars at the Center for Naturalism have a vision for all of our lives. We who are simply a connected chain physical causes, bound together by the laws of physics, a big blob of determinate matter, have much hope for the world the Naturalist will create for us!

FYI - Definition of Naturalism or popularly put by the late Dr. Carl Sagan - The Cosmos is all there is, all there ever was, all tha ever will be.

Straight from this site we find the following vision of the world:

Naturalism as a guiding philosophy can help create a better world by illuminating more precisely the conditions under which individuals and societies flourish, and by providing a tangible, real basis for connection and community. It holds that doctrines and policies which assume the existence of a freely willing agent, and which therefore ignore the actual causes of behavior, are unfounded and counter-productive. To the extent to which we suppose persons act out of their uncaused free will, to that extent will we be blind to those factors which produce criminality and other social pathologies, or, on the positive side, the factors which make for well-adjusted, productive individuals and societies.

By holding that human behavior arises entirely within a causal context, naturalism also affects fundamental attitudes about ourselves and others. Naturalism undercuts retributive, punitive, and fawning attitudes based on the belief that human agents are first causes, as well other responses amplified by the supposition of free will, such as excessive pride, shame, and guilt. Since individuals are not, on a naturalistic understanding, the ultimate originators of their faults and virtues, they are not deserving, in the traditional metaphysical sense, of praise and blame. Although we will continue to feel gratitude and regret for the good and bad consequences of actions, understanding the full causal picture behind behavior shifts the focus of our emotional, reactive responses from the individual to the wider context. This change in attitudes lends support for social policies based on a fully causal view of human behavior.

Center for Naturalism Internet Site, accessed April 10th 2005. Emphasis Added.

Reminds me of a quote from GK Chesterton:

The determinist does not believe in appealing to the will, but he does believe in changing the environment. He must not say to the sinner, “Go and sin no more,” because the sinner cannot help it. But he can put him in boiling oil; for boiling oil is an environment.

GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy (New York: NY, Image books, 1959) 20. Originally published: New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1908. Emphasis Added.

One ought to question the man who says he has the ability to "control environments to control the behavior of others

Out...

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For a class I am taking we are writing our thoughts on the ministry of Jesus, the suffering servant, the Word Made Flesh, the Great High Priest, the Son of God...

There are times in life when you know for certain that you are touching weighty and beautiful things. Some set you in a state of awesome reverence, fixing the mind on puzzling glories. Other times bring a state of humble affections of deep appreciation and gratitude. Yet there is a third moment much sweeter than even both of these precious moments. Such are those with Christ that mingle both the weight of glory in the soul with a heart felt, broken, unimaginable unworthiness standing before beautiful truths.

When one looks upon Jesus, the incarnation, the pre-incarnate Logos who becomes the God-Man Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God – the soul of the believer does its best to sing, yet the songs still fall short. For glories beheld in the soul are of a species of reality only seen by the mercies of God. For in the vision of Christ we see divine humility, divine power, and divine grace all merging in one act in history. The arrogant and proud will belittle the humility of the Word taking on flesh. The one with too low of self-worth can not believe that the God of heaven would take on such an estate to suffer and die for unworthy people. In Christ we see humanity valued highly – that God the Father deemed the “human” worthy of his own divine Son. In Jesus we also see the purity of humanity in its pristine state – lived so beautifully, so clean in the midst of world so soaked with the fodder and dirt of sin.

The passages (Isaiah 53, John 1, Hebrews 10) bring to mind both the lofty inner chambers of God (the courts of heaven, the word which was with God, who was God) and the brutality of this world in which our redemption was purchased. Such a transaction was not as easy as swiping a magnetic card through a reader, to issue payment for services rendered– no, this redemption was of higher cost, for a possession of higher value. What was it that brought the Son low to be crucified so that he may be exalted to the highest place? The desire to see the Father's own glory displayed in the Universe and displayed through earthen vessels securing their highest happiness in Him. Yes this purchase was costly, the very broken body and shed blood of our Lord. In this act a people was purchased...a people who would declare the excellencies of Him who brought them out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Off to think about things too wonderful to contain... --------

…I had to buy this book – no offense intended by the language…but this is a real book written by a philosopher published by Princeton Univ Press. The product description is interesting to say the least.

"On BS" by Harry G. Frankfurt

Obviously the title is a take off of St. Augustine’s book "On Lying"

We may not choose his words to describe this phenomenon, but we all know this phenomenon all too well. By God's grace may we not be those who intentionally falsify (liars) or ones who "quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant" (what Frankfurt is calling Bull Feces).

Out

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I wish I had Justin Taylor's time - he has become a prolific blogger with excellent posts. I guess being a researcher and director of Theology affords one some time to think, write, read, and blog! Smile

Taylor has an excellent quote from John Owen, the 17th century British theologian

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Some reviews and descriptions of Brian McLaren's final "New Kind of Christian Trilogy" http://theologica.blogspot.com/2005/04/mclaren-triology.html

Now we are finally getting a picture of what this "New" Kind of Christian is...this kind of "new" does not seem new at all.

There have always been new kinds of Christians. The New Testament speaks that their will always be teachers springing up among us to teach "new" ways away from old paths.

Jude 3

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An interesting article responding to the belief that "Religion is the source of all Violence and should be done away with" is online at Books and Culture Magazine Books and Culture's Book of the Week: Unbelievable - Books & Culture

Reminds me of a similar debate I had in the Campus Newspaper at Virginia Tech

A little long but perhaps helpful for your friends who say "Religion Bad, Secular Good"

I am writing in response to the September 25th article entitled Organized Religion Cause for many Social Problems by William Marlow.

This article is another in the line of blame which has proceeded from the tragic events of September 11th. We have seen the religious blame the attacks on the secularization of America, we have seen the attacks blamed upon the US government, and now we see the attacks blamed on all of organized religion. Human beings are quick to place blame to the group they personally dislike most. The Marxist blames the capitalist bourgeoisie, the religious blame the secular, and the secular blame the religious. It seems this will continue the lumping together of people for blame instead of looking at what the criminals’ motives and reasons for their crime actually was.

As far as the article laying all blame on organized religion some factual questions arose for me while reading. I will openly grant that great and heinous crimes have been committed in the name of religion throughout human history. Whether or not these people were acting in harmony with the teaching of their religion or in contradiction to it, will be saved for another discussion. Marlow’s article, however, greatly simplifies our human problems to lay blame on religion for any and every evil in history. Some factual inadequacies in this article must be addressed:

First, Marlow claims that religious logic was “applied to the enslaving of African Americans.” This however ignores several important facts in the British and American slave trades. It is a fact that the slave trade in England and our own country was abolished by the tireless work and initiative of some very religious people. In England, William Wilberforce, an evangelical Christian, dedicated his entire life to the abolitionist cause, fighting for over 40 years in the British parliament to eliminate the slave trade. The Slavery Abolition Act was finally passed one month after his death.

Many reasons for the deplorable idea of racial superiority were given in our past; both from the religious (gross abuses of the Bible) and nonreligious (Darwin’s theory of evolution was inherently racist in its root form). Simply stating that the enslavement of African Americans was the work of religion does not do justice to the facts, nor does it do justice to the many religious men and women who have led the civil rights movement in our country.

Second, Marlow states “The problems caused by organized religion have certainly outdistanced the good that has ever come from it.” This is stated dogmatically without any argument. How can one know this with such certainty? Or perhaps this is simply a statement the author’s own bias. Such a statement certainly overlooks some very verifiable facts. Many of the top humanitarian charities were founded by openly religious people. The United Way, The Red Cross movement, The Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, Shriner’s Hospitals for Children and Good Will Industries, just to name a few, were all founded by religious people. Religious belief in America has also led to the founding of innumerable orphanages, hospitals, and homeless shelters at home and abroad. If Marlow has some calculus to quantitatively compare all the evil vs. all the good that has come from religious belief, he should share that with his reader, if he does not, he should restrain from making such blanket statements.

Third, Marlow gives us a “rule of thumb”, which again is stated dogmatically without argument: “No matter how sure someone is that his or her religion is the one true path to salvation, that person is always wrong.” I suppose we have to just take his word for it that he is right about this? In saying everyone who thinks they may have some religious truth is absolutely wrong, is not the author saying that he actually knows the absolute truth about all such matters? We must look carefully at what we believe and why we believe it, examining such matters carefully and making a decision as to what we will and will not believe. When you hear someone’s “rule of thumb”, is would be wise to pause and ask “Whose thumb is being used?”

Finally, one must not forget that the 20th century was the bloodiest recorded in human history, marked by many atrocities committed at the hands of regimes which openly rejected belief in God. The blood from Hitler’s Auschwitz, Stalin’s Gulag, Mao’s Cultural Revolution, and the killing fields of Pol Pot still cry out that it is not religion alone that brings evils to this world. Human beings are responsible for the evils perpetrated on their fellow creatures; this is the problem of humanity which needs resolution, the problem of the wickedness that lives in our own hearts. Simply pointing the finger at the group with which you disagree most will not solve our problems; the path of grace, love and forgiveness is what is most needed by the human soul.

Reid Monaghan

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Oh yes, it is good to be from Chapel Hill tonight! --------

Al Mohler's Weblog today has a balanced view of the life of Pope John Paul II. Mohler gives a good example of how we can extol and value a virtous leader, yet not accept his office and some of the attendant theological views.

It will be interesting to see who is selected to leader the Catholic Church in the coming years.

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