liberal Christianity - AOI Observer

Soros Money to Fund NCC Lobbying Efforts

May 27, 2011 6:36 PM

Source: Institute for Religion and Democracy The National Council of Churches will be using grant money from atheist billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Institute to power its political agenda on Capitol Hill. Even while sinking financially, the National Council of Churches – a group with the ostensible mandate to engender unity between disparate Christian denominations – continued its leftward track last week as its governing board met in New York City to discuss its advocacy initiatives for the coming fiscal year. The NCC has been forced to pare down its staff roster and budget for years in order to account for declining revenues from member denominations and foundations, and has had a history of making up these deficits by soliciting grants from politically charged, liberal institutions (to download IRD’s exposé of the NCC’s financing, click here). Several left-leaning resolutions, including those aiming to promote relaxed immigration policies, were … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Culture, George Soros, liberal Christianity, National Council of Churches, NCC, Politics

Gene Robinson joins Center for the American Progress (same outfit Pat. Bartholomew endorsed)

March 31, 2010 9:47 PM

The Center for the American Progress is the organization that Patriarch Bartholomew endorsed during the Green Patriarch publicity offensive late last year. This George Soros funded institution started out as Hillary Clinton's cabinet in waiting but was converted into a full-time think tank after her loss. Soros is reportedly still the major backer. ++++++++++ “Bishop Robinson will bring his well-respected perspective and experience to this fellowship, helping to discuss and analyze a wide array of policy areas in a progressive religious light,” the announcement said. The Center did not list any particular policy expertise that Robinson brought, aside from his high media profile as “the gay bishop”. “I think Gene’s qualifications for this role probably approximate his qualifications for the role of prophet, which he has assumed in the Episcopal Church,” said William Murchison, a member of the denomination and author of Mortal Follies: Episcopalians and the Crisis of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Center for American Progress, Culture, Episcopal Church, Gene Robinson, homosexuality, liberal Christianity, Liberalism, Pat. Bartholomew, Politics

Albert Mohler: Vanishing Christianity — A Lesson from the Presbyterians

February 11, 2010 11:54 AM

AlbertMohler.com "Liberal Protestantism, in its determined policy of accommodation with the secular world, has succeeded in making itself dispensable." That was the judgment of Thomas C. Reeves in The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Protestantism, published in 1996. Fast-forward another fourteen years and it becomes increasingly clear that liberal Protestantism continues its suicide -- with even greater theological accommodations to the secular worldview. The latest evidence for this pattern is found in a report just released by The Presbyterian Panel, a research group that serves the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) [PCUSA]. The panel's report is presented as a "Religious and Demographic Profile of Presbyterians, 2008." The report contains relatively few surprises, but it is filled with data about the beliefs of Presbyterian laypersons and clergy. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Culture, Dr. Albert Mohler, female ordination, liberal Christianity, Presbyterian Church, secularism

To Frank Schaeffer: ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t cut it

June 12, 2009 7:11 AM

(HT: Orthodoxy Today) The State of Kansas vs Frank Schaeffer in the Murder of Dr. George Tiller By George C. Michalopulos Recently, the notorious abortionist Dr George Tiller was gunned down in his church in Wichita, Kansas. The killer was a man who appears to be a dysfunctional loner with grave psychological problems. Nobody in the pro-life movement has stepped forward to applaud him or his actions; routine condemnation has been the order of the day. One man however, has bravely stepped forward to take responsibility for this act. Frank Schaeffer, a self-described former member of the “Republican Party hate machine,” a group that included his father Francis Schaeffer, Jerry Falwell, and Ronald Reagan among many others, recently offered a mea-culpa in the left-wing journal The Huffington Post. Schaeffer believes that his life’s work as a young man in the Evangelical movement directly led to this incident because he helped create a "climate of fear" with his … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: abortion, Bristol Palin, Culture, Ecumenical, Frank Schaeffer, George C. Michalopulos, George Tiller, History, Huffington Post, Law, liberal Christianity, News, Orthodox Church, Politics, Protestant evangelical, Religious Left, Religious Right, sanctity of life, Theology

WOF Survey Trends In US Religion — Who are the “Nones”?

May 5, 2009 5:12 PM

Roman Catholic priest Fr. Robert Barron offers a sociological analysis on the emergence of the "Nones" -- the people who eschew atheism but avoid churches. HT: Frank Johnson … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Culture, Gen-Xers, liberal Christianity, Mainstream Protestant, Nones, Roman Catholic Church, sociology

Obama’s Theology Problem

January 25, 2009 6:23 AM

John Mark Reynolds observes in the Washington Post that President Obama's liberal Christian theology "represents a last chance for a faith that has been in decline in the West since the 1950s." Reynolds, an Orthodox Christian, blogs at The Scriptorium Daily along with other faculty from the Torrey Honors Institute, a great books program at Biola University for which he is founder and director. Reynolds: President Obama has a chance at greatness, but Tuesday demonstrated that his theology could undermine him. Bush is gone and Obama can no longer simply not be George W. Bush to succeed. He has taken the Oath of Office and now must govern. Of course, Obama could not truly fail on Tuesday. Seeing him take the Oath of Office, the mere image, was a great moment for the nation, but his speech failed to add anything to the greatness. President Obama made history by being elected, but great presidents govern. The picture of the swearing in will make every child's American history … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Barack Obama, Culture, John Mark Reynolds, liberal Christianity, News, orthodox christianity, Orthodox Church, Politics

Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: Liberal Christianity will not survive for a long time

February 16, 2008 1:40 PM

Address at the opening session of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, Geneva, 13 February 2008. Source: Europaica I would like to draw your attention to the danger of liberal Christianity. The liberalization of moral standards, initiated by some Protestant and Anglican communities several decades ago and developing with ever-increasing speed, has now brought us to a situation where we can no longer preach one and the same code of moral conduct. We can no longer speak about Christian morality, because moral standards promoted by 'traditional' and 'liberal' Christians are markedly different, and the abyss between these two wings of contemporary Christianity is rapidly growing. We are being told by some allegedly Christian leaders, who still bear the titles of Reverends and Most Reverends, that marriage between a woman and a man is no longer the only option for creating a Christian family, that there are other patterns, and that the church must be 'inclusive' … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Culture, Hilarion Alfeyev, liberal Christianity, Russian Orthodox, World Council of Churches