Two articles

Carl Truman: Goodbye Larry King, hello Jerry Springer

There are two temptations here which must be resisted at all costs.  The first is to compromise biblical standards.  The mainline denominations and seminaries are already doing this.  As usual, as soon as religion's cultured despisers find something else to despise in religion, the mainlines, with their various seminaries and colleges, abandon it and join in the general anti-orthodox chorus, as radical, original, and revolutionary as a trust fund kid with a Che Guevara teeshirt and a Lexus.  To apply a quotation from Michael Heseltine, like a pathetic one-legged army they march along, `Left, left, left, left left.'. They are merely part of the problem, not the solution.  But there is a problem here for the orthodox too.  The pro-gay issue is carried along by a veritable cultural tidal wave, with everybody from high-powered political pundits to soap opera screenwriters helping to create an environment where to be opposed to homosexuality is regarded as irrational, implausible bigotry. This can only be resisted in two ways: mindless anti-gay bigotry built on hatred, which is sinful and unbiblical; or a vigorous commitment to high biblical standards of morality.  Such a commitment can only exist where there is a vigorous commitment to a high doctrine of scripture. There's the rub for Christian colleges, seminaries, and denominations: the winds of cultural change on this issue are so strong that they will very quickly expose the strength of the commitment to scripture amongst these various groups.  My view? When church leaders, faculty, and the movers and shakers of the evangelical world find themselves excluded from the reputable avenues of power and cultural and professional influence and preferment, then we will see what their doctrine of scripture is really like, whether it really is solid, whether it really shapes their lives, their actions, and their priorities.   The question is: will those in positions of authority in the schools, colleges, denomination and seminaries have the backbone to do what is necessary?  Will they be willing to consider the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt?  When the invitations to the Larry King Show dry up, to be replaced by those from Jerry Springer, will they hold the line?  

Christopher Hitchens: Three Questions about Rick Warrens role in the Inauguration