The opening line of the Apostles’ Creed tells us that God is the “Maker of Heaven and Earth,” of a creation that Scripture describes as being “very good” (Gen. 1:31) even in its fallen state and condition: “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude” (1 Tim. 4:4). The Bible makes a distinction between God and the world. God did not make t [...]

Worldviews are comprehensive. No cultural stone is left unthrown in the battle against competing ideologies. Secularists who write their screeds against Christians who engage in politics have history on their side, and it’s not a very good history. Under Nazism, churches were “confined as far as possible to the performance of narrowly religious functions, and even within this narrow sphere were su [...]

The controversy over the role that religion plays in politics is an old one. Jesus was accused of subverting the political order by “misleading [the] nation and forbidding [people] to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King” (Luke 23:2). Christians were accused of promoting the idea that there was “another king, Jesus” (Acts 17:7). The designation of Jesus as “Lord” had s [...]

The editors and writers at Mother Jones claim that they are “religiously neutral,” even religiously indifferent. Their special edition attack on conservative Christians in the December 2005 issue should be viewed as a wake-up call to the church. The goal of the anti-Christian Left is to rally anti-Christians everywhere to put down the effectiveness of the gospel in the world even though it their o [...]

“Theists often assert that popular belief in a creator is instrumental towards providing the moral, ethical and other foundations necessary for a healthy, cohesive society.” Gregory S. Paul, writing in the Journal of Religion and Society (2005), takes issue with this claim. He argues that a religious nation like the United States is actually worse off morally than the newer secular nations of Euro [...]

Simon Wiesenthal died on September 20, 2005. Wiesenthal made it his mission in life to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. He is best known for his role in tracking down SS leader Adolf Eichmann. “Eichmann was found in Argentina, abducted by Israeli agents in 1960, tried and hanged for crimes committed against Jews.”[1] Wiesenthal was after justice not revenge. This is an important distinction. B [...]

“When Angelo paints even God the Father in human form, mark what robustness is there. And whatever they may reveal of the divine love in the Son, the soft, curled, hermaphroditical Italian pictures, in which his idea has been most successfully embodied; these pictures, so destitute as they are of all brawniness, hint nothing of any power, but the mere negative, feminine one of submission and endur [...]

Those who demand that people with religious views should keep their beliefs personal and private are inconsistent in the way they apply the principle. I’ve noted on various occasions how the anti-slavery and civil rights movements grew out of Christian political involvement. The self-righteous left praised ministers and congregations who led the way to overturn unjust segregation laws. But now tha [...]

I know you’re as shocked as I am that the Pentagon confirmed for the first time that a U.S. soldier deliberately kicked a Guantanamo prisoner’s copy of the Koran—the Muslim “holy book”— in violation of the military’s rules for handling the “sacred” text. Personally, I can’t believe that many Americans are concerned about this. The usual suspects in the media are stoking the flames in o [...]

Today we remember those who have fought and died in wars to defend America. Most Christians would generally agree that fighting a defensive war is morally justified. Some Christians take issue with America’s war with Great Britain in what has been described as the “Revolutionary War.” America’s “revolutionary war” was neither anarchistic nor revolutionary in the modern sense. The [...]

Periodically American Vision gets some interesting correspondence from people who don’t like what we do. Most of the really bad stuff comes in the form of anonymous emails. In the early days, people would leave profanity-laced voice messages on our answering machine. There were times when we got some death threats. Sometimes we would get a real treasure. On April 11, 2005, a caller left a rambling [...]

One of our readers wondered why we are offering Alien Intrusion, a book on UFOs. He asked it this way: “How in the world can this be a part of ‘Equipping and Empowering Christians to Restore America’s Biblical Foundation.’?” This is a very good question. Not only are UFOs in the news, but there is a worldview behind their interest that sees their existence as a competitor to the Christian worldvie [...]

The title for this article is taken from Os Guinness’s underrated and underread book The Gravedigger File.[1] There are numerous Christians who believe that a personal, private faith is all the gospel requires. Guinness described this as “The Private-Zoo Factor.” Much of “1925–1975 Evangelicalism”[2] was based on the idea that Christians could make peace with the world by doing the church thing an [...]

People in the Netherlands are worried. Holland used to be a Christian nation. Over a period of time, the government adopted a form of religious pluralism, giving equal standing, first, to all Christian denominations, then to religion in general, and finally to every worldview imaginable. Holland has lost its worldview base. It has become a haven for drugs, prostitution, and euthanasia–all le [...]

Before Kenny Rogers embarked on a solo country and pop musical career, he had been the lead vocalist for The First Edition. One of the group’s most popular songs was “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” In countering the tenets of unbelieving thought, we can change the song’s title to help us understand the best biblical and rational way to present [...]

You must have heard by now that Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” claims that people who hold religious views are unenlightened. Here’s just some of what he said: We are a nation that is unenlightened because of religion. I do believe that. I think that religion stops people from thinking. I think it justifies crazies. I think flying planes into a building was a faith-based in [...]

We’ve just learned that Alan Keyes’ daughter, Maya Marcel-Keyes, is a self-described “queer liberal.” The Keyes’ family joins the ranks of Phyllis Schlafly, Dick and Lynne Cheney, Randall Terry (an adopted son), Sadie Fields, head of Georgia’s Christian Coalition, all prominent conservatives, who have a child who is a self-proclaimed homosexual. Julianne Malveax, writing for USA Today, castigates [...]

“O God, I am thinking thy thoughts after thee.” – Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)[1] Two views of life dominate worldview thinking. The first view maintains that all that really matters is the world in which we live and the physical universe that surrounds us. Only those things that can be evaluated by the senses are real and ultimately important. Any other proposal for meaning beyond the [...]

Stephanie Salter, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, attempts to instruct President Bush on what Jesus would do in terms of war based on the verse “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). It’s possible to disagree with President Bush’s decision to go to war against Iraq, but it’s not possible to argue that the civil magistrate cannot wage war against “all enemies, both [...]

Rev. Joyce Hollyday, an associate conference minister for the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ and co-pastor of Circle of Mercy congregation in Asheville, North Carolina, is an advocate of “diversity” and “pluralism.” She doesn’t just mean ethnic and cultural inclusion within the body of Christ following Paul’s admonition that there is “ [...]