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Politics and Religion

2010-12-27T06:00:47-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Christmas story in Revelation

Last updated on: December 27, 2010 at 6:00 am By Gene Veith

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[It’s still Christmas. . . .] Ray Hartwig, who holds the office of the Secretary of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, draws attention to a Christmas account in the Bible that gets hardly any notice. It’s in the Book of Revelation: And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and... Read more

2010-12-27T05:32:34-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A great new drug called “placebo”

Last updated on: December 27, 2010 at 5:32 am By Gene Veith

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This reminds me of an old Steve Martin routine, when he played a “wild and crazy guy” in a white suit with a fake arrow through his head. He was going on about how he found this new drug that gave a mind-blowing high. It’s called “placebo.” Imagine your doctor gives you fake medication and tells you it’s nothing more than a sugar pill. Would it still work? Incredibly, according to a new study of patients with irritable bowel syndrome,... Read more

2010-12-27T05:00:36-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

China will bail out Europe

Last updated on: December 27, 2010 at 5:00 am By Gene Veith

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Towards the Chinese Century and world domination: China has said it is willing to bail out debt-ridden countries in the euro zone using its $2.7trillion overseas investment fund. In a fresh humiliation for Europe, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said it was one of the most important areas for China’s foreign exchange investments. The country has already approached struggling European countries with financial aid, including offering to buy Greece’s debt in October and promising to buy $4billion of Portuguese government... Read more

2010-12-24T06:00:44-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A serious Christmas

Last updated on: December 24, 2010 at 6:00 am By Gene Veith

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We’ve been shaken by the death of our former colleague Kristine Luken. I’ve known lots of people who have died–by disease, by accidents–but I can’t think of anyone I’ve known who has been murdered. And as a missionary at the hands of terrorists of whatever variety. Also strange has been the “international incident” dimension, so that I’m reading about this in newspapers from all over the world. Now we’ve learned that the father-in-law of my brother Jimmy (who has been... Read more

2010-12-24T05:45:59-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Why December 25 is Christmas

Last updated on: December 24, 2010 at 5:45 am By Gene Veith

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As I keep posting about, Christmas on December 25 is NOT due to there being a pagan holiday on that day. Repeat: Christmas is NOT based on the Roman festival of Sol Invictus. Substantial scholarship has shot down that theory, but we keep hearing it–in the press, in books that try to debunk Christianity, in churches that oppose following the church year, and even in some comments on this blog. Now the authoritative Biblical Archaeology Review weighs in, citing more... Read more

myth of the pagan origins of Christmas

Sol Invictus

2010-12-24T05:30:48-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Christmas Sermon From Luther (sort of)

Last updated on: December 24, 2010 at 5:30 am By Gene Veith

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Hear the estimable Rod Rosenbladt preach a Christmas sermon that consists of Luther’s writings on the subject, as constructed by Luther scholar Roland Bainton: Dad Rod Thursdays – A Christmas Sermon From Luther – White Horse Inn Blog. HT: Justin Taylor Read more

2010-12-24T05:00:39-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Christmas tree as a “dangerous, rash act”

Last updated on: December 24, 2010 at 5:00 am By Gene Veith

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North Korea has backed off of its military threats, after shelling South Korean territory, but the South Koreans are still angry and defiant. In addition to mobilizing their military, the South Koreans have resumed a practice that had been halted for seven years out of deference to the North’s sensibilities. The South Koreans have allowed the lighting of a giant Christmas tree within sight of communist territory. The atheist regime is outraged. As troops stood guard and a choir sang... Read more

2010-12-23T06:00:09-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Negative rights vs. Positive rights

Last updated on: December 23, 2010 at 6:00 am By Gene Veith

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E. Thomas McClanahan explains an important distinction in the context of the health care reform law and the economic turmoil in Europe: During the health care debate, it was common to hear people piously assert that health care should be a right, perhaps unaware of the full implications. The ongoing strikes and riots in Europe, however, represent the long-term risks of the progressive vision, in which government-delivered social benefits are portrayed as personal rights. No wonder they’re rioting in Europe.... Read more

2010-12-23T05:40:12-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Quarter of Army recruits can’t pass entrance exam

Last updated on: December 23, 2010 at 5:40 am By Gene Veith

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We apparently no longer have universal education in this country. Even high school graduates cannot be assumed to have even the most basic educational skills. That’s what the army is finding. At least the army is maintaining its educational standards: Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can’t answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a new... Read more

Education

army

basic skills

high school graduates

2010-12-23T05:00:15-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Suspects arrested in murder of our friend

Last updated on: December 23, 2010 at 5:00 am By Gene Veith

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Thanks to Tom Hering for this update to my post about the murder of our friend, a missionary in Israel: Two men allegedly involved in the stabbing of two women, one fatally, near Beit Shemesh on Saturday have been apprehended. Police are maintaining a media blackout on the investigation, though they said they believe the attack was nationalistically motivated and not a random act of violence. Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday night that no... Read more

terrorism

Kristine Luken

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