Morning Report, Thursday, April 10, 2010: Adoption, Abstinence, Easter at the White House, Catholic Crisis, and the Future of China

Last updated on: April 8, 2010 at 10:28 am by Timothy Dalrymple

Morning Report, Thursday, April 10, 2010: Adoption, Abstinence, Easter at the White House, Catholic Crisis, and the Future of China 2010-04-08T10:28:14-04:00 Timothy Dalrymple

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.

Christian and secular news and commentary that one Christian found important or interesting this morning:

1. ADOPTED SONS AND DAUGHTERS. Christianity Today‘s “210 Million Reasons to Adopt” is well worth your time. I would rather that Christian families, who often say they do not feel called to adopt, feel as though they need a calling not to adopt, in the face of such extraordinary need and such a clear biblical mandate to care for the orphan. There are many ways to care for an orphan, even for those who cannot adopt. Don’t get me wrong. But American Christians in particular have such wealth and opportunity, relative to the rest of the world, that every American Christian family should seriously consider adoption and whether they have good reason not to.

Also, cited in the article is Jedd Medefind, a member of our Cross Examinations group.

2. SAVE YOURSELF. Abstinence-focused approaches to sex education are coming back in fashion, at least partly due to a recent study showing their impact. Critics of abstinence-based approaches are angry that funding for such programs was inserted into the health care bill at the last moment — and remained largely unnoticed until now.

3. EASTER MORNING. Bill Hybels and Joel Osteen were among those who joined the President for an Easter breakfast at the White House last Sunday, and Obama spoke in personal terms of what the crucifixion story means to him. I wonder – I do not mean this rhetorically; I am genuinely curious – what the President said, if anything, about the resurrection?

4. RAVING. Lamentably, rants like this are becoming the typical fare at Huffington Post Religion.

5. NUANCE. Is there any legitimacy to the claim by the Catholic church that there is, in addition to the systematic wrongs perpetrated by a small proportion of its priests, and (more damagingly) the systematic wrongs committed by Bishops who were more eager to save face than confront the full depth of the problem — that there is also a strain of anti-Catholicism driving the condemnations of the Pope and the Catholic Church as a whole? Is it possible to say on the one hand that the priests and the Bishops failed and sinned and stand in desperate need of penitence and reform, and on the other hand that this material becomes convenient ammunition in the hands of those who despise the Holy See’s stances on abortion, homosexuality and women?

Note that I do not ask whether these both might be true. The world is a complicated place. Of course they can both be true. From my standpoint, they both plainly are true. The question is whether one can say both at the same time — or whether saying the second part (that this has become fuel for an anti-Catholic fire) so overshadows or undermines or detracts from the first part that one cannot say them both simultaneously.

6. PLEASE. Pray for this American soldier held captive by the Taliban.

7. EMERGENGY FUNDING. Let’s see…charging people for 911 calls…how could that possibly be a bad thing? What sort of activity is being encouraged or discouraged? I can understand charging those who call 911 and activate emergency services for issues they know are frivolous. But even if they chose to apply the “crash tax” only to the drivers who are at fault, won’t it discourage the person at fault (who may be the only person conscious) from calling 911?

8. OUT OF LUCK. Initial jobless claims rose last week, yet another sign that the labor market is not yet in recovery mode. And GM is still hemorrhaging money, largely due to its massive pension obligations.

9. TURNING CHINESE. The physiognomy of our global future will depend in disproportionate measure on the relationship between the United States and China. Martin Wolf considers China’s currency manipulation and its effect on the global marketplace. Wolf, who is one of the great writers today on issues of economics, writes for the Financial Times. Also worth considering, though I believe he overstates the case (fearful westerners tend to exaggerate the strengths of China and underestimate its challenges), is Niall Ferguson’s argument that the United States is on an inexorable collision course with China as the latter rises to superpower status.

One of the key questions here is: What about India? Will India side with the United States and the west, and serve as a regional and global counterweight to China? Or will it wilt under the shadow of its neighbor’s growing might? Although India does not have the strong centralized government China has, which enables China to coordinate its growth in ways India cannot, India has a very large workforce, including a large number of educated workers, and a thriving culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

10. TODAY’S TWO SIDES. On the value of the Obama administration’s new nuclear-arms pact with Russia. Hillary Clinton for the Left, and Tunku Varadarajan for the Right.

Morning Report

Previous Post

April 7, 2010

Our Upcoming Series on "Life Together": How Pastoral Lives and Congregational Lives Shape One Another

Next Post

April 9, 2010 Morning Report, Friday, April 9: Bonhoeffer, Celibacy and Abuse, Soul-Sorts, Megan Fox, and Other Nuclear Weapons

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abortion adoption Africa Aging AIDS America Worship American history Americolatry An Open Letter to a College Freshman animals Apologetics art Atheism Authors Barack Obama Bible Biblical Scholarship Billy Graham Blogging Bono Book Review Books That Change Lives Breakfast Links Bulletin Board Business Children Christian Approach to Politics Christian Media Christian Right Derangement Syndrome Christianity and Homosexuality Christians in Government Christmas Chuck Colson CLS v Martinez Comic Creation Creativity and the Arts Cross Examinations Cross Investigations Daily Fragment Daily Trinity Death debt Deep Thoughts on Fatherhood depression economy education Election 2012 entertainment Environment Epistemology Erik Campano Euthanasia Evangelicalism Evangelicals and Gays Everyday Transcendence evil evolution Facebook Jesus faith Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics faith and reason family Feminism foreign affairs Franklin Graham Future of Evangelicalism Galen D. gay marriage George W. Bush Guest Posts Guns Gymnastics Harold Camping Heaven Hell Holidays Hollywood Homosexuality iam2.org Illegal Immigration immigration Immigration Reform Injustice Inspiration Interviews Islam Jeremy Lin Jesus jesus christ John Mark Reynolds Johnnie Moore Judgment Day Just War Theory Killing Osama Link of the Day Lists of the Week Mark Goldblatt Marriage Military Missions Mitt Romney Modern Western Thought Monastic wisdom Mormonism Morning Hash Morning Report Motherhood Movies Obamacare Old Testament Orphan Care Palin Parenting Pastoral Resources Patheos Peace Between Religions PEPFAR Persecution Peter Wehner Peter Wehner Philosophy Political Quotes of the Day politics Politics and Economics Pornography Prejudice Prisoner Rape Question of the Week Race Radical Faith Rapture Ravi Zacharias Rick Santorum Russia Salvation Sarah Palin Scandals Science Science and Faith Separation of Church and State Series sex sex slavery social justice Social Justice Ministry Spiritual Disciplines sports Steven Tyler Suffering Suicide Sunday Funnies T. Dalrymple Tea Party Technology terrorism The Christian Media Files The Daily Trinity The Electorate The Ethics of Rhetoric The Future of Seminary Education The Middle East The Obama Presidency theological Theological Renewal Theology Uncategorized Understanding Evangelicalism Vocation war War and Peace With Distinction Word to the Wise Writers

Select a Month October 2015 June 2015 May 2015 March 2015 December 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz