Evangelistic Atheists

Posted on June 11, 2007 by rbirkey

Recently, George Barna has conducted a survey and published results that reveals an emerging movement of atheists and agnostics who are intentionally and aggressively making a united effort to belittle people of faith, and discredit their personal beliefs in God. For the study, atheists were defined as people who have determined there is no God and agnostics are those who doubt his existence.

This new survey shows some alarming gaps between Christians and other people of “active-faith” (defined as simply having gone to church, read the Bible and prayed during the week preceding the survey.) and those Americans who are in the “no-faith” camp. According to the study, “most atheists and agnostics (56%) agree with the idea that radical Christianity is just as threatening in America as is radical Islam.” Wow! This view is so misguided it is frightening!

The study also reveals that, “two-thirds of Christians (63%) who have an active faith perceive that the nation is becoming more hostile and negative toward Christianity. ” No kidding! I wonder where they get that idea?

As a Christian who believes in God, I have a difficult time with the misguided belief that my faith is “just as threatening in America as is radical Islam.” Where do these people get this idea? How many Christians have committed acts of terror? How many people have had their heads cut off in the name of Jesus? How many people really believe that people are being tortured, mutilated, humiliated and murdered by fanatic, fundamentalist Christians? Where do the atheists and agnostics in this survey get these warped ideas?

I fear that it is partially due to our “news media,” which loves to paint a negative biased picture of people of faith on a regular basis in print, on the radio and in mass media. The “entertainment” industry also does this on a regular basis in movies, TV shows and in music.

Then there is the realm of politics, where public servants who profess a belief in God are maligned, slandered and denigrated by those of a more “liberal” and “progressive” party or label. Their views and even their very right to serve the citizens they represent, is questioned.

So, we know the caricatures that are widely promoted in the public arena. But the facts bear out a different picture when the lifestyles of “no-faith” people are compared with people of “active faith.”

People of “no-faith” are:
• Less likely than active-faith Americans to be registered to vote (78% versus 89%)
• Less likely to volunteer to help a non-church-related non-profit (20% versus 30%)
• Less likely to describe themselves as “active in the community” (41% versus 68%)
• Less likely to personally help or serve a homeless or poor person (41% versus 61%)
• More likely to be registered to vote as an independent or with a non-mainstream political party

Another glaring difference between the groups is the paltry amount of money that “no-faith” people donate to charitable causes. In 2006, the average “no-faith” American donated just $200, and “active-faith” Americans averaged $1,500. If you subtract church based giving from these figures, “active-faith” adults still donated twice as much as atheists and agnostics. Looking at it a bit differently, just 7% of active-faith adults failed to contribute any personal funds in 2006, compared with 22% among the no-faith adults.

So, I ask… which group generally does more good for our society, especially toward those who need help… the poor and needy? Which group exhibits good citizenship, care for others and involvement in our society? Which group actually more often practices what it preaches? Which group contributes less toward the common good?

Leadership

Posted on May 2, 2007 by rbirkey

I have a friend who inserts quotes at the bottom of his emails. This quote was on an email I received from him this morning. I have read it before, but it was striking to me in a new way today.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”

Theodore Roosevelt

I believe this is the kind of leadership we need in this country at this time. We have become a nation of politically correct wimps when it comes to facing our enemies. We need men who will stand up, call Evil what it is, and set their face against it. This is what the “Great Generation” did when Nazism and Fascism threatened the world. We must do this again against Islamo-fascism.

Thoughts on Talib Abu Salam Ibn Shareef

Posted on December 10, 2006 by rbirkey

A 22-year old Rockford Illinois man, a convert to Islam, named Derrick (Talib Abu Salam Ibn) Shareef, was arrested last Friday, December 8, 2006, when he took actions to carry out plans to explode hand grenades in the Cherry Vale shopping center at the height of the holiday shopping season. According to surveillance affidavit reports, Shareef was also looking to murder Jews in the Rockford – DeKalb area, using MapQuest to find potential synagogues and targets to “shank.” This was all in retaliation for “that war with Hezbollah” and to let Jews know that “they not as safe as they thought.”

Why is it that we hear so little about this plot in the news media? Why do you have to scour the Internet for his name, photo and details of what the FBI had on this guy? If I made similar plans to carry out a crime against a specific ethnic group and I was caught, I would be charged with planning a “hate crime” and castigated in the liberal media as a racist, and a conservative right wing nut. They would probably call into question my conservative Christian beliefs as the cause of my hatred and I am sure the word “fundamentalist” would get tossed in there as well.

Today in the Sunday Trib, I see articles about the disgruntled truck driver shooting at the law firm in Chicago… but little mention of the Islamic TERRORIST in Rockford! Are we asleep? Where is the Jewish outrage? This was a “hate crime” being plotted by a terrorist toward Americans and Jews in particular! Remember Germany and a guy named Hitler? That nation allowed him to grow until it was too late and a full-scale genocide was well underway! What about the holocaust mantra of “we must never forget?” The silence on this Shareef thing is unbelievable to me!

Reflecting on this, I fear that it is an indication of a far deeper and disturbing problem in America. We have bought into the current liberal “tossed salad” thinking and moved away from the conservative “melting pot” idea of America.

David Dykstra (author of Yearning to Breathe Free? Thoughts on Immigration, Islam & Freedom – Solid Ground, 2006) responds on this topic in a World magazine interview: “The jettisoning of our historic melting pot concept (E Pluribus Unum – “out of many, one”), has taken place because of our uncritical acceptance of multiculturalism. George Will recently wrote of the ‘sacremental nature of multiculturalism.’ The belief that no culture is superior to another is an asserion that needs to be challenged and not merely accepted. The roots of multiculturalism are Marxist, and the degree to which it has been accepted is frightening. The current “tossed salad” alternative to the “melting pot” will only lead to more and more fragmentation of society.”

To put it another way, read Ifezwe Okoli’s book, Tribalizing America. The same idea put forth from an African cultural perspective.

I agree with these assessments. Mr. Shareef is just the beginning of our troubles if we do not rethink our immigration and homeland security policies. The open and frank agenda that Islamists communicate is: infiltrate, procreate and dominate. Don’t believe me? Look at what is happening in Europe.

Our policies should require reasonable assimilation into our common culture and oppose dangerous policies that allow immigrants to live in separated and isolated communities within our culture. We need to start challenging the assumptions of multiculteralism, and distinguish between the alien who poses a threat and the one who doesn’t. We need to practice reasonable ideological exclusion as we have in our past (anarchists, communists, fascists, etc.)

As a Christian, I am called and prepared to love my neighbor as myself, and welcome the foreigner who resides in my land. We should understand the plight of those coming to the US legally, and treat them with compassion and understanding. But, this does not mean that we should welcome anyone and everyone, or that there should be no rules, restrictions or safety measures to protect our land from evil doers and those who would destroy us. We should reward those who assimilate and restict those who do not. We put our future in peril when we refuse to make these distinctions.

The underlying fear I have is that America has lost its historical foundation and the roots upon which to make these just and reasonable discriminations. Because we have believed the lie that there is no Truth, and that all truth is relative, and depends upon the individual perspective, we have no framework upon which to say, “you are wrong” or “you may not do that!” A nation cannot last long without that foundation. If we do not recover it soon, I fear that we will go the route of every other great civilized nation – to ultimate destruction – from our moral decay within.

NOTE: Our immorality is precisely what the Islamists hate about us, and our decay and destruction from within pleases them greatly! The more we waffle on moral issues, the more they believe they are superior and will ultimately destroy us!

Holy Warriors

Posted on July 20, 2006 by rbirkey

I’ve finished reading a book that I picked up in Oxford at the RZIM Summer School. It was written by Frog and Amy Orr-Ewing about the modern situation and what is happening with the Islamic worldview.

I found it to be an easy read, and challenging to my thinking. Frog and Amy seem to be arguing that there is a radical minority within Islam that is creating all the mess, and that the religion itself is far less violent or “jihadist” in nature.

I am not sure what I think about that, given my observations of the world scene today.

I recommend the book.

Zactrust Summer School – Oxford, England – Day 4

Posted on July 5, 2006 by rbirkey

Oxford Museum 9:30 PM

It is raining. It sounds wonderful and peaceful outside my window. I just returned from hearing L.T. Jeyachandran speak in the Oxford Museum Lecture Hall (see photo) on “With All Year Heart – Service.”

Near the beginning of his talk, he noted the famous book by Rick Warren entitled, “The Purpose-Driven Life.” An Asian friend of L.T.’s named Ajith Fernando (also a friend of Deb and mine) wrote a book called “The Jesus Driven Ministry.” L.T. then commented that he didn’t like either title because of the emphasis on “driven.”

When it comes to serving God, a Christian’s motivation should be different than other altruistic motives, as good as they may be. Many times people are trying to find their identity in their acts of service. Take for instance the example off the difference between Princess Diana and Mother Teresa, who died on the same day. Diana was “driven” in her service out of her experience of lack of love and her own deep needs. Mother Teresa served because it is who she truly had become in Christ.

L.T. told another story about learning theology from his 2-year-old granddaughter who lives in India. L.T. and his wife went to visit the family and while there, his granddaughter came to life and talked to them and played with them, jumping on their bed, etc.

After they left India and went home to Singapore, they would call the family and tried to reconnect with their grandaughter as well. But, she would just hold the phone to her ear and smile! She could not respond to them speaking to her!

L.T. remembered Christ’s words that we need to become like little children to enter the Kindom of Heaven. L.T.’s granddaughter did not yet know how to relate with someone that was not face to face with her! Yet, L.T. reflected, how many of us as adults can’t relate to others without email, text messaging or cell phones? Can we build relationships and actually serve others without the hands-on, sweat and work of face-to-face relating?

He also told us that in his many years of working for the Indian government, and then in the years working for RZIM, he has come to see that there is a worldly “rat-race” and a Christian “rat-race.” They are virtually the same. The PROBLEM with BOTH is that after you finally win, you are still a rat!

Christian service is a response to a series of relationships.

Many have fallen into the trap of reducing service to a set or how-to-do-it’s or formulas and the right words to say. Right saying does not automatically lead to right being. But right being, will lead to right saying.

Our identity comes to us as a product of our relationship with God and each other. It is this identity in Christ that should lead to and motivate any service we do. The “How” is a result of knowing the “What” and the “Why” of service first.

L.T. Jeyachandran and John Lennox 6:15 PM

Just got back from a free-form “On The Spot” Q&A session with L.T. Jeyachandran and John Lennox. One question from the audience stuck out to me above the others. “Was there ever a time when you personally were about to throw away Christianity, or you were in deep doubt or dealing with a particularly tough inner struggle? If so, how did you deal with it and what advice can you offer those who may be in that place?”

Wow!

Here are some of the answers:
• Yes!
• Live honestly – even with non-believers.
• Make sure you are sharing openly and honestly with at least some others in the Body of Christ.
• We need to be thinking of the Church as a place where we would hear things like this regularly: someone stands up and says, “I fell into sin last week” and then sits down.
• John Lennox does not remember a time like this in his life that he can relate to. He admitted that this can be a drawback. However, to compensate, he has purposefully tried to make friends with those who do experience this… atheists, strugglers, truth seekers.
• Growth and maturity happen in pain.

4:15 PM

I still need to visit the Eagle & Child Pub (affectionately known as the “Bird & Baby”)… just a few blocks from where I am, on 49 St. Giles. Maybe this evening I will do that. This is one of Oxford’s oldest pub’s where “The Inklings” met including: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and others. This literary group used to meet in the back room (the “Rabbit Room”) every Tuesday morning from 1939-1962. Lewis died in 1963 on the day JFK was shot.

My favorite books by C.S. Lewis are first his science fiction trilogy of “Out of the Silent Planet, “Perelandra,” and “That Hideous Strength.” After those, I prefer “Mere Christianity“, “The Great Divorce“, “Screwtape Letters“, and “The Problem of Pain.”

There is another author and nook that relates to the C.S. Lewis story with Joy Davidman by Sheldon Vanauken called, “A Severe Mercy.” Deb and I have read the book a couple times, and we would recommend it highly for every couple.

C. S. Lewis smoking a pipe 4:00 PM – My Oxford City Pipe Story

In 1980, almost 26 years ago in August, I was in Oxford, England with my then “girlfriend” and soon to become fiancé, Debbie Wolgemuth. FYI – we actually got engaged in Oxford at a Bed & Breakfast on that trip! But that is another story!

Because of our mutual love and respect for “Jack,” we spent a few days exploring anything about C.S. Lewis that we could find! In the process of exploring Magdelan College, “The Kilns” and other places, we ran across a tobacconist on High Street, who sold a nice looking pipe called the “Oxford City” pipe. It reminded me of the pipes I had seen C.S. Lewis smoking in photos, so I bought one! It has been my favorite pipe ever since.

Well, I brought that pipe along with me on this trip, hoping to buy some good “long-bottom leaf” to put in it. Since very little has changed in Oxford, since I was here last, I walked to High Street and turned left hoping to find the same shop. It wasn’t where I remembered it, so I kept walking, trying not to give up hope.

A few blocks later my persistence was rewarded with a tobacco shop… but it didn’t look like the one I remembered. As I was sampling and purchasing some tobacco for my pipe, I asked about the shop’s history. It turns out that the current owner (Frederick Tranter – 37 High Street) bought the business from a couple who had purchased it from the owner I bought my pipe from in 1980. So, there was still a connection!

As I walked back to Keble College, that tobacco tasted really, really fine!

3:30 PM

I decided to skip lunch and walk around Oxford. They feed us way too much food anyway. Got back around 3 and took a shower, shaved and am ready for a nap! Exhausted!

I saw “Fred” as I was coming back in Keble College. With a big smile he said “How are you liking this so far!” After I answered, “Just great!” he replied, “Yeah – it’s like heaven,” as he headed off to Rhodes House for a seminar on the DaVinci Code.

Bill Clinton painting 12:30 PM — Other Notes:

• The Rhodes House is the place where we get the “Rhodes Scholar” from. Hanging on the lecture hall walls are portraits of famous Rhodes Scholars, among whom are President Bill Clinton (see photo), Nelson Mandella, and others. I have noticed that none are “Conservatives” in the modern American political or theological sense. I guess maybe you have to be something else to be a Rhodes Scholar?

• In the back courtyard area of the Rhodes House, where we take our coffee and tea breaks, are some beautiful English gardens. I think of Deb everytime I am back there as I know she would be thrilled to see them. I wish she were here.

• Standing in the center are some large trees unlike those we typically see in Chicago and the USA. One is a “yew” tree… and it is huge with a double trunk. The other is a “tulip” tree.

12:00 PM

My sleep is still “off” as I awoke really tired. Still fighting heavy eyelids during the morning sessions. I am back in my room (H604) near lunchtime to catch-up on the blog.

Keble College Chapel Interior Our worship time in the chapel (see photo) was different this morning. Rev. Frog Orr-Ewing lead us in Communion. That’s right, his first real given name is “Frog.” He married Amy, one of the speakers here, and an author and speaker with RZIM. Today is their 9th Anniversary.

Amy (photo with Frog at right – photo by Maynard) is the author of several books including: “Is the Bible Tolerant?”, “Why Trust the Bible?” and “Holy Warriors: A Fresh Look at the Face of Extreme Islam.”

Amy Orr-Ewing spoke this morning at the Rhodes House on “The Uniquness of Christ’s Claims in Other Religions.” She focused on 4 areas: His Nature, His Character, His Claims, and His Deeds.

Frog and Amy with kids By contrasting these areas in Christ, with those of Mohammed and Buddha, she made a strong case for Christ’s uniqueness. You can’t make him something he was not, or did not claim. You cannot make him be what you want him to be. Christ stands in a category alone and separate from other religions and leaders.

Her conclusion is that a Christ followers response to all this should be that of worship and making him known.

7:00 AM

Finally! It is a cooler, rainy, and overcast day in Oxford, England! I will carry my rain parka with me today. Ah, now this is what I came for!

Zactrust Summer School – Oxford, England – Day 3

Posted on July 4, 2006 by rbirkey

Happy 4th! Our English hosts greeted us today with a gift of a very nice official Oxford University key ring and fob.

Keble College Dining Room Observation: Our food and service here at Keble College has been very good. I was not expecting it to be this good based upon my past experience in Oxford in 1980, and my exposure to British food in general. So, that has been a good surprise! Also, the dining hall reminds me of the one at Hogwarts! Apparently the dining hall in the Harry Potter movies was filmed here in Oxford at Christ Church (College).

Morning Session – Rhodes House

I heard Alister McGrath this morning speak on “The Uniqueness of Nature vs. Creation,” addressing the question of “what difference does it make to believe in a Creator God?” Does this belief change the way we see things?

Alister shared how he thought it did in three areas:
- Spirituality
- Ecology
- Apologetics

Rhodes House Tea I especially liked this quote he shared from C. S. Lewis: “I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else.”

This evening we will be treated to “punting” on the Cherwell river (see photo below), and a BBQ and fireworks. The British have been very kind to us, even though we “wooped their butts” back in 1776! They appear to have gotten over it!

Morning Session Revelation Notes – John Lennox

Revelation Notes - Day 3

Afternoon Session

This afternoon I attended a seminar talk delivered by L.T. Jeyachandran on the issue of Suffering, or “Why Should the Innocent Suffer?” L.T. explored answers offered in various worldviews:
1 – Fatalism (Islam and Hinduism): Don’t ask questions!
2 – There is no “Good God”, or there is a “No-Good” God: This is a finite view of God. He is all-loving, but not all powerful.
3 – An Escapist Enlightenment (New Age and Eastern): We are all part of a whole, we will merge with Nirvana.

Given these views, there are 4 possible consequences:
1 – We are living in an accidental, impersonal, chance universe: Richard Dawkins believes this.
2 – The world is made of an impersonal force or energy, and therefore no morality can be attributed to IT.
3 – The world is a place where good and evil are equal and opposite forces where we have to fight evil with our bare hands: Dualism, Deism
4 – There is an all-powerful, loving God who made the world and who is sovereign over it and in control of it.

Therefore we may ask:
1 – Is it an all-good world?
2 – Is it an all-bad world?
3 – Is it a bad world, slowly becoming better until utopia is reached?
4 – Is it a good world, that at some crucial point turned and is now becoming bad?

Christianity believes #4. We believe evil is a fallen good. We believe finite creation has a potential for growth, which includes the possibility that it can and will be restored to full good. We believe evil is only understandable in a moral world, and that it is an idirect proof of the existence of a moral God.

Special Early Afternoon Session

I also heard the testimony of Tom Tarrants today.

Tom lived in the South during desegregation. He became full of hate toward blacks, Jews, Communists, socialists, and others. He entered the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi, and become a domestic terroist, ending up on J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI Top-10 Most Wanted list.

In an FBI sting and shootout, he was shot and miraculously survived, and sent to prison. He escaped and was again miraculously spared from death in another shootout, captured and sent back to prison in solitary confinement in a 6 x 9 cell.

In prison, he began reading, starting with “Mein Kampf” and others of that genre. He moved on to classical philosophy, then decided to read the Gospels. In the Gospels, Tom was confronted with his own sin and need of a Savior. He gave his life to Jesus Christ and started walking with him.

He was released from prison early, in a miraculous way, and now directs the C.S. Lewis Institute Fellows Program in Washington, D.C. and lectures in practical theology, with a special focus on biblical discipleship and spiritual formation/mentoring.

You can get more info on these 2 web pages: American Anglican and Sarges.com

OTHER NOTES

Punting on the Cherwell • I also found a solution to my laptop power problems today! At lunch I sat with a few “interns” who work for The Zacharias Trust and are helping here for the summer school. One of them named Simon Farres, is a sort of “techie” here. I explained my laptop power recharging problems and he said “Oh, I have what you need!” Sure enough, he had an Apple part that fit right on my power chord and fixed everything – plus it was an extra one and he doesn’t need it until the end of the week! Amazing! Thank you, Simon!

• We also went to the Cherwell River this afternoon to watch “punting.” Many of us enjoyed a “punt” down the Cherwell and back. Later, we all joined together in a tented area near the boat house for a “BBQ.” The Brits did a pretty good job! I sat in a circle with some ZachTrust interns and Americans, discussing and contrasting the many different expressions and accents between our two cultures. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. It was a hilarious time! (Punting photo at right by Maynard)