ken wilson online

Headline: “In the Latest Religious Battle, A Call to Arms for Mother Theresa.”  Some Christians wanted the Empire State building to honor Mother Theresa’s 100th birthday by displaying white and blue lights on the building.  The building managers said, “We don’t do that for religious figures.”  The Catholic Anti-Defamation League called for a public protest. And this honored Mother Theresa?  Shall we get a grip? It’s time to move beyond the communal instinct to “defend the faith” against the “attacks” of outsiders, and humbly consider what we’re doing to besmirch the gospel.  What are we doing to place a millstone ’round the neck of those who might otherwise find their way to faith?
Read the rest of this entry »

Like many of you, I’d just as soon replace the word, “evangelical” with something else.  Not because it isn’t a perfectly fine word, but for the response it evokes, thanks to the culture war tactics of so many American evangelicals in the last thirty years.  But the fact is, labels are difficult to shed, and the labeled are not consulted about their moniker preferences. (My parents didn’t seek my permission to name me and “Christians” were so named by the people of Antioch who were not believers.)  And I wonder if the hand of God isn’t behind this label’s stickiness.  Like God himself may be holding it in place on us until we understand what it means.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re a young pastor in the United States, you’ve grown up with the culture wars.  You may be sick to death of them, but you may also find them hard to shake.  In the middle of the noise, let me offer this counsel: don’t let the loudest voices intimidate you.  Do the work of an evangelist.  Keep your heart open to the heart of God for those who are the outside of faith looking in.  Like Billy Graham, in fact, who in his later years has had some pretty surprising things to say.
Read the rest of this entry »

Even though I live in Ann Arbor I know many people who are skeptical about the climate science that says human activity is heating the planet. Invariably, they are also devout Catholic Christians or Evangelical Christians–these friends of mine.
Read the rest of this entry »