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Though two-thirds are OK with flying the flag year-round, pastors have become more divided over Independence Day celebrations since 2016. Protestant pastors say they will worship God and honor America at church services this weekend, and they’re not too worried churchgoers will confuse the two. Most pastors (56%) say it’s important to incorporate patriotic elements into worship services the week of July 4th to celebrate America, including 27 percent who strongly agree, according to a Lifeway Research study of 1,000 U.S. Protestant pastors. Two in five pastors (42%) disagree, and 2 percent aren’t sure. These findings represent a small decrease from a 2016 Lifeway Research study , when 61 percent of pastors felt such worship service elements were important. “While not a date on the Christian calendar, most Protestant churches adjust their worship services to acknowledge the birth of the United States each July,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “For mos...

Richard Mouw reflects on the moral and spiritual work of loving your country. W hat is the most appropriate way for a Christian to relate to his or her country? Few questions have caused more heartburn among American evangelicals in recent years, and different voices beckon us to the extremes. On one side, some urge us to reject any forms of patriotism, lest we be accused of adopting some form of “Christian nationalism.” Others urge us to embrace the notion of “God and country” with few, if any, reservations. Are these the only options for faithful Christians? Richard J. Mouw doesn’t think so. In his new book, How to Be a Patriotic Christian: Love of Country as Love of Neighbor , Mouw wrestles with the responsibilities and challenges that come with living as believers in particular nations. Christians first and patriots second Mouw begins by setting expectations. His goal is not to create a how-to guide, but to establish a “safe place for focusing on basic Christian thoughts … ab...

Paul Miller’s critique of political idolatry is persuasive. His defense of patriotic civil religion, less so. “I f ‘Christian nationalism’ is something to be scared of, they’re lying to you,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told her supporters in June. “And they’re lying to you on purpose because that is exactly the temperature change that is happening in America today, and they can’t control it.” Christian nationalism, once triumphant, will “stop the school shootings,” Greene claimed. It will lower crime rates, stop “the sexual immorality,” and guard children’s innocence and train them to want a traditional lifestyle. And it’s this wholesome movement of “Christians, and … people who love their country and want to take care of it” that “liars” in the media are deriding. Greene is right on two counts: Christian nationalism is increasingly visible in American politics, and the movement has been much discussed in the press these past two years, particularly since journa...

From word pictures to video games, prenatal visualization technology has expanded our empathy for the unborn. This article is the second of a four-part series based on the upcoming book by Marvin Olasky and Leah Savas, The Story of Abortion in America: A Street-Level History, 1652–2022 . Millions of expectant parents have now seen ultrasound video of their unborn children. The technology is new, but the desire to see what’s invisible is not. We can trace six steps in prenatal visualization technology during the past 170 years—and then wonder what the seventh will be. The first three steps involved word pictures. Stephen Tracy’s The Mother and Her Offspring (1853) was one of the first books I’ve seen that took readers week by week and month by month through the early development of unborn children: At forty-five days … the head is very large; the eyes, mouth, and nose are to be distinguished; the hands and arms are in the middle of its length—fingers distinct. … At two months, al...

GENESIS Chapter 4  Cain and Abel The Descendants of Cain The birth of Seth chapter four cain and abel now adam had sexual relations with his wife eve and she became pregnant when she gave birth to cain she said with the lord's help i have produced a man later she gave birth to his brother and named him abel when they grew up abel became a shepherd while cain cultivated the ground when it was time for the harvest cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the lord abel also brought a gift the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock the lord accepted abel and his gift but he did not accept cain and his gift this made cain very angry and he looked dejected why are you so angry  the lord asked cain why do you look so dejected you will be accepted if you do what is right but if you refuse to do what is right then watch out sin is crouching at the door eager to control you but you must subdue it and be its master one day cain suggested to his brother let's go out into the fiel...

  GENESIS chapter 1  The account of creation the holy bible new living translation the book of genesis chapter 1 the account of creation in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth the earth was formless and empty and darkness covered the deep waters and the spirit of god was hovering over the surface of the waters then god said let there be light and there was light and god saw that the light was good then he separated the light from the darkness god called the light day and the darkness night and evening passed and morning came marking the first day then god said let there be a space between the waters to separate the waters of the heavens  from the waters of the earth and that is what happened god made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens god called the space sky an evening passed and morning came marking the second day then god said let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place so dry ground may appear ...

GENESIS Chapter 2 The man and women in Eden chapter 2 so the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed on the seventh day god had finished his work of creation so he rested from all his work and god blessed the seventh day and declared it holy because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation this is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth the man and woman in eden when the lord god made the earth and the heavens neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth for the lord god had not yet sent rain to water the earth and there were no people to cultivate the soil instead springs came up from the ground and watered all the land then the lord god formed the man from the dust of the ground he breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils and the man became a living person then the lord god planted a garden in eden in the east and there he placed the man he had made the lord god made all sorts of trees g...

  GENESIS Chapter 3 The men and women sin Paradise lost;God's Judgement chapter 3 the man and woman sin the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the lord god had made one day he asked the woman did god really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden the woman  replied it's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat god said you must not eat it or even touch it if you do you will die you won't die the serpent replied to the woman god knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it and you will be like god knowing both good and evil the woman was convinced she saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit  looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her so she took some of the fruit and ate it then she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it too at that moment their eyes were opened and they sudden...

Understood rightly, it offers the best hope of keeping pluralistic societies peaceful and free. M ost Christians have a negative impression of the word secularism . Can it be rescued from its association with antireligious animus? Michael F. Bird, a theologian teaching at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia, attempts this balancing act in Religious Freedom in a Secular Age: A Christian Case for Liberty, Equality, and Secular Government . Natasha Moore of the Centre for Public Christianity (also in Australia) spoke with Bird about the place of faith in pluralistic societies. How has religious freedom become such a contested ideal? In the West, we’ve long assumed that Christianity was the default setting and Christians were the chaplains for Christendom. But now, as we enter a more post-Christian era and even a time of radical de-Christianization, new fault lines are emerging. And that’s going to affect the way we think about competing rights between different groups. It’s going t...

Secretary Blinken warns Nigeria, Afghanistan, and other nations with unchecked violations, while USCIRF recommends additional countries of particular concern. Nigeria—and a few other nations—are on alert. The US Department of State released its 2021 annual report on international religious freedom (IRF) last week, describing conditions in nearly 200 nations. Delivering remarks from the Benjamin Franklin room—where US ambassadors are sworn into service—Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented a litany of well-known offenders. China, he said, continues its genocide against Uighur Muslims. Saudi Arabia makes illegal the practice of any faith beside Islam. Pakistan sentences people to death for blasphemy. And Eritrea demands renunciation of faith to release the arrested members of religious minorities. “Respect for religious freedom isn’t only one of the deepest held values and a fundamental right,” Blinken stated . “It’s also, from my perspective, a vital foreign policy priori...

Update: California investigators found leaders at La Luz del Mundo groomed minors for abuse. Update (June 6, 2022): The head of the Mexico-based megachurch La Luz del Mundo admitted to sexually assaulting at least three minor girls who belonged to his congregation. Naasón Joaquín García pleaded guilty Friday and was convicted following California’s four-year investigation into the pastor and his associates. The guity plea came just days before the case was scheduled to go to trial. “As the leader of La Luz del Mundo, Naasón Joaquín García used his power to take advantage of children. He relied on those around him to groom congregants for the purposes of sexual assault,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Today’s conviction can never undo the harm, but it will help protect future generations.” The pastor ended up convicted of three counts of sex offenses and lewd acts involving minor children. García’s former assistant, Susana Medina Oaxaca, also pleaded guilty and was c...