Breakpoint

Imagine Congress was considering a bill to protect "religious liberty." Let's say the bill's author openly admitted his intention was to "allow maximum religious freedom." Maybe he says he's concerned about attempted governmental restrictions on Christian religious expression in particular.

Now imagine what the reaction to such a proposal would be on "X," formerly known as Twitter. Surely this would be labeled "Christian Nationalism." Congress would be accused of trying to establish a theocracy.

What if I told you that bill was real, and that it was called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and that it was introduced by one Democratic Representative Chuck Schumer and signed into law by President Bill Clinton 30 years ago next month?

It's remarkable how quickly and dramatically the Overton Window has shifted in 30 years. It's important to remember that RFRA was widely supported and uncontroversial up until about five minutes ago. Christians shouldn't be ashamed or bullied into believing that the right to live out our faith is asking too much. The truth remains: Everyone benefits when the government respects "maximum religious freedom."

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Two significant academic scandals from the past year underscore why the new book Critical Dilemma, written by Drs. Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer, is so timely and important. In my view, this book offers the definitive critique of critical theory from a Christian worldview. You can receive a copy for a gift to the Colson Center this month. (Just go to colsoncenter.org/October).

Eric Stewart, a former professor in the highly rated criminology department at Florida State University, is the principal author of a paper that concluded that, as Black and Latino populations increased, so did the public's demand for more discriminatory sentencing. After the paper was published, his co-author Justin Pickett, a professor at the University of Albany, noticed problems with the data:

"Pickett found that their sample size somehow had increased from 500 to over 1,000 respondents, the counties polled had decreased from 326 to 91, and the data was altered to the point of mathematical impossibility."

When Pickett approached Stewart with his concerns, he replied with evasive answers and would not share the complete data set. In Pickett's analysis of the data from the first set of 500, the results did not support the conclusion that an increasing Black or Latino population is linked to more severe sentencing. If anything, the initial results pointed to the opposite conclusion. Also in the original survey, unanswered questions left blank had been filled in with "imputed values," presumably by Stewart.

Both the journal that originally published the paper and Florida State University were reluctant to retract the paper or to take action against Stewart. However, the university's hand was forced by the discovery of five other papers by Stewart that were also based on falsified data. Once that came to light, Stewart abruptly left his $190,000 position at the university.

Perhaps Professor Stewart faked data for grants or due to the pressure to publish. Perhaps he was convinced his theories were correct and too important to be proven wrong. Whatever the case, the data was falsified in support of ideas central to Critical Race Theory, and the consequences were more than merely academic. It's hard not to believe that his studies have been used to shape policy when he's garnered over $3.5 million in grant funding from taxpayer-funded organizations.

The more recent scandal involves Ibram X. Kendi's Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University. Kendi authored How to Be an Antiracist, a book that shot to the top of The New York Times bestseller list and remained there for nearly a year. Boston University launched a center dedicated to Kendi's ideas and hired him to head it. By the end of 2021, the center had collected over $45 million in funding.

Despite that funding, the center recently laid off about half its staff due to significant budgetary problems. A few initiatives had been launched, but the center produced minimal research. Staffers accused the center of a dysfunctional work environment and mismanagement.

Unlike the leaders of the Black Lives Matter organization, Kendi has not been accused of misappropriating donations, though he commands extraordinarily high speaking fees. This seems to be a case of an academic superstar put in charge of a center, who lays out ambitious goals, but is not competent to run it.

Clearly, Kendi wasn't properly vetted by the university or by donors. The corporations that donated clearly ignored an argument central to Kendi's antiracism, that capitalism is oppressive and should be dismantled.

Each incident underscores both the pervasive influence of Critical Theory on academic culture and its flaws as a theory. Like all ideas, Critical Theory and its offshoots (Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, Queer Theory, and others) have consequences. Like all bad ideas, it has victims.

For the sake of truth and out of love for our neighbors, Christians must be prepared to push back against these bad ideas. This requires understanding these ideas and responding to them with competence and grace for the people who hold them.

Critical Dilemma: The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideology is such a crucial resource right now. Authors Shenvi and Sawyer take seriously the worldview behind various versions of Critical Theory, identify each version's central ideas, and define key terms such as "intersectionality," "antiracism," "privilege," "wokeness," "heteronormativity," and others. They trace the history of these ideas and offer a thorough response from a Christian worldview. As our way of saying thank you for a gift to the Colson Center this month, you can receive a copy of Critical Dilemma by Drs. Neil Shenvi and Pat Sawyer. To request a copy, go to colsoncenter.org/October.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Glenn Sunshine.

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

A Texas professor has filed a lawsuit after he was allegedly fired for teaching that a person's sex is determined by chromosomes.

Dr. Johnson Varkey said the administration at St. Philip's College, a community college, told him several students made complaints about his "unacceptable religious preaching" in his biology class. It's unclear exactly what they considered "religious" about his lesson: Was it when he said the word "male" corresponds to XY chromosomes and the word "female" corresponds to XX? Or that the perpetuation of humanity (and any species) requires sexual reproduction between men and women—because same-sex relationships are, by nature, sterile?

I'm old enough to remember when the allegation was that Christianity is anti-science. If the new charge is that basic science is Christian, well, you won't get much argument from Christians. This is God's world, after all, which is why astronomer Johannes Kepler once described scientific study as "thinking God's thoughts after Him."

All the same, the next time you're at your doctor's office, make sure that he has a higher view of basic biology than the St. Philip's College administration.

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

On Saturday morning, October 7, in a highly coordinated attack on Israel, the Islamic terrorist group Hamas fired thousands of rockets, overwhelming the nation's Iron Dome defense system, and sent hundreds of heavily armed militants, breaching the border. In addition to soldiers at military outposts, civilians, including women and children, were also targeted, in neighborhoods, at bus stops, and at public events. By the end of the day, at least 900 Israelis had been killed and 100 kidnapped, making it the worst day of slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Images and videos poured in from the attack, documenting atrocities that are difficult to stomach.

Though some have likened this to 9/11, as Joel Rosenberg pointed out, for Israel's population of fewer than 10 million, 900 killed is equivalent to a mass casualty event of 30,000 Americans. In response, the Israeli government quickly declared a state of war, calling up over 300,000 reservists and laying the groundwork for a final battle to destroy the terrorist group that has long vowed to drive the Jews into the sea. Now, as an American fleet moves in and more evidence suggests the attacks were supported by Russian ally Iran, things could get dicey quickly.

Hamas didn't simply attack Israeli military units or take out strategic targets. They mutilated the bodies of Jewish soldiers, killed entire families, kidnapped children and the elderly, and sexually assaulted women and girls before either killing them or carting them back to Gaza as trophies. One of the kidnapped is a survivor of the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jews.

The site of the largest slaughter was a music festival, where some 5,000 people gathered for what was billed as "a journey of unity and love." Nearly 300 were killed, and women were raped next to the bodies of their friends. Hamas didn't just commit atrocities: they filmed and broadcast them.

Hannah Arendt, the brilliant Jewish philosopher of the twentieth century, introduced what she called the "banality of evil," that moral horrors like the Holocaust aren't caused by monsters but by ordinary people. What the world witnessed Saturday might be called the "reality of evil." What's been exposed since is the broken ability of our world to think in moral categories about even the most horrendous of evils.

A peril of prosperity is the illusion that peace and affluence are normal and natural parts of life, rather than a blessed anomaly of history. Not only is our economic situation a relatively new phenomenon, but as Tom Holland and Glen Scrivener have compellingly argued, our expectations of human rights and dignity are recent and owed to Christianity's influence on the world. In other words, what shocked the world on October 7 would've been an ordinary experience for many humans throughout history.

And yet, evil remains an ordinary experience of humanity after Eden. Calling it healthcare or medical-aid-in-dying or population control or sexual freedom doesn't make killing, exploitation, or abuse any less evil—only more sterilized.

Other reactions to the attack on Israel have revealed that it is possible to become morally upside down, calling evil good and vice-versa. As expected, radical Islamic regimes around the world celebrated. Radicalized Muslim and leftist groups, conveniently safe in the tolerant West they despise, justified or even praised what happened. Many Western political leaders were clear in their condemnation of Hamas, but others obfuscated. Former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn refused to condemn Hamas, while Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib used the attacks to call for the U.S. to cut aid to Israel. If you wonder what kids are learning in university, 31 Harvard student groups jointly affirmed their support, not of Israel, but of Hamas.

Thankfully, louder voices are expressing shock, sorrow, and solidarity on behalf of Israel. In a move that may have had Hitler rolling over in his grave, Berlin's famous Brandenburg Gate was illuminated with the Star of David. Some Arab countries newly at peace with Israel expressed sympathy, and in a remarkable display, some Iranian soccer fans apparently shouted down an attempt to celebrate Hamas.

In moments like these, postmodern ideals that imply no truth is true and moral claims are only naked grabs of power are exposed. Disney may be committed to the idea that every villain has a justifying backstory, and that there's no black and white, only gray. But this vision fails the test of the real world. The only explanation for anyone who excuses, justifies, or celebrates Hamas' actions on October 7 is that they have been taken captive, either by Islamic extremism or by the Critical Theory mood, in which the oppressed and oppressors have already been decided.

Two more aspects of evil, taught within a Christian worldview, are evident here as well. First, not all evils are equal. As someone rightly claimed, saying that "both sides are wrong" is like saying "Mordor is evil, but Frodo has his flaws." Second, evil should not be tolerated. Harboring Hamas will likely be the most destructive decision made by the Palestinian authorities.

The butchers of Hamas aren't misunderstood, nor did they misunderstand what they were doing. Our contemporary worldviews are wholly inadequate when it comes to recognizing, understanding, and responding to evil. Christians should work and pray for God to bring a right understanding back to the world, even as we pray for Him to bring a just peace to the people of Israel.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Timothy Padgett.

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Recently, a reporter with The Free Press attended something called "Secular Sabbath," a Los Angeles-based club that meets occasionally to connect with a loosely defined "higher power." At this Secular Sabbath, people hung out in a sauna, meditated, and colored pictures.

Human beings were made to worship, whether they know it or not. At a time when church attendance is plummeting, people are still looking for God, even if in all the wrong places.

One of the Secular Sabbath-keepers stated plainly that she "[doesn't] want anyone to tell [her] the quality of God," but rather "wants that to be [her own] experience." Worship, however, doesn't work that way. If there is a God outside of ourselves worthy of our wonder, He gets to set the terms. We don't get to tell Him who we want Him to be and then feel like we've had a sacred experience.

The false god of our age is inside, not outside. This is tragic and sad, since God is so much more than anything we could ever dream up.

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Today marks the 770th anniversary of the death of Robert Grosseteste who, though from a humble background, rose to importance as a church statesman, theologian, educator, and eventually bishop of Lincoln, England.

Among the few details known about Grosseteste's education and early career is that he was educated in a cathedral school, possibly at Hereford. He showed such promise in the liberal arts, canon law, and medicine that, in 1192, he was recommended for a position with William de Vere, the bishop of Hereford for whom Grosseteste worked until de Vere's death in 1198.

In 1225, Grosseteste was given a benefice in the diocese of Lincoln. In 1229, he became an archdeacon at Leicester and a canon of the cathedral at Lincoln. A serious illness in 1232 convinced him that God was angry that he held multiple offices, so he resigned his post as archdeacon and kept the job as canon.

Also in 1229, Grosseteste began teaching theology at the Franciscan convent in the relatively new University of Oxford. His teaching would become a major influence on Franciscan theology.

In 1235, Grosseteste was elected bishop, and he became heavily involved in ecclesiastical politics, particularly in combatting clerical corruption. In 1250, a conflict with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Boniface of Savoy, landed Grosseteste before Pope Innocent IV. Now at about 80, he lectured Innocent about problems in the Church and laid the blame squarely at the feet of the papacy.

Grosseteste's most important work was as a theologian and teacher. His theological treatises and teaching shaped Franciscan thought and laid the foundation for theology at Oxford. His work on ecclesiology would be a major influence on the English Reformer John Wycliffe about a century after Grosseteste's death.

If all of that wasn't enough, Grosseteste also had a major impact on medieval science, specifically in developing an early version of the scientific method. He argued that when studying the natural world, one should begin with observations of particulars. Based on these observations, one formulates universal laws that govern the particulars. These laws can then be used to make predictions that can in turn be tested through observation. That methodology would continue to shape studies of the natural world into the seventeenth century and the beginnings of the scientific revolution. Grosseteste argued that because the natural sciences are based on mathematics, math is the highest of the sciences. This became a fundamental principle in medieval natural philosophy and carried over to the founders of modern science.

Following St. Augustine, Grosseteste argued that we only know truth through illumination. Just as we cannot see a body unless it has light shining on it, the mind cannot comprehend truth unless the divine light of the logos, Jesus Christ, illuminates it. Thus, all knowledge, for Christian and non-Christian alike, is mediated by Christ.

For Grosseteste, understanding light had much greater significance than its application to epistemology. Grosseteste's entire cosmology as well as his understanding of the relationship between soul and body was built on light as the first element of creation.

With a particular interest in optics, he often worked with lenses, spherical glass bowls filled with water, and other tools to explore the behavior of light. In the process, he made significant advances in optics that soon led to the development of eyeglasses. Some scholars today even suggest that he had a very modern understanding of how color works, even centuries before Isaac Newton would demonstrate the visible spectrum in white light.

Grosseteste, in his work, married philosophical and theological reflection, mysticism, and observation and experimentation to produce the kind of highly integrated vision of the world so foreign to how we think today. His groundbreaking work in scientific methodology, in mathematizing natural philosophy, and the specific conclusions he reached about optics were important advancements that had a profound influence on theology and natural philosophy for the next several centuries.

Given today's tendency toward overspecialized fields of academic study, Grosseteste's vision that Christ mediates all knowledge is more relevant than ever.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Glenn Sunshine.

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

John and Maria discuss the hotly debated conference at Andy Stanley's North Point Community Church. How is boredom affecting American education? And science is facing a lack of trust over a series of questionable studies.

- Recommendations -

Lighthouse Voices: The Genesis of Gender with Dr. Abigail Favale

Micah Mattix on Substack

Section 1 - North Point Church's "Unconditional" Conference

Andy Stanley's "Unconditional" Contradiction

Andy Stanley's Unconditional Conference: Deep Dive Response

A Sober Response of Gospel Importance

Section 2 - Leisure and Liberality

Leisure and Liberality

"Why Boredom Matters" by Kevin Hood Gary

Section 3 - The Crisis of Trust in Science

The Crisis of Trust in Science

The Band of Debunkers Busting Bad Scientists

Section 4 - Reflecting on Lighthouse Voices with Abigail Favale

Lighthouse Voices: Dr. Abigail Favale

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Recently, historian Joel Kotkin argued in Quillette magazine that

History has moved to the front line of social conflict, but rarely has it been so poorly understood and sketchily taught. After decades of declining interest, only 13 percent of eighth graders achieve proficiency in the subject today. … When I show my students a picture of Lenin, barely one-in-ten of them recognize it.

Students saturated by information technology have less encouragement to study the past and, in their classrooms, history is frequently weaponized, glossed over, or ignored.

This is another reason that this moment is a golden moment for Christian education. Christians revolutionized education through monastic schools, cathedral-based universities, and Protestant ideals of knowledge and learning. We also have a faith grounded in historical events and a proper understanding of the human condition, a condition that transcends time and place.

Therefore, history is something that we can both study and learn from. In today's world, that's a revolutionary idea...

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

Far from being an otherworldly religion, Christianity teaches both the importance and goodness of life in this world. In fact, from Jesus' healing ministry to the work of modern missionary doctors, a consistent feature of the work of the Church in the world has been to care for the sick and needy, and not just point them to the life to come.

The early Church understood Jesus' ministry to be a paradigm for their own work. So, just as Jesus set believers free from their bondage to sin, early Christians purchased slaves specifically to free them. Whereas Jesus used miraculous power to heal people from physical effects of the Fall, Christians used more ordinary tools to care for the sick and disabled. These activities are not merely good deeds in themselves but serve to advance the Kingdom. Though the Gospel is a message and must be proclaimed, the early Church saw works of mercy and preaching of the Gospel as two sides of the same coin.

The first major epidemic faced by the Church was the Antonine Plague (A.D. 166-189). In fear of their lives, the Romans threw the sick out of their homes to die in the streets. Galen, the most prominent physician of the age, knew he could neither heal its victims nor protect himself. So, he fled Rome to stay at his country estate.

Recognizing that all persons were made in the image of God and that Jesus came to make all things new, body and soul, many Christians ran the other direction. They fought the Fall by tending to the sick, at risk (and often at the cost) of their own lives.

Since even basic nursing care can make a significant difference during an epidemic, Christian action saved lives. Their courage and self-sacrifice contributed to the rapid growth of Christianity. For example, when Irenaeus arrived in Lyon from Asia Minor, there were very few Christians. By the time the plague ended, there were 200,000 believers in Lyon.

The Plague of Cyprian, which took place the following century, was named after the bishop of Carthage who documented the epidemic. Dionysius of Alexandria, also a bishop, described what happened this way:

At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treating unburied corpses as dirt…

But, he continued…

Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ.

From the earliest centuries, Christians embraced the medical theories and practices of the day. Contrary to stereotypes, the early Church did not attribute illness to demons, though they did recognize demonization as a real phenomenon. The real difference between Christians and physicians of the day was the willingness to risk death in order to treat the sick, convinced that if they died it would only mean a transition to a better life. The physicians, on the other hand, fled.

Christians also founded the first hospitals in history. By the late fourth century, there were hospitals in both the eastern and western halves of the empire. By the Central Middle Ages, hospitals and leprosaria (leprosy hospitals) could be found throughout most of the Christian world. When universities began granting medical degrees during the period, church-affiliated institutions continued to provide much of the care.

By the 18th century, the medical field had become increasingly professionalized and separate from the clergy. Though monasteries still provided care for the poor, and nursing was almost entirely in the hands of sisters and nuns, professional physicians increasingly handled medical issues for those who could afford to pay. Clergy attended to the dying and contributed to discussions of medical ethics but had few other responsibilities for the sick.

However, medicine was an integral part of the modern mission movement of the 19th century. Because Christianity has always affirmed the importance of the body, hospitals soon followed wherever missionaries went. This is another way the Church has been essential throughout history.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Glenn Sunshine.

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org

This Breakpoint was originally published on August 17, 2022.

Ireland only legalized abortion in 2018. At the time, a three-day waiting period between an initial consultation and the actual procedure was established, designed to help women considering abortion think through the implications of the life-altering (and life-ending) procedure.

Five years later, pro-abortion advocates are pushing for its repeal, which may be because it has been so effective. As Right to Life UK reports, in 2022, 2,600 women in Ireland had babies instead of abortions after a three-day waiting period. In a country of only five million people, where there were just over 8,000 total abortions in that same time period, that's a more than significant number of lives saved.

Because abortion depends on selective ignorance, laws can make a real difference. When people are forced to confront the humanity of the unborn, and women are given time to process this decision, more choose life. That might be why so many abortion advocates work hard to keep the procedure in darkness.

For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, visit Colsoncenter.org