Bill Muehlenberg, recently-departed National Vice-President of the Australian Family Association (a National Civic Council front) is now describing himself as ‘a freelance culture missionary standing up for God’s standards in the secular world.‘ Bill, we can’t tell you how grateful we all are that you condescended to spread the Good Word in our rude and godless land. You are evidently much better qualified to do so than any of our local bumpkins as you do not seem to remain for long with any of the groups that you join. May I apologise on behalf of those poor sinners for their shameful failure to discern your true worth, and may you continue to enlighten us concerning the nature of God’s standards which are apparently known only to Americans, and especially to you. Amen.

Filed in: Evangelicals, People

As I recall, this headline once appeared on the front page of the Beijing People’s Daily during the reign of Chairman Mao. The idea was that many nations were in political turmoil and that this augured well for the ultimate triumph of world revolution.

Many Christian fundamentalists and Pentecostals seem to view current events in a similar way. The world around us is downright awful and deteriorating rapidly but humanity’s dreadful, sinful and hopeless condition is itself a sure sign of Christ’s imminent return.

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Filed in: Fundamentalism, Pentecostalism

For a religion that supposedly aims to bring peace and harmony to the world, Christianity does a lousy job. Christians have been at each other’s throats for 2,000 years - Arians vs Athanasians, Trinitarians vs Unitarians, Calvinists vs Arminians, Catholics vs Protestants, the list goes on and on. Today’s battle is essentially between conservatives (fundamentalists, Pentecostals and the like) and liberals, but if they ever manage to patch this one up there’s bound to be something else.

The meaning of just about every verse in the Bible has been ferociously disputed by various Christian factions, often with lethal results for some of the contestants and many innocent bystanders who just happened to get in the way. Think Inquisition, witch-burnings, civil wars and the decimation of native populations in the name of ’spreading true Christianity’. There’s a strong argument - I think an overwhelming one - that Christianity cannot possibly be ‘the one true religion’ as its teachings and central principles are so contradictory and utterly imprecise. Christians cannot even decide what the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ actually means. If you don’t believe this, just ask a conservative Christian and a liberal Christian and then compare their answers.

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Filed in: Biblical criticism, Evangelicals