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Wyatt Graham

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Millennials Like Traditional Religion

March 8, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Monica Arellano-Ongpin, CC-BY
Monica Arellano-Ongpin, source,  CC-BY 2.0

In 2005, Christian Smith published his work Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. He interviewed teenagers across the USA to get a sense of their religious life. He found that very few teenagers are seekers or are spiritual and not religious. In fact, the opposite tends to be true. Teenagers are part of traditional religious communities.

Smith explains:

Very, very few American adolescents appear to be caught up in the much discussed phenomenon of “spiritual seeking” by “spiritual but not religious” seekers on a quest for higher meaning. Neither Joy nor Kristen, nor most teens we interviewed, had even heard of the expression “spiritual but not religious,” much less knew what it meant. Contrary to popular perceptions, the vast majority of American adolescents are not spiritual seekers or questers of the type often described by journalists and some scholars, but are instead mostly orientated toward and engaged in conventional religious traditions and communities. (27).

The situation in 2017 may be different than when Smith wrote in 2005. But experience tells me that it is not. Of course, everyone knows a spiritual-but-religious person. But the majority of people that I know of are not spiritual seekers. They are either traditional religious adherents or those who are not very religious—however they define that.  [Read more…] about Millennials Like Traditional Religion

Filed Under: Culture, Theology

How Twitter Rescued a Westboro Baptist Church Member

March 7, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Coffee, pencil, with the words "DeTrinitate Wyatt Graham"

Westboro Baptist Church member, Megan Phelps-Roper, explains how engaging others in Twitter changed her whole life. Through her online interactions, she came to realize the error of her ways. She learned that her cult’s teaching contradicted the Bible’s teaching.

The point of her talk, it seems, is that we must engage in civil dialogue with others in compassionate ways. Her story shows that the way we engage with people over the internet is important. Our rudeness online is the same as being rude in person. We must be compassionate and kind in whatever context that we find ourselves in. Listen to this fascinating talk below:

Filed Under: Culture

Jory Micah: If Matt Chandler Had a Degree, Sopposedly He’d Be an Egalitarian

February 3, 2017 by wagraham 3 Comments

William Murphy. Source.
William Murphy. Source. CC BY-SA 2.0

Recently Jory Micah, a relatively well-known advocate of women pastors, argued that Matt Chandler teaches the most unjust evangelical doctrine (that women cannot be pastors) and that this is due to his lack of seminary education. She continued to criticize Chandler on Twitter and explain her position:

Wake up folks.@MattChandler74 is planting churches through @Acts29 all over the world & spreading complementarian injustice rapidly.

— Jory Micah (@jorymicah) February 2, 2017

In Micah’s view, male pastors without seminary education like Chandler push complementarian teachings because they are insecure, thus perpetuating the injustice of sending women to seminary without the possibility of receiving a pastoral position.

And this scenario in which a woman goes to seminary without gaining a pastoral position is what makes complementarianism the most unjust doctrine of evangelicalism. Seminaries admit female students with the promise of a pastoral career, which does not materialize and female students are left with 80 grand in debt (see also: here):

Women are graduating from complementarian seminaries with 80 grand debt & can’t get pastoral jobs, but men can get jobs with no seminary.

— Jory Micah (@jorymicah) February 2, 2017

I find Micah’s critique of Chandler and of evangelicalism’s supposedly most unjust doctrine wanting. In fact, I find her critique of Chandler to be unfounded, assuming that an educated person could only hold to the egalitarian position (women can be pastors). I also find her critique of evangelicalism to be parochial, something that can only proffered in America which is supposedly the centre of the evangelical faith. [Read more…] about Jory Micah: If Matt Chandler Had a Degree, Sopposedly He’d Be an Egalitarian

Filed Under: Culture, Theology Tagged With: Complementariansim, egalitarianism, Jory Micah, Matt Chandler

Trump, Manifest Destiny, and Canada

November 17, 2016 by wagraham 1 Comment

And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.

– Thomas Jefferson

Welcome Images. Without Modification. License
Welcome Images. Without Modification. License

Some Christians in the USA have viewed this election cycle as if the nation’s existence depended on November’s vote count. If the wrong candidate won, the USA would go into decline, causing Christian freedom and/or witness to shrivel. In effect, the election would either continue or curtail the USA’s manifest destiny.

But the worry of many US Christians is unfounded. The election of an immoral candidate will not destroy the USA’s economy or its place as a world power. The hypothetical demise of the USA (something I would never wish for!) would have zero impact on God’s kingdom.

[Read more…] about Trump, Manifest Destiny, and Canada

Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: Manifest Destiny, Politics, Trump, USA

When You Need to Define Your Gender with a Purple Gender Unicorn

November 3, 2016 by wagraham 2 Comments

 

When you need to define your gender with a purple gender unicorn, something is amiss. As part of an educational toolkit for Albertan schools, the purple gender unicorn aims to help students define their gender across a spectrum of gender. [Read more…] about When You Need to Define Your Gender with a Purple Gender Unicorn

Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: Education, Gender, LGBTQ

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Wyatt is the Executive Director of The Gospel Coalition Canada. He enjoys his family and writing. You'll generally find him hiding away somewhere with his nose in a book.

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