Abortion Doctor Gunned Down

In a despicable act of murder, notorious abortionist George Tiller was gunned down in a Kansas church this morning. Such actions violate everything the pro-life movement stands for and are to be roundly and unequivocably condemned. Here's hoping the prepetrator is swiftly brought to justice. Our prayers are for Dr. Tiller's family.

The Next Chapter

All good stories come to an end, eventually. After over eight years as everything from associate news editor to managing editor, special projects; from columnist to podcaster; from workshop organizer to mentor, I have been laid off at Christianity Today International—along with 30 other good employees.

Despite the pain involved in this turn of events, I appreciate the opportunity Christianity Today gave me to develop my gifts and to have a sigificant platform to influence people for the kingdom. I served alongside some of the finest, and most thoughtful, people I have ever known. I will still be associated with CT as an editor at large.

The news came on Tuesday, May 19, and my last day at CT was Friday. A press release explaining this decision is below.

I am carefully considering my career options and would like to talk with you in the near future if you have ideas, contacts, jobs (including freelance) that I might consider. (My wife is also now looking for work.) As you know, I’m a proven writer, book author, editor, and public speaker with wide knowledge of global trends and the evangelical world. If you would like a copy of my CV, just let me know. (The one on this site is outdated and for the moment cannot be updated.)

For now, though, I want to give you my current e-mail addresses:

guthsc@att.net

stan@stanguthrie.com

Thank you in advance for your prayers and help. I'm looking forward to what God has written for the next chapter of my life. Like you, I can hardly wait to turn the page.

Stan Guthrie


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CTI Shuts Down 4 Titles, Lays Off 30-Plus Staff

New publishing realities force not-for-profit to focus ever more fully on its core.

CAROL STREAM Ill., May 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christianity Today International (CTI) today announced the closing of four publications and the laying-off of 30 employees. To be shut down over the coming months are Today's Christian Woman magazine, the Campus Life College Guide, the Christian history bulletin insert Glimpses, and the Church Office Today bimonthly newsletter.

"Needless to say, we are profoundly saddened by these necessary decisions," said Harold Smith, President and Publisher. "The impact on employees who are truly gifted--and the impact on the church as a whole--is a sobering reality for me and the entire CTI team that remains."

These latest cutbacks follow similar moves made in January, when a total of three periodicals--Ignite Your Faith (formerly Campus Life), Marriage Partnership, and Today's Christian magazines either ceased publication or, in the case of TC, was sold.

"We find ourselves--as does our industry--in the midst of a perfect publishing storm," says Smith. "Nevertheless, we're grateful to God for the continuing strength of our core periodicals--namely, Christianity Today and Leadership journal. These iconic brands," continued Smith, "along with the myriad web properties tied to them, will once again point the way for this ministry in the days, months, and years to come."

Christianity Today magazine and ministry were founded in 1956 by evangelist Billy Graham.

"Dr Graham envisioned," said Smith, "a ministry that could engage, encourage, and equip pastors, church leaders, thought leaders, academicians, and culture makers through the creation of quality content that is journalistically excellent. Accurately reported, creatively presented, fair minded, intellectually sound, theologically orthodox, irenic, clear, accessible.

"Today," Smith continued, "that call remains the missional bedrock of this ministry. And we will, under God's continuing direction, build upon this solid foundation for the strengthening of Christ's church and to the glory of God alone."

Christianity Today International publishes 9 print magazines and newsletters and operates an award- winning website reaching more than 2.5-million unique visitors monthly.

Waterboarding Mancow

Yesterday on WLS-AM in Chicago, a fairly conservative talk-show host, Eric "Mancow" Mueller, underwent waterboarding while on the air. Mancow emerged after a few seconds to say that the frightening experience convinced him that this interrogation technique is torture, which he didn't believe going in. He said it felt like he was drowning, which he almost did as a boy, and that he would have said anything to get get them to stop. Not having experienced waterboarding (nor will I be so naive as to volunteer for it), I feel compelled to say the following:

1. Of course the experience is extremely scary and unpleasant-that's why interrogators sometimes use it.

2. Just because waterboarding is extremely unpleasant doesn't make it torture, for the following reasons:

a. There was no intent to torture, either in this instance or when interrogating terror suspects, which is required legally to ascertain whether torture has taken place.

b. There was no physical or psychological injury to Mancow, meaning that the technique, however bad it is, does not qualify as torture.

c. Waterboarding was used as a training technique for hundreds of U.S. soldiers, yet they don't call it torture and in fact have not sued the U.S. government as torture victims.

Waterboarding, at least as practiced by the United States, is a dreadful interrogation technique that has yielded some potentially life-saving information. But it is not torture.

If it were, Nancy Pelosi would have spoken up before now.

Top News of the Week: CT on Moody Radio

Stan Guthrie discusses the latest on church giving, the growth of agnosticism, and declining pastoral health.

Blowing Out the Moral Lights Around Us

Guest column by Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice President
Family Research Council

President Obama was disarming Sunday at Notre Dame. Yet his winsome
candor makes him all the more dangerous, because implicit in it is a
wholly, coolly condescending view of the American people.

"No matter how much we may want to fudge it," said the President,
"indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject
are complex and even contradictory — the fact is that at some level,
the views of the two camps are irreconcilable."

With that single sentence, Mr. Obama captured the leitmotif of his
nascent presidency: Acknowledge an uncomfortable but indisputable truth
(fundamental and opposing moral convictions cannot be meshed or
modified) yet also affirm complexity and contradiction among those who
hold them - and thereby let himself off the hook.

In other words, he (a) admits that certain ethical norms are
irreducible and in permanent conflict but (b) also argues that since our
fellow citizens are uncomfortable with some of the very things they
affirm, he need not be judged too harshly for the views he espouses.
Because many Americans are ambivalent about the implications of the
views they espouse, in other words, Mr. Obama need not worry too much
about what he does in policy terms since that very ambivalence will
excuse him from taking a strong and instructive public stance.

The President sounds like a regular guy who struggles with some things,
just like the rest of us. He is self-apparently appealing - he joked in
the speech about his basketball skills, mentioned the "moral and
spiritual" problems involved in abortion and teased Notre Dame's
valedictorian. He's the kind of person you'd like to have as a neighbor
or colleague, intelligent and not uptight, perceptive without being
pedantic.

But he's also masterfully phony: In his policies, he has enacted the
most radical pro-abortion rights agenda of any President since Roe.
Consider this abbreviated May 14 summary from New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg:

He has named abortion rights advocates to top jobs; Dawn
Johnsen, a former legal director of NARAL Pro-Choice America, is his
pick to run the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. He has
repealed the so-called Mexico City rule, which prohibited tax dollars
from going to organizations that provide abortions overseas; lifted Mr.
Bush’s limits on embryonic stem cell research; stripped financing for
abstinence-only sex education; and is seeking to undo a last-minute Bush
regulation giving broad protections to health providers who refuse to
take part in abortions.

President Obama speaks soothingly, calling for civility and an end to
demonizing one's political opponents. But he governs severely,
disregarding any pretense of caring for the unborn or any desire to
grant them value independent of their mothers' "choice."

Mr. Obama presumes upon the inattention of the American people - we're
busy refinancing our devalued homes, taking kids to football practice,
stocking up on arugula and capers - er, lettuce and salt, for us
plebeians. We are like the generation described by Jesus in the Gospel
of Luke: eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage,
engaged in all the normal affairs of everyday life, preoccupied and
unmindful of the tremors of pain throbbing all around us.

And, too, we don't like to be bothered by things that make us feel
uncomfortable or probe our consciences too deeply. Far better to be
blissfully ambivalent or, if we do engage, to seek endlessly for a
"common ground" that does not nor logically can exist.

When George W. Bush gave his speech on stem cells in August 2001, he
gave a careful, gracious purview of the medical and ethical dimensions
of the choices embryonic stem cell research involved. It was a tutorial
in medical ethics, offered in respectful and, yes, truly civil tones.
Yet in his comments Mr. Bush ultimately came to a conclusion that was
divisive - and he had the moral courage to define and defend it.

From Mr. Obama we get lectures on civility - on how to discuss things
amicably - but no explanation of the basis of his own convictions, other
than to say he has them. At Notre Dame, he called on us to "work
together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions, (to) reduce
unintended pregnancies. Let's make adoption more available. Let's
provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term."
But he failed to tell us one essential thing: Why?

If abortion is a morally neutral act, as he evidently believes since he
endorses both the procedure and the federal funding of it - why work to
reduce it?

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln accused his affable, bright and articulate
Senate race opponent, Stephen Douglas, of wanting to “blow out the
moral lights around us.” Douglas was a great fan of civility – so
much so that his plan for admitting slave states ad infinitum was
designed to prevent that most uncivil of things, a civil war.

Lincoln wanted to extend civility – make that, humanity – to the
slave. Douglas was content with ignoring this difficult issue,
respecting those (whites) who disagreed with him and “moving on.”

President Obama has tapped into the weariness of the American people
over divisive socio-moral issues. He gives us all a pass so that we
don’t have to think too deeply about them. But they remain. With
every heartbeat in every womb, with every ultrasound and every
conception, they remain.

His policies are blowing out the moral lights. Are we watching? Are
we, with courtesy and civility but also with purpose and intensity and
unbending firmness, fighting?

The stakes are too high not to sustain and redouble the battle.
Disarming, President Obama is-and wrong, too.

Caring for the Caregivers

My discussion with John Blok of Moody Radio's Prime Time Florida about the CT article, "Caring for the Caregivers."

Press Clippings

On Nancy Pelosi:
"The No. 2 Democrat in the House tried to dismiss talk Thursday of what Pelosi knew or didn't know. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the discussion "is a distraction from the central point": determining what happened during the Bush administration and making sure it never happens again."

Question:
If the Democrats don't know what happened, why do they want to make sure it never happens again?


On Somalia, which is fighting a losing battle with Islamist insurgents:
"But after discussing Somalia on Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council said it would not send a peacekeeping force until the security situation improves."

Question:
Isn't improving the security situation what a peacekeeping force is supposed to do? If the security situation were all right, there would be no need to send the force.

The Scarecrow

John Wilson (pictured) and I discuss Michael Connelly's latest thriller, The Scarecrow.

Why the Old Evangelism Doesn't Work

The podcast of my interview with Christian apologist and author Lee Strobel about his book (written also by Mark Mittelberg), The Unexpected Adventure. The print version of our discussion is coming in the June CT.

Joking Matters

Isn't it funny how the humor in a joke depends on who is in the punchline?

On Sunday, May 10, CBS golf analyst David Feherty wrote a piece about George W. Bush's moving to Dallas. In it, Feherty, who has visited the troops in Iraq twice in the past two years and created a foundation to help wounded soldiers, quipped:

From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this though. Despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death.

Amid a hail of liberal outrage, Feherty quickly apologized. The joke had crossed the line from witty, trenchant political commentary into ugly tastelessness.

What then to make of the May 11 "performance" of Wanda Sykes at the White House Correspondents' dinner? Besides a vicious, sexually charged swipe at Sarah Palin, Sykes had this to say about a favorite administration whipping boy, Rush Limbaugh:

Mr. President . . . you've had your fair share of critics. ... Rush Limbaugh, one of your big critics, boy — Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails. So you’re saying, ‘I hope America fails.’ You’re like, ‘I don’t care about people losing their homes, their jobs or our soldiers in Iraq.’ He just wants our country to fail.

To me, that’s treason. He’s not saying anything differently than Osama bin Laden is saying. You know you might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker but he was just so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight

...

Rush Limbaugh — I hope the country fails. I hope his kidneys fail, how about that?

He needs a waterboarding, that’s what he needs.

The reliably leftwing Huffington Post said, "Wanda Sykes Kills." Our president evidently agreed (at least for a while, until spokesman Robert Gibbs disavowed some of Sykes's remarks). But a close inspection of the video shows that President Hope was smirking, smiling, and laughing at the remarks.

Judge for yourself.



Nice. Even nicer that our commander in chief finds that kind of nastiness-worse than anything Limbaugh has ever said on the air-entertaining. I guess it just depends on who is the butt of the joke.

EPA's greenhouse gas ruling defies economic warning

By Jim Tankersley, Los Angeles Times:

The review team that prepared the assessment [of last month's decision by the Environmental Protection Agency about greenhouse gases] said the basis for the EPA's statement that greenhouse gases "overwhelmingly" endanger public health and welfare because they contribute to global warming was "especially weak."

Predictions of devastating climate change are "accompanied by uncertainties so large that they potentially overwhelm the magnitude of the harm," the report contended.

By contrast, the EPA's final conclusion was that the evidence in support of its finding was "compelling and, indeed, overwhelming . . . the product of decades of research by thousands of scientists from the U.S. and around the world. The evidence points ineluctably to the conclusion that climate change is upon us as a result of greenhouse gas emissions, that climatic changes are already occurring that harm our health and welfare, and that the effects will only worsen over time in the absence of regulatory action."

The EPA finding could lead to broad new regulations that could affect cars, power plants, factories and other emitters of the heat-trapping gases scientists blame for global warming.

The New (Evangelical) Mainline

American evangelicalism is displacing the old mainline. How do we keep from suffering the same fate?

A Christianity Today editorial

Garden Spot

This photo of the Garden of Gethsemene by Alon Grego comes courtesy of The Israel Project. Pope Benedict XVI will visit Israel this week.

New Pro-Life Ad

CatholicVote.org, which received praise and panning for its "Imagine" video, has just put together a new offering as part of its "Life: Imagine the Potential" campaign. Organizer Brian Burch says the Fox network has agreed to air the ad during the finale of "American Idol." Like "Imagine," this one is well worth your 60-second investment.

Jack Kemp's Spiritual Secret

Jack Kemp died this week at the age of 73. According to columnist Peggy Noonan, the late NFL quarterback, congressman from Buffalo, HUD secretary, and vice presidential candidate, was spiritually grounded and supported by a praying wife, Joanne.

She picked their first house because it was near her church, Fourth Presbyterian in Bethesda, Md. For 38 years she's led a Christian study group that meets every Friday morning at her home. She did the same in Buffalo. "He was the power of political ideas, she was the power of spiritual ones," says their son. She has devoted her time and energy to friends, neighbors, husband, Prison Fellowship, groups that advocate for the unborn, four children and 17 grandchildren. She is one of those who quietly make it possible for Washington to function, however imperfectly, as a real and coherent community.

Once before I was to give a big speech, I saw her in the audience and told her I felt nervous. "Then we must pray," she said, and did, unselfconsciously, with focus, in a gray folding chair in a cavernous auditorium with hundreds of people milling about. That's who was behind Jack Kemp. No wonder he did what he did.

Does Rhetoric Reduce the Number of Abortions?

By Kevin DeYoung

It would seem to be commonsense, as indeed the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute suggests, that if abortion services are more difficult to obtain (i.e., abortion funding decreases, abortion access is more limited, more restrictions on abortion are put in place) that fewer women will have abortions. And yet, some evangelicals and Catholics continue to argue that our politicians can do just the opposite of all this and still be serious about reducing abortions.

HT: Justin Taylor

New Doubts about Global Warming

Climatologist and Paloeclimate researcher Dr. Diane Douglas, who has authored or edited over 200 technical reports, also declared natural factors are dominating climate, not CO2. “The recent ‘panic’ to control GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and billions of dollars being dedicated for the task has me deeply concerned that US, and other countries are spending precious global funds to stop global warming, when it is primarily being driven by natural forcing mechanisms."

Riskless Drivel (Correction)

Correction: Pass the paper towels so I can wipe the egg off my face! My apologies to the author and to my readers. This book doesn't appear to be what I thought it was. I have been inundated with anti-Christian diatribes and thoughtlessly assumed this was another in a long line. The marketing hype that said the author was taking a "risk" got my goat, I expect. Anyway, next time I'll be more careful. If one of my readers writes a careful and interesting review of this book, I'll post it here.

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From a press release I received this morning:

ABC news correspondent Dan Harris interviewed author of the controversial new book ''10 Things I Hate About Christianity: Working Through the Frustrations of Faith.'' ABC is featuring former rocker, ex-pastor, and new writer Jason T. Berggren as the subject of two separate segments due to the national attention his book has been attracting with his candid approach to faith.

... According to author Jason T. Berggren, the Bible is boring, praying doesn't work, and Christians are self-righteous. Those are a few of the emotionally charged subjects Berggren answers for in the first of two interviews which debuted online this week on ABC's video news blog The Quick Fix. Berggren discusses openly the challenges he has faced over the 20 years of his faith journey as chronicled in his bold new book ''10 Things I Hate About Christianity: Working Through the Frustrations of Faith.''

News correspondent Harris describes the book as "a fascinating and rather risky critique of Christianity."

My comment: What drivel. Everyone's bashing Christianity these days. It would have been a lot riskier if Berggren had written a book called "10 Things I Hate about Islam."

I'm not holding my breath.

100 Days of Change for the Family

The Family Research Council has put together a video reminding us of Barack Obama's policy and personnel choices. Anyone who can view it and still believe that the president has a centrist agenda on social issues probably has an advanced case of swine flu.