What is the greatest hymn of all time?

The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada recently addressed that question. In their annual conference in Dallas, they voted using their society’s website, on Facebook, and in person during a competition set up with brackets like the NCAA basketball tournament.

If you thought the answer is “Amazing Grace,” you need more grace. It turns out, “Holy, Holy, Holy” won the title.

I can see why.

In times like these, it’s deeply reassuring to sing to God, Holy, holy, holy / Though the darkness hide Thee / Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see / Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee / Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

We may not be able to see God in our culture, but nothing in today’s news changes his eternal character. This is a fact our souls need to claim.

Why Avengers: Endgame is the highest-grossing movie ever

In other less-than-surprising news, Avengers: Endgame has passed Avatar as the highest-grossing movie of all time. The popularity of a film with superheroes strong enough to defeat cataclysmic evil says something interesting about us.

Continue reading Denison Forum – The greatest hymn ever: What will matter most in 50 years and 50 millennia →

My great-aunts Daisy and Clara were convinced that humans never went to the moon.

I asked them about the television broadcast we all watched; they claimed it was filmed by Hollywood actors on sand dunes in Arizona. I asked them about the testimony of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin that they had been to the moon; they said the astronauts had been paid to lie. I asked them about the moon rocks they brought back; they asked me, “How do you know they’re from the moon?”

My great-aunts were not alone in their skepticism.

A poll taken a year after Apollo 11 found that 30 percent of Americans believed the moon landing to be fake. Even today, as many as 10 percent of Americans (and 60 percent of Russians and 25 percent of Brits) believe the lunar landing was staged. Ten percent of Americans equates to thirty-two million people. That’s more than the population of our fifteen largest cities, combined.

Even though scientists have repeatedly debunked such conspiracy theories, they persist. And they tell us something important about faith in our culture.

Communion in space and atheism on earth

Buzz Aldrin celebrated communion aboard Eagle after he and Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. (See Steve Yount’s excellent article on our website for more.) However, NASA officials decided not to broadcast his communion service back to earth, reportedly fearing a lawsuit from atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair.

This tension between communion in space and atheism on earth is a metaphor for American culture today.

Trust in government peaked at 77 percent in October 1964, a year after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The year before the moon landing, average trust in government had fallen to 62 percent. The year after the landing, when 30 percent of Americans believed Apollo 11 to have been staged by the government, it had fallen further to 54 percent.

Public trust in government today stands at 17 percent.

Continue reading Denison Forum – 32 million Americans think Apollo 11 was staged: Reaching the moon and finding true meaning on earth →

Fifty years ago this Saturday, at 1:46 p.m., astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin separated the lunar landing craft from the Apollo 11 command module. As they moved toward the moon, astronaut Michael Collins stayed behind. He was 250,000 miles from earth.

While Armstrong and Aldrin received much of the attention for their magnificent feat, their journey to the moon and back would have been impossible without Collins.

He piloted the command module through maneuvers that detached it from the third stage of the rocket carrying them into space. He then pivoted the module and steered it as it docked with the lunar landing vehicle. When the lunar module returned from the moon, Collins directed the command module to reacquire it, enabling Armstrong and Aldrin to reenter the craft they would ride for the journey home.

In short, without Michael Collins there would be no lunar mission to celebrate this week.

The heroes who saved a cathedral

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens died Tuesday at the age of ninety-nine. One of the longest-serving justices in US history, he was nominated by President Gerald Ford but eventually became the leader of the Court’s liberal faction. His support for abortion, gay rights, gun restrictions, limits on government aid for religion, and the legalization of marijuana influenced the Court and the culture.

In other news, the New York Times is reporting on its extensive investigation into the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It turns out, the firefighters who saved the cathedral did so at great risk to themselves.

According to the Paris mayor, “It was clear that some firefighters were going to go into the cathedral without knowing if they would come back out.” The iconic landmark is now being rebuilt and will be a lasting tribute to their sacrificial courage.

Continue reading Denison Forum – How Michael Collins enabled Apollo 11 moonwalk: The way to change the world →

President Trump’s tweets and statements about four Democratic congresswomen have been dominating the news this week.

Critics are decrying his rhetoric as racist. Several Republicans joined a wide range of Democrats in criticizing the president’s comments. Democrats in the House of Representatives (joined by four Republicans and one Independent) passed a resolution yesterday condemning his statements. Historian Jon Meacham claimed that Mr. Trump is the most racist president since Andrew Johnson.

However, the president denies that he or his statements are racist. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a news conference yesterday that he did not believe the president is a racist. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy agreed, stating: “I believe this is about ideology; this is about socialism versus freedom.” Others are defending Mr. Trump and criticizing his opponents.

Four responses to Donald Trump

As the leader of a nonpartisan ministry with readers in 203 countries, my purpose today is not to take a side in this debate. Rather, my goal as a cultural theologian is to offer context and analysis and then to consider biblical responses.

With regard to Mr. Trump’s presidency and the current controversy, there are four broad categories on a spectrum of response.

One: Some are opposed to Mr. Trump himself. They consider the current controversy to be another example of character unfit for the office of president.

Two: Some are opposed to the president’s policies. They disagree with him on abortion, border security, transgender persons in the military, and a host of other issues. Continue reading Denison Forum – President Trump’s tweets and critics: Four categories and a biblical response →

Most Americans celebrate ten holidays each year, beginning with New Year’s Day and ending with Christmas. Now it seems we’ve added an eleventh to the list.

Amazon Prime Day began yesterday to national fanfare. The day began in 2015 as a celebration of Amazon’s twentieth anniversary. Research firms expect the two-day event to generate more than $5 billion in sales, up by 50 percent over last year.

Who invented the fortune cookie?

Amazon is not the only technology phenomenon in the news: Twitter celebrated its thirteenth anniversary yesterday. As massive as Twitter’s impact is, the social media giant ranks twelfth among platforms for monthly users. Facebook is first, with 2.23 billion monthly active users; YouTube is second, with 1.9 billion.

Reflecting on the technology revolution that is changing the world, the question occurred to me: How many of these advances were made by Americans?

Scanning a Wikipedia list of “American inventions,” I found more than two hundred entries. On the list are such ubiquitous creations as the internet, the airplane, the alarm clock, the paper clip, the fire hydrant, the fortune cookie (surprisingly), the personal computer, the crayon, dental floss, the dishwasher, the ballpoint pen, the polio vaccine, the microwave oven, the television, the telephone, the electric guitar, and the supermarket.

And Apollo 11 launched fifty years ago today, carrying the astronauts who would become the first to walk on the moon.

What does our country’s technological prowess say about us?

Is shopping our religion?

Americans, of course, have no monopoly on inventions. Chinese culture and creativity predate ours by millennia. The medieval Arab world, sometimes called the Islamic Golden Age, was an era of remarkable scientific advancement. Every nation has its inventors and pioneers.

But it is a fact of history that entrepreneurial ingenuity has been at the heart of the American experience. The first immigrants to these shores were forced to adapt to this new world. Explorers pushed the western boundary of the nation all the way to the Pacific. The pioneer spirit still infuses much of our culture.

A single sentence in our Declaration of Independence explains this spirit: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” As I noted on July 4, these were truly revolutionary words. They have empowered generations of Americans to embrace a future as bright as their dreams.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Amazon Prime Day and American ingenuity: Being creative for Christ →

Novak Djokovic won the longest Wimbledon final in tournament history yesterday by defeating Roger Federer in a match lasting nearly five hours. “I hope I give some people a chance to believe that at 37 it’s not over yet,” Federer said after losing the fifth set, thirteen games to twelve. “I gave it all I had and I still feel alright.”

There are times when perseverance is the only way to confront adversity. Consider two other examples in the news.

Forecasters are warning of the potential for “dangerous, life-threatening flooding” as Tropical Storm Barry continues to creep northward across Louisiana. Coast Guard helicopters rescued people stranded on rooftops while Louisiana’s National Guard deployed some three thousand soldiers around the state. More than 51,000 customers in the state are still without power this morning.

Meanwhile, New Yorkers are recovering from a massive blackout over the weekend that affected more than 72,000 Con Edison customers along thirty blocks from Times Square to the Upper West Side. The outage shut down Broadway shows and a Jennifer Lopez concert in Madison Square Garden.

After Hamilton was canceled, its cast sang from the windows of their theater to crowds on the street below. When Carnegie Hall was evacuated, the musicians moved their concert to the street outside. The cause of the outage is still under investigation this morning.

Landing on an asteroid

In a day when humans can land a spacecraft on an asteroid and cameras can automatically translate signs for travelers, it is hard to understand why we must live at the mercy of forces we cannot predict or control. But we do.

Neither Novak Djokovic nor Roger Federer deserved to lose yesterday’s magnificent Wimbledon final. Victims of the storms in Louisiana and power outages in New York City did nothing to cause their plight. You are probably dealing with challenges today you did not expect or deserve.

When we are treated unfairly, it’s only natural to blame someone. In the Garden of Eden, Adam blamed Eve, then Eve blamed the serpent (Genesis 3:12–13). When Cain killed Abel, he blamed God for his punishment (Genesis 4:13–14). The Israelites in the wilderness complained to Moses when they ran out of water (Exodus 17:1–3); Moses then complained to God (v. 4).

“You have not passed this way before”

In Seven Types of Atheism, John Gray defines an atheist as “anyone with no use for the idea of a divine mind that has fashioned the world.” Some atheists consider religion to be an erroneous hypothesis and want to deify science; others claim humans are gradually improving and have no need of a deity; still others believe that the world is nothing more than “a progress towards death.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Novak Djokovic, floods in Louisiana, and outages in NYC: The power of perseverance →

The Democratic Party’s presidential debates begin tonight. According to the Wall Street Journal, this is the largest Democratic presidential field in modern history. The candidates are hoping to differentiate themselves from each other and make an impact on the voting public.

Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign manager, explains: “The biggest question is who is driving the news. Who is getting attention.” Dan Pfeiffer, a former adviser to Barack Obama, added: “They need moments to create attention and virality to increase their poll numbers and, more importantly, get the online donor number up.”

There is much in the news we could be discussing this morning, from the border crisis (which I plan to address later this week) to the ongoing tensions with Iran to the Middle East peace plan. But this week’s debates will make headlines both for what the candidates say that is memorable and what they say that is regrettable.

Meanwhile, a story receiving less attention caught my eye as a parable for our contentious times.

Finding the “secret to happiness” in Denmark

If you’re unhappy with your job, perhaps you’d like to become a “happiness hunter.” Furniture chain Ikea is looking for someone willing to live for two weeks in Denmark and get paid in money and meatballs to help them “find all the keys to a real home of happiness.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – The Democratic debates and becoming a ‘happiness hunter’: The surprising source of true happiness →

Is there life on Mars?

NASA’s Curiosity rover found what the New York Times calls “startlingly high amounts of methane in the Martian air” last week. As the Times explains, this type of gas on Earth is “usually produced by living things.”

The mission’s controllers sent new instructions to the rover to follow up on the readings. When the results came back yesterday, the methane spike had disappeared.

In addition, a glowing object was photographed hovering just above the surface of Mars earlier this month. Whatever it was, it seemed to be moving quickly.

However, NASA notes that such images are seen nearly every week and “can be caused by cosmic-ray hits or sunlight glinting from rock surfaces.” And methane gas can be produced by geological forces that have no connection to biological life.

Are “hornlike spikes” caused by cell phones?

In other science news that turned out not to be news, the Washington Post recently reported that “young people are developing hornlike spikes at the back of their skulls.” The Post cites researchers who argued that such bone growth points to shifting body posture brought about by the use of modern technology.

Not so fast, according to the Smithsonian. Other scientists noted that these bone growths have been known for centuries; one stated that she has seen “plenty” of them “in the early Medieval skulls I’ve studied.” They noted that such growths can be genetic or occur through trauma.

Such stories remind us that science is not infallible. Experts can interpret the same evidence in widely different ways.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Life on Mars and ‘hornlike spikes’: Why Americans trust science over religion →

Nik and Lijana Wallenda safely crossed Times Square last night on a high wire twenty-five stories above the pavement. Their feat feels like a parable for escalating tensions in the Middle East.

What has led to the present crisis with Iran? Why would the Iranians escalate conflict with the US? What could come next? Where is God at work?

How we got here

Two oil tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz recently, following attacks on four commercial ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates last month. The US, Saudi Arabia, and the UK blame Iran.

Last Monday, Iran stated that it would soon surpass the previously imposed three hundred-kilogram limit on its stockpiles of enriched uranium. The Pentagon then announced plans to send approximately a thousand more troops to the Middle East “for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats.”

Last Thursday, Iran shot down an unmanned US surveillance drone. The US claims that the aircraft was in international airspace; Iran claims that it was flying over their territory.

Later that day, the United States Cyber Command conducted online attacks against an Iranian intelligence group that American officials believe helped plan the oil tanker attacks. This was meant to be a direct response to the downing of the drone as well.

President Trump also approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for the drone attack, then canceled the strike. However, he announced over the weekend that the US is “putting major additional Sanctions on Iran on Monday.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – The conflict with Iran: How we got here and what could come next →

Today is Juneteenth (“June” plus “nineteenth”). The less you know about this holiday, the more you need to know.

On June 19, 1865, two months after the Confederacy surrendered, Union General Gordon Granger led a group of federal troops into Galveston, Texas.

Maj. Gen. Granger issued this declaration: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, ‘all slaves are free.’ This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”

An annual rite and a century of waiting

As Henry Louis Gates, Jr. notes, Maj. Gen. Granger had no idea that his order would establish the most popular annual celebration in the United States of emancipation from slavery. The newly freed black men and women of Texas made the date into their own annual rite, beginning one year later in 1866.

Informal celebrations of the date continued until, in 1980, Texas became the first state to make Juneteenth an official holiday. Forty-five states recognize the holiday today.

President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier, but it freed only slaves within Confederate states who were liberated by Union troops. Even after Granger’s proclamation, many of the 250,000 slaves in Texas were mistreated for decades to come.

African Americans would wait nearly one hundred years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Tragically, much of the prejudice African Americans have faced in our nation has come from white Christians.

“The Color of Compromise”

In The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism, historian Jemar Tisby surveys four hundred years of American church history. He shows that white American Protestants in both the North and the South repeatedly used their theology and church institutions to perpetuate racial power imbalances.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Why Juneteenth is a holiday every American should celebrate →

A gunman opened fire on the Earle Cabell Federal Building in downtown Dallas yesterday morning. According to the Dallas Police Department, the heavily armed, masked suspect was shot in an “exchange of gunfire” with federal officers.

He was reportedly taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities identified the suspect as twenty-two-year-old Brian Isaack Clyde. A bomb squad also examined his vehicle, later detonating a device in a controlled explosion.

As of this morning, federal authorities leading the investigation have not offered a motive for the shooting.

“They can’t take what’s hidden in your heart”

The bad news is that another shooting occurred in a public space. The good news is that the shooter harmed no one.

We can carry this bipolar theme into nearly any story in today’s news.

For example, Wayne Cordeiro, a well-known Hawaiian pastor, met recently with twenty-two Christian leaders in China. Eighteen had been imprisoned. They told him that Christians headed for prison smuggle in pieces of paper with portions of Scripture on them which they memorize.

“Even though they can take the paper away, they can’t take what’s hidden in your heart,” one told Cordeiro.

We should grieve with and intercede for our sisters and brothers suffering such horrific persecution. But we can rejoice in their faith and choose to emulate their courage.

The death of Gloria Vanderbilt

On the other side of the news, Gloria Vanderbilt died yesterday at the age of ninety-five.

She was the great-great-granddaughter of famous financier Cornelius Vanderbilt and the mother of CNN newsman Anderson Cooper. Hers was a story of remarkable fame and financial means.

However, her father was a gambler and an alcoholic dying of liver disease when he married her mother. Gloria was one year old when he died.

Continue reading Denison Forum – A shooting in Dallas and the death of Gloria Vanderbilt: Reading the world through God’s word →

helley O’Brien runs a hotel in Yale, Michigan, a small town north of Detroit. She is making headlines because of her offer to women who live in states where abortion is restricted: if they come to Yale, “we will support you with several nights lodging and transportation to and from your appointment.”

O’Brien likens her support of abortion to the Underground Railroad that was used to lead slaves to freedom. “I have three granddaughters, two great nieces and a lot of other women that I care about, and I don’t want any of them to die in back-alley abortions,” she added. “And I don’t want any of them to ever have to proceed with a pregnancy if they don’t want to. . . . People aren’t perfect, and people shouldn’t have to die for their mistakes.”

But babies should?

A $50 million trip to space

NASA has announced that private tourists can travel to, stay on, and return to earth from the International Space Station. For around $50 million, you can spend thirty days in space. But the fallen world you left will be waiting for you when you come back.

I live in Dallas, Texas, where a ferocious storm toppled a crane Sunday afternoon, falling on a downtown apartment building and killing a twenty-nine-year-old woman. Yesterday morning, giant tree branches littered our neighborhood. More than 100,000 people are still out of power this morning.

Former Red Sox star David Ortiz was transported to Boston early this morning after he was shot in a Dominican Republic club Sunday night. A helicopter crash-landed on the roof of a high-rise building in Midtown Manhattan yesterday afternoon, killing the pilot. Officials say there is no link to terrorism.

And an airplane passenger opened the emergency exit door after mistaking it for the toilet. Fortunately, the plane was still on the ground. Unfortunately, the exit slide deployed automatically and the flight was delayed by seven hours.

The power of hope in hard times

If my car breaks down, I blame the manufacturer. If my roof leaks, I blame the roofer. If my laptop crashes, I blame Apple.

When our world breaks, it’s only natural to blame its Creator.

But Christianity has never guaranteed its followers that their lives would be easier as a result of their faith. The opposite is true, in fact: “In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus warned us (John 16:33). “Tribulation” translates the Greek word for a weight that crushes grain into flour.

Such suffering is not occasional for believers: “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22 NKJV, my emphasis). That’s because we live in a culture that has rebelled against its maker and is now dominated by Satan, the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

What Jesus did guarantee is that he would redeem all he allows. Henri Nouwen: “Our hope is not based on something that will happen after our sufferings are over, but on the real presence of God’s healing Spirit in the midst of these sufferings.”

Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was so painful that he pled three times with God to remove it (2 Corinthians 12:8). But the apostle heard from God instead: “My power is made perfect in weakness” (v. 9, my emphasis). His hope was found, not on the other side of hardship, but in its midst.

Choosing the “Way of Holiness”

But there’s a catch.

For us to experience God’s best in hard times, we must choose a lifestyle that positions us to be led and used by his Holy Spirit. When we choose the “Way of Holiness” even in the wilderness (Isaiah 35:8), the Spirit sanctifies us (1 Peter 1:2), leads us (John 16:13), empowers us (Acts 1:8), and equips us for ministry (Acts 2:4).

As Oswald Chambers noted, “The Holy Spirit is the One Who makes real in you all that Jesus did for you” (my emphasis).

Such holiness in hard times can be our most powerful witness. As Paul and Silas sang songs of worship at midnight in prison, an earthquake broke their chains and their jailer was converted (Acts 16:25–34). When John Wesley encountered Moravians worshipping during a terrifying storm, their faith helped lead him to a saving relationship with Jesus.

To quote Chambers again: “You can never give another person that which you have found, but you can make him homesick for what you have.”

“Search me, O God, and know my heart!”

When David found himself confronted by enemies (Psalm 139:19–22), here was his prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (vv. 23–24).

What hard place is your address today?

Would you make David’s prayer yours right now?

Denison Forum

“We want our churches to be as safe as possible as soon as possible.” This is the goal of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), according to its president, J. D. Greear.

Ahead of the SBC’s annual meeting that begins tomorrow in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Greear and other Southern Baptist leaders are responding to an unprecedented sexual abuse crisis facing their denomination. They are seeking ways to hold churches more accountable for allowing such abuse and to keep people in their churches safe.

One sexual abuse victim is too many

This crisis was catalyzed by a report last February presenting information on 380 credibly accused Southern Baptist leaders, including pastors, deacons, Sunday school teachers, and volunteer leaders.

Reporters discovered that at least thirty-five church pastors, employees, and volunteers who exhibited predatory behavior were nonetheless able to find jobs at churches over the last two decades. In some cases, church leaders apparently failed to alert law enforcement or warn other congregations.

The stories are horrific. Victims as young as three were reportedly molested inside pastors’ studies and Sunday school classrooms. Adults seeking pastoral guidance say they were seduced or sexually assaulted.

As I wrote at the time, these tragedies occurred in a very small number of the 47,000 Baptist churches in the US. The vast majority of Southern Baptist leaders are committed to personal integrity. The vast majority of Southern Baptist churches are safe places for children and their families.

But as SBC leaders would agree, one sexual abuse victim is too many.

“Be holy in all your conduct.”

As the SBC begins its meetings, I’d like to consider the crisis they are confronting as a larger issue for Christians in America.

Continue reading Denison Forum – The Southern Baptist abuse crisis: Two steps God is calling all Christians to take today →

James Holzhauer won Jeopardy! thirty-two straight times and was poised to take over the top spot on the show’s all-time, regular-play winnings list. That was before Emma Boettcher, a librarian from Chicago, defeated him in last night’s episode.

While Holzhauer’s loss is making headlines this morning, another event that happened a century ago today is receiving far less attention than it deserves.

A vote that changed history

A hundred years ago today, Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and sent it to the states for ratification. It states simply: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

The amendment was adopted by the states the following year. While it obviously changed history, the history of the amendment is also worth our reflection this morning.

In the 1872 presidential election, Susan B. Anthony and fourteen other women cast votes. At the time, women were forbidden from voting. Three weeks later, Anthony was arrested. She was put on trial the next June.

Because she was a woman, she was forbidden from testifying in her own defense. She was found guilty of illegal voting but never paid the fine imposed by the judge.

“Women, their rights, and nothing less”

Four years later, Anthony led a protest at the 1876 Centennial celebrating America’s independence. She made famous the declaration, “Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” Twelve years later, she helped form the National American Women’s Suffrage Association and led the group until 1900.

Continue reading Denison Forum – James Holzhauer and Susan B. Anthony: The privilege of eternal significance →

Tiananmen Square consists of 109 acres in the heart of Beijing, China. Ironically, the name means “Gate of Heavenly Peace.” First constructed in 1420 during the Ming dynasty, it was the entrance to the Imperial City and the Forbidden City (the homes of emperors and their households for almost five hundred years).

When I visited several years ago, I was amazed by the massive size of the square. And by the fact that it displays no indication whatsoever that one of the most dramatic events of my lifetime took place there.

“Tank man” makes history

In 1989, weeks of pro-democracy protests led to demonstrations by more than a million people in Tiananmen Square. Thirty years ago today, the Chinese government ordered its military to reclaim the area.

Troops reached the square around 1 a.m. the following morning, June 4, leading to hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests. An official death toll has never been released. Several dozen people were later executed for their parts in the demonstrations.

Mention of the massacre is banned in China still today.

Perhaps the most iconic moment came when an unidentified protester stood in front of a line of tanks, blocking their progress. The so-called “tank man” stood there for several minutes before he was pulled aside by onlookers.

The church’s “spectacular growth”

The same day the Chinese government massacred hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators, Communist Party leaders watched as pro-democracy candidates in Poland supplanted Communist rule. Pope John Paul II’s support was indispensable to their success.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Nina Shea and Bob Fu describe what happened to Christians in China after the Tiananmen massacre. Shea directs the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. Dr. Fu was a student leader during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and founded ChinaAid “to bring international attention to China’s gross human rights violations and to promote religious freedom and rule of law in China.”

It was my privilege to meet with Dr. Fu a few years ago; I have followed his courageous career with gratitude.

Shea and Fu state that Chinese Christianity experienced “spectacular growth” over the thirty years after Tiananmen and report that “there could be well over 100 million Chinese Christians.” They cite projections that China could have nearly 250 million Christians by 2030. By contrast, the Communist Party numbers ninety million.

To counter such tremendous growth, President Xi Jinping last year began enforcing religious regulations to bend the church to the party’s leadership.

“A high-tech digital dictatorship”

According to Shea and Fu, ten thousand Protestant churches were ordered shut last year in Henan province, even though most were registered with the state. During 2018, more than one million Christians were threatened or persecuted; five thousand were arrested.

Mr. Xi’s regulations ban minors from entering churches and forbid Sunday schools and Bible camps. Christian symbols are sometimes being replaced in churches with pictures of Mr. Xi. Police ordered facial-recognition cameras installed in one Protestant megachurch in Beijing, prompting the pastor to close the church.

China expert and social scientist Steven Mosher warns that the persecution of Christians in China is unfolding in unprecedented ways. He reports that local officials have been instructed by the central government not to permit the public expression of religious sentiment anywhere in the towns they control. As a result, these officials are removing crosses from churches and confiscating Bibles and other religious articles from private homes.

Mosher also reports that the Chinese government is using smartphones, video surveillance, social media, and other technology to monitor its citizens. It then rewards or punishes them through a social credit system.

For example, everyone is required to have a Xi Jinping app on his or her smartphone. It is called “Study Xi Strong China”; everyone is required to study Xi on their smartphone for half an hour daily and answer a quiz. If a person misses a session, his or her social score is penalized.

Through the app, big data, artificial intelligence, and surveillance techniques, the Communist Party has developed what Mosher calls “a high-tech digital dictatorship.” He warns: “What we have in China is an unfolding persecution the world has never seen the likes of. It’s not a persecution where Christians are being arrested and fed to lions, but it’s a persecution where Christians are being arrested for their very thoughts.”

“They are doomed to lose this war”

As the world focuses this week on the Tiananmen Square massacre, let’s focus on the spiritual war being waged for the souls of more than a billion Chinese people. Just as we are to “pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44), so we are to pray for those who are being persecuted (cf. Hebrews 13:3).

Please pray for persecuted Chinese believers to be protected and sustained by God (Psalm 46:1). Pray for them to experience “the hope to which he has called you [and] the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18). Pray for them “to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:16). And pray for them “boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19).

God promises his people: “No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed” (Isaiah 54:17). Therefore, let’s say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6).

Shea and Fu quote a Chinese pastor and his wife who were arrested in December and are awaiting trial for subversion: “In this war . . . the rulers have chosen an enemy that can never be imprisoned—the soul of man. Therefore they are doomed to lose this war.”

Denison Forum

Alter Wiener was imprisoned in five different concentration camps during the Holocaust. Most of his family was killed, including his father. He weighed eighty pounds when he was liberated in 1945. Wiener moved to the US after the war and eventually made his home in Oregon.

High school freshman Claire Sarnowski first met Wiener at one of his talks about the Holocaust when she was a fourth-grader. The two became friends. According to Claire, it was Wiener’s lifelong dream to confront anti-Semitism by implementing mandatory curriculum standards for teaching students about the Holocaust.

She reached out to a state senator, Rob Wagner, who then co-sponsored a bill requiring such instruction. Wiener and Claire testified at a hearing last September.

“Learning about the Holocaust is not just a chapter in recent history, but a derived lesson how to be more tolerant, more loving and that hatred is, eventually, self-destructive,” Wiener told lawmakers. “Remember, be better, rather than bitter.”

Wiener died last December. The Oregon Senate passed Wagner’s legislation last March; the House passed the bill unanimously last week. If Gov. Kate Brown signs it, Oregon will begin providing such instruction in the 2020–2021 school year.

The world will be better because a fourteen-year-old did what she could to make it so.

The solution is solutions

David Brooks recently cited his New York Times colleague David Bornstein, who points out that much of American journalism is based on a “mistaken theory of change.” The theory: “The world will get better when we show where things have gone wrong.” As a result, Brooks notes, much of what journalists do is “expose error, cover problems and identify conflict.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Oregon lawmakers require schools to teach about the Holocaust: Fourteen-year-old helped make it happen →

Kodi Lee played the piano and sang on America’s Got Talent when it premiered Tuesday night. The twenty-two-year-old is blind and autistic, yet he was so amazing that he received a standing ovation from the judges and a “golden buzzer” sending him directly into the finals.

I was deeply moved by his performance and urge you to watch it.

It turns out, we should not be surprised by Kodi’s success. As his website states, he is one of approximately twenty-five people in the world with such perfect pitch and an audio photographic memory (he can recall and perform music after just one hearing). He has mastered Bach, Chopin, and Mozart, and also performs rock, jazz, R&B, and pop. He was recently invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

As I watched Kodi’s remarkable America’s Got Talent performance, this sobering thought occurred to me: What if, as a result of his challenges, he had been aborted?

Two “Christian” arguments for abortion

I appeared last week on Equipped with Chris Brooks, a national radio program hosted by one of the most brilliant and insightful ministers I know. As Chris and I discussed the ongoing abortion controversy, a listener called to state that she is pro-life personally but does not believe she has the right to force her beliefs on others.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Blind and autistic performer reminds us that every life is sacred →

“Whenever, wherever, however it happens—your first shave is special.” This is the caption of a Facebook ad by Gillette. It features a young person shaving while a father offers encouragement.

What makes the ad unusual is that the person is transgender. The ad has received more than a million views as of this morning.

A strategy that changed America

As “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month” begins later this week, we can expect many more messages like this in the media. They are part of a strategy that has been advancing in our culture for more than three decades.

In 1987, a neuropsychiatry researcher named Marshall Kirk and a social scientist named Hunter Madsen (using the pen name Erastes Pill) wrote an essay titled, “The Overhauling of Straight America.” Their strategy later became a book.

I encourage you to make time to read their article in its entirety. It is a fascinating and troubling window into the LGBTQ movement that has swept our country in the years since its writing.

Kirk and Madsen framed a six-part strategy:

1. “Talk about gays and gayness as loudly and as often as possible” to desensitize the public.
2. “Portray gays as victims, not as aggressive challengers,” leading society to assume the role of protector.
3. “Give protectors a just cause” such as anti-discrimination and civil rights.
4. “Make gays look good” by elevating prominent homosexuals and celebrities who endorse them.
5. “Make the victimizers look bad” by associating them with Nazis, KKK members, etc.
6. “Solicit funds” for a massive media campaign.

Their advice for countering conservative churches was especially prescient: “First, we can use talk to muddy the moral waters. This means publicizing support for gays by more moderate churches, raising theological objections of our own about conservative interpretations of biblical teachings, and exposing hatred and inconsistency.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Gillette ad shows transgender son’s first shave: Responding to a six-step LGBTQ strategy →

If your life ended this week, for what would you be remembered?

Bill Buckner played twenty-two seasons in the major leagues, winning a batting title with the Chicago Cubs in 1980 and playing in the All-Star Game the next year. He retired with a lifetime batting average of .289.

But it was a single play that defined his career for many. Buckner was hobbled with ankle injuries but playing first base for the Boston Red Sox when his team was one strike from winning the World Series in 1986. After three singles and a wild pitch, the game was tied.

Then a grounder went under Buckner’s glove, leading to his team’s loss. The Red Sox then lost the deciding seventh game and the Series. Buckner endured boos and even death threats from Red Sox fans.

However, years later, the city forgave and even embraced him. After Boston won the World Series in 2007, Buckner was invited back to Fenway Park to throw out the first pitch at the team’s home opener in 2008. He received a standing ovation.

Bill Buckner died yesterday at the age of sixty-nine.

Bart Starr and Amanda Eller

Bart Starr, the legendary quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, died Sunday at the age of eighty-five. He was best known for the 1967 “Ice Bowl.” Fighting a wind chill of minus 48 degrees, Starr led his team to victory over the Dallas Cowboys and then won that year’s Super Bowl.

Continue reading Denison Forum – The legacies of Bill Buckner and Bart Starr: “For what shall we live?” →

Howard William Osterkamp served in the US Army during the Korean War. He was wounded in the leg by shrapnel, but Army doctors misdiagnosed his injury.

He was sent back to the front lines with his leg broken in two places and served there for four months. He spent a total of nine months on the front lines during the conflict and later received the Purple Heart.

Osterkamp is widely credited with a phrase that is especially appropriate today: “All gave some; some gave all.”

As the son and grandson of military veterans, I know something of the sacrifices so many men and women have made to preserve our freedom. Today at 3 p.m., we are asked to pause for the National Moment of Remembrance, a minute of reflection and gratitude for the 1.1 million soldiers from all our wars who died for our nation.

“What the State is there for”

The Memorial Day weekend also marks the beginning of summer. Barbeques and parties dominate the holiday.

Americans will consume 818 hot dogs every second from Memorial Day to Labor Day (seven billion in total). We will spend $1.5 billion on meat and seafood over the weekend. More than forty-two million of us are traveling.

Such activities are a strange way to remember the soldiers who died for our country. We might expect this day to be entirely one of somber reflection.

Continue reading Denison Forum – ‘All gave some; some gave all’: A Memorial Day reflection →