Here is a list of T.V. shows most talked about at work via Kairos. Number one is an idol.

Perhaps the greatest perceived obstacle to world peace is religion. A torrent of books have been recently published that argue for the demise of religion–Christianity, Islam, Judiaism, etc. U.S. politics and the war on terror have only fueled anti-religous sentiment, whether anti-Christian or anti-Islam. However, in his triology (The Next Christendom, The New Faces of Christianity, God’s Continent) Philip Jenkins has compellingly argued for the revitalization of world religions, especially Christianity. Thus, many people have accepted religion but relegated it to the private life, refusing admission into the public square. Biblical Christianity will not permit a privitazation, but claims to affect the whole person and ways of life. So it goes with atheism, Buddhism, etc. All belief or anit-belief systems–religions of thier own–color every person’s way of living. The all important question is not “How can you be exclusive?” but “Whose exclusive beliefs are most compelling, peace-promoting, society-renewing, and true?”

The death wish or privitazation of religion is not the solution to world or personal peace.  In his sermon, “Exclusivity: How can there be just one true religion?” Tim Keller of New York’s Redeemer Church addresses common objections to the exculsivity of religious claims and the Christian response.

Read Richard Mouw’s insightful reflections on submitted VTech homilies for graduation commencement here.

New from Mars Hill Audio:

Neighborhoods and Community

Over the years, we’ve done several interviews with guests about how the physical structure of neighborhoods encourages the relational reality of community (e.g., Richard Moe, Jeff Speck, Eric Jacobsen, Lilian Calles Barger, etc.). . . . Novelist Orson Scott Card has recently commented on the importance of thinking in very tangible ways about how communities work . . . [Read more on Community]

R. R. Reno Recognizes Philip Rieff’s Work

Professor and MARS HILL AUDIO guest R. R. Reno describes why the late Philip Rieff is one of the most important social theorists and cultural critics of the modern era. In “Philip Rieff’s Charisma,” published on the First Things blog, he attends to one of the sociologist’s later works, Charisma. [Read more on Reno and Reiff]

The Peculiar Insanity of the Contemporary Public Square

Contemporary society considers religion a private matter that individuals practice–or don’t–at their discretion, it does not consider it a legitimate conversation partner for shaping the body politic. In “Religion and the Common Good,” Charles J. Chaput, the archbishop of Denver, explains that the absence of religious discourse in the public square is a consequence of the idea articulated by Nietzsche that God is dead.  [Read more on The Public Square]

The Subtlety of Film Noir

Movies in the genre of film noir portray more than wicked characters in hopeless situations, moving through dimly lit environments. In “Seeking with Groans: The moral universe of film noir,” Thomas Hibbs describes the moral complexity of the genre, which is gaining popularity with critics and movie watchers. [Read more on Film Noir]