Daniel makes stuff, and, in his spare time, writes about things like movies, kid culture, and geek stuff.
"Theology is Always on the Way"

Theology is thus always on its way. It never arrives. There is no definitive and normative theology. Theology is ever in the making. It is always to be remade and refined as struggles develop, as experience deepens, change follows change, and history keeps unfolding. It is ever on the move in the direction of the Truth symbolized by faith and mysteriously known in love. Theology is a pilgrim of truth.

–Samuel Rayan

You can never contain God or fully understand Truth, as much as the Western Church has tried.

A lot has recently been said about the slow “collapse of Christianity”; I don’t believe that’s the case so much as we’re seeing a 21st century reformation – a new era in Church history when faith is less about affiliation and more in tandem with social justice. Faith and theology are transcendent; religion is what fails us.

Jun 07, 2009 :: Tagged under: , :: #

Christian University Bans Democrats

CNN.com:

Liberty University, the evangelical school in Virginia founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, is drawing heat Friday for its decision to revoke recognition of the College Democrats’ chapter on campus. According to the Lynchburg News & Advance, the school decided a week ago the organization “stood against the moral principles” held by the school and therefore could no longer be sanctioned.

Maria Childress, the staff adviser to the club, told the paper the school — which opposes abortion rights and gay marriage — had issues with the Democratic Party platform. Childress says she was told by Mark Hine, the vice president of student affairs, that “‘You can’t be a Democrat and be a Christian and be a university representative.’”

Oh, come on. You really gotta laugh, at least a little. “You can’t be a Democrat and be a Christian”? Of course Jerry Falwell would be behind that.

(NPR also has a segment about it.)

May 23, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , , :: #

Church-goers More Likely to Support Torture

File this in the “I’m embarrassed to even be somewhat distantly similar in faith to these people” category:

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Torture – of any human being, proven terrorist or not – is plainly, unequivocally wrong. It’s morally reprehensible, unbefitting of America, and clearly spoken against in the Bible. The voices and rationale you see being reflected in this survey are purely cultural, not Biblical – and I hate to mention it, but American evangelical Christian culture sucks.

(via Daring Fireball)

Apr 30, 2009 :: Tagged under: , :: #