isaiaholt-blog

[isaiaholt-blog]

Article #8 Mormon-run University sees backlash for it’s honor code

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/16/714056430/a-rare-sight-at-brigham-young-university-as-students-protest-the-honor-code-offi

This article and news report from NPR highlights a very rare occurence from a school that is operated by the Mormon church. The students of Brigham Young University were protesting the honor code of the school which they claim has been used to victimize LGBTQ students and also sexual harassment victims. The Utah npr station showed both sides of the argument, giving time to persons, maybe even the majority, who argue that the students have decided to come to the school and therefore have accepted the honor code and shouldn’t feel oppressed for their involvement in this consensual contract of behavior.

This class has provided a context to understand the mormon teachings and institutions better than I ever have before. While the morality of the Mormon teachings have always been very strict, and very much adhered to by it’s members, the church has a history of reforming it’s policies often. Even it’s founder, Joseph Smith, was prone to making many changes to the rules of the game even after establishing the prophetic word provided to him. One example of this would have been the polygamous marriages that the church practiced under his leadership. This historical context of the Mormon church makes something like this really unsurprising. The Mormon church has been subject to rapid change that usually acclimates itself the cultural climate. I won’t be the least bit surprised if these early protests lead to reform at BYU in respect to the honor code that it holds.

[isaiaholt-blog]

Article #7 The United Methodist Church Might Not Be United for Long

http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/what-happened-and-what-didnt-at-general-conference-2019

This article put out by the United Methodist Church in May of this year marks a major event in modern Christianity. In class we have talked about the progressive left church and the traditional conservative right church. This article outlines the general assembly meeting of the United Methodist Church this year and it shows that the United Methodist Church is the only one of the three biggest American congregations to retain a historically biblical interpretation of sexual orientation and marriage. The rights of gay and lesbian persons has been a major topic of American news for more than a decade now, and the spotlight seems to be shifting away from civic questions to more religious ones. All major Christian denominations, like the Southern Baptist Denomination for example, have elected to adopt a decision that either globally allows for it’s ministers to marry LGBT couples and also allows LGBT persons to be ministers of the church or elected to adopt a decision that allows separate churches within the denomination to affirm or deny the acceptance of LGBT norms.

This class provided a greater landscape of understanding in order to understand the significance of this event. This event is surprising given the information that historically it’s been the norm for mainstream Christianity to stand opposed to cultural and even governmental norms. The division that LGBT decisions has caused in mainstream Christianity is really marking a major turning point in American Christianity. The Untied Methodist Church is the first of the major denominations to stand against this major cultural revolution. Even though the vote officially lead the church to affirm a traditional view of marriage, the vote was incredibly split and it’s very likely that the United Methodist Church won’t be united for much longer. Many high-ranking officials within the church have voiced their disappointment in the decision that the church has made and have pledged to fight the decision if not split and form their own churches as many dissenters the the decisions of mainstream denominations have done in the past.

[isaiaholt-blog]

Article #6

https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/03/50506/

Carson Holloway writes this article to explain the connection between the elites in America and Donald Trump’s presidency. In class we learned a lot about the significance that the elite have in any given culture. We mostly talked about it from the perspective of a culture supporting what it is that the elites support, but this article takes a different perspective. Holloway claims that it is because of the failure of the elites in America that Donald Trump was able to attain the presidency in 2016.

This is a very interesting point and it sheds light to the rhetoric the Trump used while running for the presidency. He would often “fight the fight” of the common people. A very significant memory for me of that election two and half years ago was the coal miners that supported trump because of some policy that he was touting. I associated Donald Trump with working class americans much more than his democratic counterpart Hillary Clinton. This also reminds of the book titled Hillbilly Elegy that talks about the people of Appalachia and serves to offer perspective in to why working class persons in middle-America came to trust and follow Trump.

We talked a lot in class about the affirmation that elites can have on a people, but not a lot about the results of failure from the elites. This article allowed me to broaden my understanding of the impact that elites can have on a culture.

[isaiaholt-blog]

Article #5 March for Life and it’s News Coverage

This is a photo posted by USA today of the March for Life rally in 2019. An estimated 200-300 thousand persons attended this annual event, which was surprising to me before taking this Religious Studies 390B. I’ve known that there is a conservative right of course that opposes the Roe V. Wade decision and all legislation that enables abortion services in the United States and abroad. However before this class I didn’t know the majority that Christian-identifying persons had in the greater scope of America.

Being a university student, observational statistics indicate that we live in a very secular world and that legislatively abortion is virtually unopposed. This class takes a wider view at America and has allowed me to see that the secular echo chamber of universities doesn’t exist in our country at large. This class has also helped to shed a light on my understanding of how this march for life was covered by major news sources. The left-leaning sources used phrases and terms that minimized the crowd numbers. The left-leaning news sources also were quick to dismiss the claims that they made, sometimes really obviously by using quotes to indicate a sort of sarcasm to indicate the ridiculousness of their arguments. While right-leaning news sources touted speculation of grand numbers and spoke of the historical significance of the largest pro-life rally ever.

Article: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/01/18/march-life-rally-thousands-washington-say-all-life-matters/2613673002/

[isaiaholt-blog]

https://religionnews.com/2014/05/20/troubling-trends-americas-calvinist-revival/

Jonathan Merritt with Religious News Service speaks to what Calvinism looks like today, and it’s increasing prevalence in his article titled “The troubling trends in America’s ‘Calvinist Revival’”. Merritt cites statistics that in today’s America, three out of ten Christians claim to be Calvinistic or Reformed in their theology. Merritt defines the Calvinistic interpretation of the Bible as hinging on the innateness of human sin and the sovereignty of God (meaning he is all powerful, there isn’t a single maverick molecule in the universe).

The main point of Jonathan Merritt’s article however is neither the growing popularity of Calvin’s theology nor the doctrine of that theology, but rather the predominant problem that exists within this sub-group of Christianity. He states that this problem is isolationism: this is the practice of removing oneself from intellectual spheres that don’t agree with them. Isolationism can have an echo chamber effect that can really cripple the members of that particular belief. The journalists main concern for this sect of Christianity is that they fail to engage with peoples of other conviction, whether those other convictions are Christian or not.

The article has a hopeful tone though as he speaks to some calvinist leaders whose hopes and aspirations for their followers would not allow for the isolationism that seems to exist right now. The Calvinist landscape also seems to be branching out into affecting other worldviews, although maybe more aggresively than today’s tolerant world would like.

[isaiaholt-blog]

https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/3/6/18252231/mormons-mormonism-church-of-latter-day-saints

[isaiaholt-blog]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/11/16/islam-america-muslims-religion-president-trump-american/1736878002/

Kim Hjelmgaard of USA Today uses this article to shed light on a hot-button topic that’s full of heated rhetoric from all sides, and not much factual history. In this article Hjelmgaard highlights the work of Amir Muhammad who is the founder of America’s Islamic Heritage Museum. Muhammad, as quoted by Hjelmgaard, claims that the Islamic community of America has largely been unsuccessful in engaging with other sub-groups of the country and making their position and beliefs known.

The journalist adds that popular America dates the beginning of Islamic immigration into the United States to very recent and ominous events, whereas the accurate history dictates that Muslim-Americans have lived in this country early in the 20th century and even before. As can be gleamed from the sorry state of the Islamic Heritage Museum, today’s America is largely uninterested in the history of Islam within our borders. The only interest that has been sparked has been the result of terrorist incidents and politics that center around the fear of terrorism of Islamic extremists.

Islamic heritage in America is under the spotlight on today’s world stage, but there’s not much history that is substantiating the popularity. Increasing terrorist presence from extremists of the Islamic ideology have served to represent the many that follow the teachings of the Quran. Modern Americas interest of Islam is simultaneously entirely disinterested in showcasings like credible Museums and insatiably intrigued by threats and occurences of bombings from terrorist groups that come from Islamic Faith.

[isaiaholt-blog]

Article #1 Modern Evangelical Encouragement

https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2019/april/call-for-jesus-y-evangelicals-missio-monday-leaders.html

This article, posted by Jeff Christopherson of the Christianity Today publisher, seems to be meant as an encouragement and advice on Evangelizing in 2019. The evangelical movement, popularized in the United States of America, is still alive and well today.

This article states that evangelism in today’s America is far less prevalent than it has been in the past. Christopherson offers a perspective that evangelical church members and leaders are more muted and slow to say “Follow me as I follow Christ” and even have a hard time getting “Follow me to church” out.

Evangelism seems like a funny concept in Modern America. Evangelism implies that the evangelizer is imparting knowledge on the evangelized. Knowledge is more readily available today than it has ever been before. If the evangelizer was interested in the information that an evangelical would have to offer, it’s only a few clicks away. I’m convinced that this has subconciously shifted the mindset of the evangelical community today. I believe what was righly called Evangelism at its “founding” is more aptly called “Apologetics” in todays world.

The information of evangelism has found most everyone with access to the internet today, and so the arguing for the truth of that information is a more accurate assesment of the task that modern day evangelicals are putting their mind to today.