The truth of the matter is that liberal interpretations of the Bible and Higher Criticism has eroded people’s faith in God’s Word. It is also true, as others here have stated, that many people only want their ears tickled. Telling them that Biblical morality does matter does not make them feel all warm and cozy inside and many religious leaders have failed to teach God’s Word for fear of seeming outdated or bigoted or fear of losing membership – and money. They have shown themselves in fear of Man rather than in fear of God. There is a price to pay for this lack of leadership and lack of obedience in Christians in general. It’s called Armageddon.

Victoria Demona

What we see is a careful appeal to the majority of voters. I would agree that it is dangerous to play to the crowd, but it does give us some indication of the nature of the crowd. I think I am going and tell someone the truth about Jesus, then i am going to try and find someone else and so on… I might even help to enlighten some “believers”.

Thanks bill, we owe you a great debt in the work you do.

R.J. Blake

If Cameron is a confused Christian, then the Pope could be described as a confused Buddhist. Consider Cameron’s capitulation to the homosexual agenda:

Cameron said that one of his “proudest” moments as leader of the Conservatives was when he told a party conference in 2006 that they had a duty to support a “commitment to marriage” among men and women, between a “man and a man, and a woman and a woman”.

www.billmuehlenberg.com/2009/07/02/why-the-sun-is-setting-on-england/

Far from applauding his honesty, we should be exposing his disingenuity.

Mansel Rogerson

More of his speech can be found here, and it is still bad news: www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/god-is-good-but-just-be-sure-not-to-take-him-too-literally-20091109-i58p.html

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

You are right when you link to the decline of Sunday School, but I would widen the scope and include the decline of preaching, and of real pastoral care (of the spiritual rather than emotional kind)

Many congregations do not want to do the hard work of learning and understanding the Bible. They want a pep talk. Many preachers don’t want to do the hard work of giving the congregation what they need, rather than what they want. It is too painful to watch them go somewhere else because it’s easier there.

If we want to blame someone for the mess we are in, we must blame ourselves, the church, and we must repent now of the laziness, worldliness, apathy and ungodliness in our own lives.

If the salt loses its saltiness…

God Bless,
Michael Hutton

Sorry, but I much prefer the more honest and less ideologically driven atheists than true believers and Dawkins’ groupies such as yourself. Those who are not pushing a misotheist agenda cringe at the claims Dawkins makes, such as Michael Ruse who said that The God Delusion “makes me embarrassed to be an atheist”.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

Richard Dawkins is an authority on science and nature and when the bible suggests that the laws of nature can be broken or that there are things outside nature, it is well within his area of expertice.
I also disagree that Dawkins pretends to be an authority on scripture. He applies standard tools of formal reasoning to the bible. Logical reasoning provides rigid rules that works the same way on all possible texts. I don’t see why the bible should be made an exception or why any one text would require some sort of special education.
I would agree that any text must be seen in the appropriate historical context, and that this might have an effect on how one should interpret it’s logic. But it is problematic to suggest that in order to make a fair criticism of a book, one has to do more than a proper reading of the text. And this Dawkins has undoubtedly done.
Alfred Tubble

There certainly are some solid Christians in Federal Parliament. Perhaps a tad more can be found in the Coalition than in Labor. But as to how many are Biblically literate is a good question indeed. Not too many come to mind, but for the most part I am not all that familiar with the details of their faith. Presumably if they attend churches with a strong emphasis on Scripture, that may translate into some Biblical literacy. But not necessarily I suspect.

Murray in his comment lists a few basic marks of Biblical literacy. Whether our Christian pollies would pass such a test is a moot point.

As an anecdote, many years ago I was giving evidence at a Senate Committee hearing having to do with something about homosexuality. A Senator came up to me and quietly asked me where the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was to be found in the Bible. I told him.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch