And after 9/11, this militaristic God became more real. Gospel Tracts In Arabic are available for people who have expressed interest and willingness to learn more about this religion. New issues and interests have emerged, but religion’s role in many Americans’ lives remains undiminished. The president remains wildly unpopular among Christians who are persons of color. Although pro-Trump evangelicals are a solid majority, the divides in other white Christian groups are fairly even. Near the beginning of his Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens of 1755, Kant observes that the harmonious order of the universe points to its divinely governing first Cause; near the end of it, he writes that even now the universe is permeated by the divine energy of an omnipotent Deity (Cosmogony, pp. I feel grief. I do not recognize this Christianity, even if the faces in the crowd were familiar. That familiar audience – mostly white, probably mostly Christian – continued to howl its approval. The media publishes stories about Christian Democrats pushing back against Trump with liberal renderings of faith and politics. Supporting facts must be given to back up the claim of divine inspiration.

So facts about some real possibilities and real impossibilities can only be grounded in a necessary being that somehow exemplifies (rather than merely thinking) every combination of fundamental properties whose joint exemplification is really possible. The Muslim anthropologist Talal Asad puts it this way: “Theology, being in language, is part of culture”-which is to say that, if “culture” is open to discussion, so is God. Of environmentalism increasingly being faith-based, Lovelock says, “I would agree with you wholeheartedly. As the chant died down, the rhetoric of division went on with new words from the President’s speech. Alex Vilenkin, Many Words in One: The Search for Other Universes (New York: Hill and Wang, 2006), p. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt. Meanwhile, the God of Love was not having a particularly good run. A recurring feature of progressive Christian Twitter has become white people bemoaning the fact that their relatives and friends have turned away from Jesus’ command to love one’s neighbor. White clergy friends have reported to me that angry congregants have intimidated them after preaching a political sermon with threats to rescind donations or to have them fired.

It is also the expression of a certain view of God, one that has slowly shifted the priorities and teaching in far too many American churches, and made it possible for those who would have once sung Jesus Loves the Little Children to join this hostile liturgy. In the last three years, Donald Trump has replaced Charles Darwin as troublemaker-in-chief in many white American churches. These numbers demonstrate the strength of white Christian base, but they also suggest something else: America’s white churches are roiled by political division. What are some ways God has shown common grace to you this week? This God has often shown up in Christian history; including in American fundamentalism. But from 1980 onward, he underwent a revival in several strands of American religion including Pentecostalism, neo-Calvinism, traditionalist Roman Catholicism, and some Orthodox communities. Of white Christians, according to Pew, evangelical support for Trump hovers around 70%; white mainline Christians are split with 48% approval; and around 44% of white Roman Catholics support him. It stars Colin Farrell as Ray and Brendan Gleeson as Ken, two Irish hitmen who are ordered to lay low in Bruges by their crime lord boss, Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes).

My brother, as an adult, traded that God for a tougher, stricter one who exercises judgment against all who refuse to bend the knee, a kind of Emperor-God, enthroned in glory. In the political age bookended by Ronald Reagan’s culture wars and a devastating terrorist attack, the God of Love began to look like a loser, one fit for liberation theologians, do-gooders, and feminists. We learned Golden Rule – “Do unto others” – and the Great Commandment – “Love God and love your neighbor.” Ours was not a scary God threatening sinners with hell. The churches that still preached a God of Love declined; those seminaries closed. Women were already in love with the big hair trend, thanks to the bouffant, and the longer-lasting beehive was a timesaver. Many people have a difficult time becoming spiritual because they are focused more on an illusion as opposed to the real thing. It brought cheer to Nagardanga, the small village in northern Bangladesh where he was born, and from where he would cycle for half an hour to get to the closest bazaar to have electricity, so that he could watch live cricket on TV. All are helpful. But none seems to get to the heart of the matter: Too many white Christians have a God problem.