Relationships and Community on Religious Conflict

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The Cellist of Sarajevo

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Scripture

Habakkuk 3:17-18, John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Romans 12:17-21, Psalm 57:

From 1992 to 1995 the world witnessed one of the worst civil conflicts, the Bosnian War. Three factions, each tied to a religion (Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks), began attacking...

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Music in Wartime

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James Bryan Smith

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From 1992 to 1995 the world witnessed one of the worst civil conflicts, the Bosnian War. Three factions, each tied to a religion (Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks), began attacking...

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Defending the Truth

Author

Richard J. Mouw

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Scripture

Exodus 20:16 , Zechariah 8:16–17, Leviticus 19:17–18, Ephesians 4:15, Romans 12:17–18, Psalm 15:1–3

I once had the opportunity to speak briefly to a large Mormon audience at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. I told them that I feel badly about the fact that we evangelicals often tell Mormons what th...

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Author

Frederick William Robertson

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Disagreement is refreshing when two men lovingly desire to compare their views to find out truth. Controversy is wretched when it is only an attempt to prove another wrong. Religious controversy does ...

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The Gospel and the Other: Preaching in an Age of "Us vs. Them"

Author

Andrew DeCort

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Scripture

Luke 10:25-37

When conflict and division are driving both politics and media (including social media), the contrast between the way of the world and the way of Jesus stands out more than ever. How can pastors, task...

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The Humanity of the Stranger: the Samaritan in the Israel/Gaza Crisis

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 10:null, Luke 10:30

Compassion does not demand that we know who is right and who is wrong. In fact, it does not ask for us to know anything at all about [people] except the fact that they are in need. As I facilitated...

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Quarreling Yesterday & Today

Author

Tim Muehlhoff & Richard Langer

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In Paul’s day the church quarreled over the Jewish law and over genealogies, over meat sacrificed to idols and sabbath practices, and over favoritism shown to the rich patrons and negligence shown to ...

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Bullied By Christian Leaders

Author

Bill Gaultiere

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 27:27-31, Luke 23:34-35, Luke 6:27-28

Have you ever been bullied by a group? Or felt ganged up on? Maybe it wasn’t intended by them, but you felt abused? I have. So have some of the pastors and influencers we help. So has Jesus… Lord J...

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Taking Convictions Seriously

Author

Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer

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We might say that convictions are firmly held moral or religious beliefs that guide our beliefs, actions, or choices…[M]ost Christians attach their convictions to Christ personally. In other words, we...

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Has Religion been a Force for Evil in Human History

Author

Francis S. Collins

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Scripture

Exodus 3:7-10, Isaiah 58:6-10, Micah 6:6-8, Matthew 23:27-28 , James 1:26-27, Psalm 146:7-9

A major stumbling block for many earnest seekers is the compelling evidence throughout history that terrible things have been done in the name of religion. This applies to virtually all faiths at some...

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Author

Tom Howard

Keywords

Scripture

2 Timothy 2:23-24, Ephesians 4:, 1 Corinthians 12:12-21, 1 Corinthians 14:26-28, 1 Peter 2:1, John 17:21, 1 Corinthians 3:3, 1 Corinthians 12:25, 1 Corinthians 1:11-13, Matthew 12:25-26

Christian disunity is and remains a massive impediment to the gospel itself—the proclamation of which is and should be evangelicalism’s strong suit.

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The Church Split Over… What, Precisely?

Author

Michael L. Lindvall

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Presbyterian minister Michael Lindvall begins his fictional story about a pastor in the Midwest in The Good News from North Haven like this: I am the pastor of Second Presbyterian Church. There is...

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Author

Desmond Tutu

Keywords

Scripture

John 13:35, 1 Corinthians 13:2, Romans 14:13, Isaiah 58:6-7, Galatians 5:13, Micah 6:8, Matthew 23:27

Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone’s back.

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Author

Jonathan Swift

Keywords

Love

Scripture

Romans 12:9-10, Luke 19:1-10, John 4:1-26, Galatians 5:14, Matthew 22:37-40, 1 John 4:20-21, John 13:34-35

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to makes us love one another.

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A Mischief to Religion

Author

Joseph Glanvill

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Anti-Intellectualism has been a problem in the church for some time now. Consider the words of the 17th century English clergyman Joseph Glanvill, who had this to say about the role of reason in faith...

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Turning from Conflict to Conversion

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Jonah 1:4, Luke 15:11-32, Matthew 18:21-35, Psalm 34:8, Romans 8:28

Maltbie D. Babcock, author of This Is My Father’s World and a Presbyterian pastor in Brooklyn, introduced a free pew system in his church, upsetting a wealthy woman who found strangers in her us...

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Prayer for Times of Conflict

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Scripture

Matthew 5:9, Romans 12:17-18, Psalm 34:14, Ephesians 4:2-3, John 14:27, Romans 14:19, 2 Corinthians 13:11, James 3:18, Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:6-7

O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual...

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Author

Phillip Yancey

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The issue is not whether I agree with someone but rather how I treat someone with whom I profoundly disagree. We Christians are called to use the “weapons of grace,” which means treating even our oppo...

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Author

Barbara Brown Taylor

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Scripture

Galatians 5:14, Matthew 12:1-8, John 4:1-26, James 1:27, 1 John 4:20-21, Matthew 23:23, Mark 12:30-31

The only clear line I draw these days is this: when my religion tries to come between me and my neighbor, I will choose my neighbor…Jesus never commanded me to love my religion.

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Author

Alister E. McGrath

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The 20th century gave rise to one of the greatest and most distressing paradoxes of human history: that the greatest intolerance and violence of that century were practiced by those who believed that ...

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The Greatest Threat to the Church?

Author

Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer

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What is the greatest threat to the church of Jesus Christ today? There are so many threats to choose from. Some Christians would identify hazards like postmodern relativism working to unravel notions ...

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One of the gravest dangers to the Christian faith

Author

Alan Paton

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 5:1-21, 1 Samuel 8:4-22, Isaiah 1:10-17 , Matthew 23:23-28 , Galatians 3:26-29, Psalm 146:3-9

One of the gravest dangers to the Christian faith is its wholesale appropriation of the larger culture. When this happens, the citizens of those places cannot recognize the difference between their cu...

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Grace & Guilt

Author

Paul Tournier

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 3:1-24, Isaiah 6:1-8, Genesis 50:15-21, John 8:1-11, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 51:1-17

In Guilt and Grace , Swiss physician and Christian, Paul Tournier, writes… I cannot study this very serious problem of guilt with you without raising the very obvious and tragic fact that rel...

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Choosing a Hymn (Is Not as Easy as You Might Think)

Author

Hayes Parish Register.

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:16, Philippians 2:3, 1 Corinthians 14:26, Psalm 15:1-2, Psalm 100:1-2

From the Hayes Parish Church on 18 March 1749: The Clerk gave out the 100th Psalm, and the Singers immediately opposed him, and sang the 15th and bred a disturbance.

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Author

Justin Martyr

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We used to hate and destroy one another and refused to associate with people of another race or country. Now, because of Christ, we live together with such people and pray for our enemies.

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O God, who through your Son has taught

Author

Henry Alford

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O God, who through your Son has taught us that a house divided against itself must fall: Save us, we beg you, from the danger of a divided allegiance; unite our hearts to fear your name; and grant tha...

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Author

Tim Muehlhoff & Richard Langer

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 37:3-4, 18-20, Exodus 32:19-21, 1 Kings 12:6-11, 1 Kings 14:1-3, 13 , Philippians 2:3-4, Psalm 133:1

The reason we fight with each other, and often believe the worst about each other, is that we form convictions about things for which we care deeply. Unfortunately, we all care deeply about different ...

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He’d Be Wrong!

Author

John M. Perkins

Keywords

Segregation

Reporters Alex Alston and James Dickerson tell a sad story about a church that sought to integrate its ranks: The Mississippi Delta was in a tizzy over rumors that blacks might show up at white church...

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Author

Adolf Hitler

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You see, it's been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn't we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan relig...

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Peacemaking Begins With Us

Author

Jon Huckins and Jer Swigart

Keywords

Recently we found ourselves around a table with a team of faith leaders from an influential Midwestern church. Their restlessness was palpable. “Peace has been one of our core values for years,” they ...

relationships and community on Religious Conflict

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