Category Archives: Civil religion

WCF Says No on Gay Marriage

To pull a trick from Zrim’s bag, I think it’s time for a re-post, revised and expanded for our current times (because if the Outhouse is about anything, it’s about Relevance!) The question came up what (R/W/Z)2K’ers think of the … Continue reading

Posted in American Conservative, Applied Christianity, Church and State, Civil religion, Confessionalism, Confessions, Conservatism, Culture War, Family, Liberty, Liberty of Conscience, Natural Law, News and culture, Reformed Confessionalism, Spirituality of the Church, Two-kingdoms | 200 Comments

This Week in 2K History

For your consideration, here are a couple of interesting data points in 2K History from This Day in Presbyterian History over the last week. May 16, 1861: A Political Issue Divides the Old School General Assembly: Rev. Gardiner Spring, the … Continue reading

Posted in Church and State, Civil religion, History, Liberty, Liberty of Conscience, Links, Protestant preaching, Quotes, Spirituality of the Church, Two-kingdoms, W2K | Leave a comment

One Lord, One Baptism, One Sentiment

This is so DGH, it’s not worth trying to Guess Who: An implicit assumption of faith-based politics is that people who hold the same religious convictions will, or at least should, look at the political order in similar ways. Some invoke … Continue reading

Posted in American Conservative, Church and State, Civil religion, Compare and Confess, Conservatism, Culture War, Culture-of-life, DG Hart, evangelicals, History, Quotes, Transformationism, Two-kingdoms | 47 Comments

Water is Thicker than Blood

Heard an intriguing quote from an unlikely source during my commute .mp3 listening. The discussion started in relationship to how “Christmas” seems to get earlier and earlier every year, no longer held back by the buffer of Thanksgiving. I bet … Continue reading

Posted in Baptism, Christian life, Church and State, Church relations, Civil religion, Ecclesiology, Guess the Good Guy, Protestant slogans, Quotes, Spirituality of the Church, Two-kingdoms, Who Said That | 20 Comments

What Do Bill Maher and A Southern Baptist Pastor Have in Common?

They both think a religious set of beliefs not theirs is enough to disqualify someone for public office. During the 2008 Presidential campaign Bill Maher was interviewed on NPR about his film “Religulous.” Just before the ten minute mark, Teri … Continue reading

Posted in Church and State, Civil religion, Constantinianism, Culture, Mormonism, Presidential campaigns, Southern Baptists | 59 Comments

More Reasons to Love Lutherans…and Wonder about Baptists…and Family Research Councils

Evidently, evangelical Protestants have been snubbed when it came to the seating arrangements for religious ceremonies at the National Cathedral this weekend to commemorate September 11. Lutheran pastor Bill Cwirla says: So as a Lutheran clergyman with a firm hold … Continue reading

Posted in Civil religion, Lutheranism, Southern Baptist Convention, Two-kingdoms | Leave a comment

Michele Bachmann Impersonates John Piper

Brian Lee has a good point that religious faith is not synonymous with irrationality and that religious bigotry, like sin, is an equal opportunity affliction. I am reminded of Bill Maher’s remark in an NPR interview (plugging “Religiulous”) during the … Continue reading

Posted in Civil religion, Discerning providence, Michele Bachmann, Reformed piety | 7 Comments

Guess the Good Guy

We are constantly told, it is true, that there ought to be an equal opportunity for all the children in the United States; therefore, it is said, Federal aid ought to be given to backward states. But what shall we … Continue reading

Posted in Christian life, Civil religion, Culture, Culture War, Education, Family, Guess the Good Guy, Quotes, Two-kingdoms, W2K, Who Said That | 184 Comments

Guess Who

From a discussion of secular schooling: [Objection:] But participation in state schools is unwise for Christians. It aids and abets a movement toward greater state power, and hence toward a greater domination of unbelief in our society. I respect this … Continue reading

Posted in Authority, Christian life, Church and State, Church relations, Civil religion, Culture, Culture War, Education, Family, Legalism, Quotes, Reformed piety, Spirituality of the Church, Transformationism, Two-kingdoms, W2K, Who Said That | 39 Comments

Trueman on Puerile Religion

Over at the Q: Ideas blog Chris Donato asks Carl Trueman some questions about civil religion, secularization and poli-tainment. I have always been struck myself at the general adolescent impulse that beats beneath American Protestantism, so I found this question … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Carl Trueman, Chris Donato, Civil religion | 12 Comments

Who wants to eat blood anyways?

OHS JJS’ most recent post touches on something I’ve been wondering about for quite a while: why are the Gentiles prohibited from ingesting blood? JJS is referring to Acts 15:29, but I’ve always been curious about Genesis 9:4. I mean, … Continue reading

Posted in Christian life, Church and State, Civil religion, Culture-of-life, Legalism, Two-kingdoms, W2K | 12 Comments

Reading Assignment

I don’t know if there are any regular visitors to the ‘house that are not already regular readers of OHS JJS’s Creed, Code, Cult, but just in case, you should know that we’ve been given a reading assignment: I’d encourage … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Christian life, Church and State, Civil religion, Culture, Culture War, David VanDrunen, Friday fun, Keith Mathison, Outhouse Quick Hits, Pilgrim theology, Plugs, Quotes, Review, Theology of the Cross/glory, Transformationism, Two-kingdoms, W2K | Leave a comment

Solomon and Canon

I apologize for the disjointed and incoherent organization here, but I need to squeeze this out; maybe I can clean it up later, or hash things out in the comments… Last time, I asserted (hopefully convincingly) that Solomon’s lack of … Continue reading

Posted in Civil religion, Gospel, Law/Gospel Distinction, Two-kingdoms | 30 Comments

Solomon and Reprobation

As preface to addressing a larger issue in a subsequent post, I’d like to take up the question here of whether Solomon was elect. I’d say the evidence is pretty overwhelming that God did not grant Solomon the gift of … Continue reading

Posted in Civil religion, Gospel, Law/Gospel Distinction | 7 Comments

Not All Visions Are Created Equal

Upon request, the Outhouse wants to do its modest part to promote Reformation Christianity by pointing folks to an upcoming conference in Washington D.C. called “Preaching in the Capital.” As the phrase suggests, this conference is all about bringing the powers … Continue reading

Posted in Christ Reformed Church, Civil religion, Plugs, Protestant preaching | 83 Comments