Who defines good? (smunews?format=xml)
Summary: William Lawrence, dean of SMU's Perkins School of Theology, on religious institutions as the definers of good. By William McKenzie Here's a follow-up to our ongoing dialogue about defining the common good. This question comes out of the discussion we had at our first Texas Faith public forum last month. And the question is this: How far should churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious institutions go in helping define the common good? The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly acted upon his religious convictions and led many other people of faith in protesting the nation's civil rights laws. He believed his faith was drawing him into the public arena, and his work changed America's course for the better. And he hardly is the only person of faith who has acted upon his beliefs about the public good. You can find examples from peace movements to the religious right. Yet it also is true that there is a greater weariness today about the mixing of religion and politics. Polling data from the Pew Center for Religion & Public Life has shown that. In fact, a recent Pew poll that showed Americans are growing tired of so much religion in politics formed the basis of ...
The Church is Changing, What is Emerging?
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