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SHOCK: Americans Ditch Biblical Worldview For ‘Fake Christianity’, MTD

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By Western Journal. American Christianity has fallen. Thanks to cultural corrosion and a lack of biblical literacy, a new “fake Christianity” has raked the dry ground of the American church. . .

George Barna, director of research at Arizona Christian University, said MTD — or “watered-down, feel-good, fake Christianity” — is “the most popular worldview in the United States today,” according to Christianity Daily. A recent poll conducted by ACU found that 38 percent of adults hold this view.

What’s more, three out of four people who hold to MTD still consider themselves Christians. (Read more from “SHOCK: Americans Ditch Biblical Worldview For ‘Fake Christianity’, MTD” HERE)

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What is MTD, and how prevalent is it in America?

By CRC Staff. New findings from the American Worldview Inventory 2021 show that nearly four of 10 adults (38%) are more likely to embrace elements of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism than other popular worldviews, including Biblical Theism (or the biblical worldview), Secular Humanism, Postmodernism, Nihilism, Marxism (along with its offshoot, Critical Theory) and Eastern Mysticism (or “New Age”). . .

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (or MTD) was initially identified and named by sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton in their book, Soul Searching, published in 2005. It was based on national research among the teenagers of the turn of the millennium. At that time Smith and Denton identified several core beliefs that characterized the thinking and behavior of the group. Those components included:

● Belief in a God who remains distant from people’s lives
● People are supposed to be good to each other (i.e., moral)
● The universal purpose of life is being happy and feeling good about oneself
● There are no absolute moral truths
● God allows “good people” into Heaven
● God places very limited demands on people . . .

AWVI 2021, the first-ever national study of biblical and competing worldviews, found that although three out of four people (74%) who embrace MTD consider themselves to be Christians, only one-sixth (16%) qualify as born-again based on their theology. The study also found that the beliefs of the vast majority of this group conflict with basic biblical teaching. For example, they:

● Do not believe that people are sinful and need salvation through Jesus Christ (91%)
● Trust sources other than the Bible for moral guidance (88%)
● Contend that good people get to Heaven through good behavior (76%)
● Do not believe that the Bible is true and reliable communication from God (71%)

(Read more about MTD HERE)

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Disturbing: Christian Doctor Ordered Not To Provide Life-Saving Treatment

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A Christian doctor has been ordered by a medical tribunal in the United Kingdom not to provide life-saving treatment to women who seek his help while an investigation is conducted.

Officials at Christian Concern explained Dr. Dermot Kearney, a former president of the Catholic Medical Association, is considering how to challenge the punishment imposed by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.

He was accused of providing prescriptions to women who had taken the first of two chemicals that are described as an abortion-pill process.

“It is believed to be the first time a medical doctor has been prohibited from providing a treatment that saves lives,” Christian Concern explained in a report.

Kearney has been ordered not to provide that treatment to women for up to 18 months during an investigation. (Read more from “Disturbing: Christian Doctor Ordered Not To Provide Life-Saving Treatment” HERE)

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Grammy-Winning Christian Musician Announces He’s an ‘Exvangelical’

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DC Talk’s Kevin Max has admitted that he is an “exvangelical,” according to the Christian Post, and is working toward “progressing” and “deconstructing.” . . .

In responses to his initial tweet, Max said that he still believes in “the Universal Christ.”

“For all those people using my post as plug & play for your own hot take or personal discourse, I offer the lyrics to an upcoming song off of my new band @AstronautsSad album ‘Adult Fears’ titled ‘It’s okay,'” he wrote. “I’m sorry for being obtuse or difficult but it’s a process … love.” . . .

The outlet reported that some of those people leaving the Christian church have begun referring to themselves as the “nones” and are promoting a movement called “deconstruction” — translated as “deconstructing one’s faith and leaving the church.” (Read more from “Grammy-Winning Christian Musician Announces He’s an ‘Exvangelical'” HERE)

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WATCH: 71-Year-Old Pastor Arrested for ‘Homophobic Statements’ After Preaching From the Bible

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On Friday, April 23, John Sherwood was ‘preaching the gospel’ outside Uxbridge Station. However, police arrived after the 71-year-old was accused of homophobic language, soon arresting him under the Public Order Act, which cites ‘threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour’.

In footage uploaded to Twitter, officers can be seen pulling him off the stepladder after he refuses to come down and using force to restrain him. He was later released without charge.

As reported by the MailOnline, Sherwood said, ‘I wasn’t making any homophobic comments, I was just defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. I was only saying what the Bible says – I wasn’t wanting to hurt anyone or cause offence. I was doing what my job description says, which is to preach the gospel in open air as well as in a church building.’

He explained, ‘When the police approached me, I explained that I was exercising my religious liberty and my conscience. I was forcibly pulled down from the steps and suffered some injury to my wrist and to my elbow. I do believe I was treated shamefully. It should never have happened.’ (Read more from “71-Year-Old Pastor Arrested for ‘Homophobic Statements’ After Preaching From the Bible” HERE)

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Concerning Report: Christians Increasingly Targets Of ‘Polite Persecution’

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Beneath the cloak of “progress,” an increasingly hostile secularism is threatening Christians in the West with a “polite persecution,” contends an annual report on religious freedom worldwide.

“If Christians in the Middle East need to fear the machete, Christians in the Western world need to fear the media, higher education, activist organizations and government,” says Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, in a commentary on the report. “They are the ones advocating, or imposing, a secular agenda on religious institutions.” . . .

The persecution of Christians takes two forms today, the report says. Everyone is familiar with the violence against people and property, but there is a more subtle form, Donahue said, “relying on restrictive measures encoded in public policy and law.”

The second form is called “polite persecution,” the ACN report explains, because it hides under a veneer of “enlightened” secularism.

Donohue says attacks of that kind against religious believers “may not be as immediate or acute, but they can be culturally lethal.” (Read more from “Concerning Report: Christians Increasingly Targets Of ‘Polite Persecution'” HERE)

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Disturbing New Bill Proposes Removing Cops Who Express Religious or Conservative Beliefs

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A new bill introduced by California State Assembly Member Ash Kalra in San Jose would prohibit police officers from serving if they have used arbitrarily defined “hate speech” or are affiliated with a “hate group.”

The bill, known as the California Law Enforcement Accountability Reform Act (CLEAR Act), claims to combat “the infiltration of extremists in our law enforcement agencies” and would mandate a background check for all officers who have “exchanged racist and homophobic messages.”

Kalra claims that AB 655 is necessary to prevent “the apparent cooperation, participation, and support of some law enforcement” in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

The bill defines hate speech as “as advocating or supporting the denial of constitutional rights of, the genocide of, or violence towards, any group of persons based upon race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.”

Pacific Justice Institute Senior Staff Attorney Matthew McReynolds said this broad and purposefully arbitrary definition could give way for Christians and conservatives to be classified as “hateful” based on the premise of rejecting abortion or supporting Proposition 8 in California, a same-sex amendment that passed in 2008. (Read more from “Disturbing New Bill Proposes Removing Cops Who Express Religious or Conservative Beliefs” HERE)

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Report: Indian Christians ‘Persecuted in All Areas of Life’

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Christians in India face persecution “in all areas of public and private life,” according to a study by the Christian Aid group Open Doors.

In majority Hindu India, “Christians are persecuted in all areas of public and private life, and anti-conversion laws (currently in nine states, with more considering adoption) are abused to harass and intimidate Christians,” according to the organization. Although few people are actually convicted under the anti-conversion laws, related cases “can drag on for years.”

According to the U.S.-based Open Doors, “Hindu extremists” in India “believe that all Indians should be Hindus, and that the country should be rid of Christianity and Islam. They use extensive violence to achieve this goal, particularly targeting Christians from a Hindu background.”

Indian Christians are often accused of adopting a “foreign faith” and may be blamed for perceived “bad luck” within their majority Hindu communities. The tension has lead to Christians suffering physical attacks and being killed by fellow community members in extreme instances. Hindu converts to Christianity are “under constant pressure from their family and community to return to Hinduism,” according to the study. “If they do not ‘re-convert,’ they may be boycotted by their community, with a devastating effect on their ability to earn income.”

The ongoing Chinese coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the economic and social blacklisting of Christians in India. (Read more from “Report: Indian Christians ‘Persecuted in All Areas of Life’” HERE)

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Just Saying This Famous Jesus Quote Could Land You in Jail

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Christians in the United Kingdom and Canada are being warned that foundational religious beliefs and practices soon could be criminalized under laws banning the counseling of people seeking help with unwanted sexual attraction.

Activists want to ban not only the so-called “conversion therapy,” they also want to prevent people from criticizing their lifestyle.

And that includes a veto on the preaching and the practice of churches regarding sexuality, according to the U.K.’s Christian Institute.

Pastoral counseling, communion or even membership could become criminal matters.

For example: “A lesbian activist visits church on a day when the minister – who knows her personally – is preaching on sexual ethics. He teaches that sex is a gift reserved for marriage between a man and a woman, and says singleness is an honorable calling. She reports this as an attempt to change or repress her sexual orientation.” (Read more from “Just Saying This Famous Jesus Quote Could Land You in Jail” HERE)

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WATCH: Matthew McConaughey Opens up on Joe Rogan About Christianity, Cancel Culture, and Defund the Police

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Matthew McConaughey said his religious beliefs are not separate from his belief in science, calling science, “the practical pursuit of God.”

“The two are not exclusive. They dance together; they go together, belief and science. I never saw those as contradictions,” he said on a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

McConaughey explained how his beliefs are intertwined with his acting carer, and why Christianity is often treated as taboo and sometimes plays a role in the cancel culture in Hollywood.

While McConaughey said he hasn’t necessarily encountered pushback for his religious beliefs, he said that the progressive and “illiberal” trend of “condescending and patronizing” people who believe differently must stop.

“To throw somebody, to illegitimize them because they say they are a believer, is just so arrogant and in some ways hypocritical to me,” McConaughey said.

(Read more from “WATCH: Matthew McConaughey Opens up on Joe Rogan About Christianity, Cancel Culture, and Defund the Police” HERE)

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Report: China Jails Christian Teenager for Practicing Banned Religion

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Police in southwestern China this summer sentenced a Christian teenager to three years in prison for practicing her faith, human rights magazine Bitter Winter revealed on Tuesday.

In Yunnan province, which borders Vietnam, the People’s Court of Jianshui county sentenced 19-year-old Jiang Guangmei to three years in prison on June 29.

“She was charged with ‘using a xie jiao [cult] organization to undermine law enforcement’ and also fined 3,000 RMB (about $430),’” according to the magazine. Police first arrested Jiang in September 2018 when she was 17 for writing articles about her religious experience as a member of the Church of Almighty God (CAG).

“[A]ccording to the [CAG’s] official history, the denomination whose Chinese name translates as ‘Eastern Lightning’ was founded in the belief that Christ is born again and back on Earth in the guise of a mysterious leader of the faith — a woman who may now be living in the New York metropolitan area,” the Daily Beast wrote of CAG in February. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has branded CAG a cult, or xie jiao in Mandarin, and banned the church in China.

Jiang’s crime of “writing articles about her religious experience” in CAG is an action targeted by the CCP as “a common pretext to jail members of China’s banned religious groups,” according to the report. According to Jiang’s verdict, she received her three-year prison sentence because she would not admit that practicing her faith was a crime. (Read more from “Report: China Jails Christian Teenager for Practicing Banned Religion” HERE)

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