“From Conception to Dying: Orthodox Christian Views in Today’s World”

by Newnameelizabeth

from the North Texas Orthodox Missions website:

The 2011 Festival of Orthodoxy conference sponsored by North Texas Orthodox Missions is entitled “From Conception to Dying: Orthodox Christian Views in Today’s World”. It will be held Feb. 18-19 with sessions in both Ft. Worth and Dallas, TX.

Kh. Frederica Mathewes-Green

After 38 years of legal abortion, are women better off? Has the nation resolved its ambivalence about
the matter? Are there no longer any unwanted children? Frederica Mathewes-Green will speak from
her perspective as a one-time promoter of the legalization of abortion, and from her research into the
reasons women choose to have abortions. The “Real Voices” of post-abortion women provide insight
into the lives and situations this controversy affects.

For the youth on Saturday:

For the youth: Why are young people more anti-abortion than their parents? As the research in the new
book, “American Grace,” shows, even when young people are less likely to go to church or to
associate themselves with any particular religion, they are increasingly opposed to abortion. We see
some of this changing attitude in recent movies like “Juno,” “Bella,” and “Expecting Mary.” In this
session we will talk about this shift, why it is occurring, and what the future may hold.

After Christendom: Christian Morality in a Post-Christian Culture (Friday only)

H(erman) Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., Ph.D., M.D.

Have you noticed that the morality of the dominant culture is not that of traditional Christianity?
Those who can remember the 1950s can remember when shards, pieces, of traditional Christian
morality still remained. People committed sins, but they would have been embarrassed to admit that
their daughters were living with a man outside of marriage. Even mothers of sons would have been
embarrassed to admit that their sons were living with a woman without benefit of clergy. Now people
publicly talk of such things. A radical change in the surrounding morality has occurred. Choices about
sexual relations, reproduction, and even end-of-life decisions are seen as personal choices, no longer
as moral choices. This presentation will examine how this came about and its implications for
Christians at the beginning of the 21st century.

The Culture Wars: Why Orthodox Christians are in These Battles

(Saturday only)

H(erman) Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., Ph.D., M.D.
Professor, Department of Philosophy, Rice University
Professor Emeritus, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine

There is a gulf in society separating traditional Christians (Orthodox Christians) from the posttraditional,
post-modern, post-Christian culture that surrounds them. By post-traditional I mean that a
society has arisen in which the traditional attitudes regarding sexuality, reproduction, and death have
been marginalized, and choices in these areas have come to be understood as personal choices that
should not be criticized. It is a post-modern society in that it is expected that one respect and accept a
plurality of narratives, accounts, of the meaning of life and the character of proper deportment without
holding any one of them to be absolutely right or dismissing any of them as being immoral and
perverse. It is a post-Christian culture in that, although one may mention Jesus Christ as an important
influence on our contemporary culture, He is not to be acknowledged publicly as the Messiah of Israel,
the Son of the Living God. Yet, everything in morality, indeed everything in life, turns on recognizing
Who Christ is – answering correctly Christ’s question, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16:15)

I didn’t talk about the advertising aspect

by Newnameelizabeth

|Thu, Dec. 16 2010 05:56 PM EDT

Debate Prompts Fort Worth to Adopt Ban on Religious, Atheist Ads

By Nathan Black|Christian Post Reporter

The Fort Worth Transportation Authority, or The T, adopted a policy Wednesday night that bans buses and bus benches from carrying religious ads.

The adoption came weeks after atheist ads declaring “Millions of Americans are good without God” were launched on four city buses. The ads sparked debate and drew criticism from residents who considered the campaign an insult to Christianity, especially during the Christmas season.

Some ministers organized a boycott and others called on The T to ban all religious advertising.

Already, The T does not accept ads related to politics, tobacco, alcohol, pornography and obscenity. But the board of directors’ revision to existing guidelines expanded the list of banned ads to include religious, nontheistic or faith-based ads.

“The agency’s staff recommended adding the exclusion of any faith-based ads because of the distraction from its core business and excessive staff time that have been required to respond to the recent controversy over religious versus atheist ads on The T’s buses,” The T stated.

The new advertising policy also includes a specific exclusion of defamatory messages targeting individuals or specific groups.

The “Good without God” ads were sponsored by the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason. The group said the campaign was designed to raise awareness about people who don’t believe in a god and to guide those interested to the 15 area nontheistic groups that make up the DFW coalition.

The atheist group had also planned to run the ads on Dallas buses, but the Dallas Area Rapid Transit rejected the campaign.

A monthlong campaign, the atheist ads will be allowed to remain on the Forth Worth buses until the agreement ends later this month.

A blue mobile billboard truck carrying a pro-Christian message is currently shadowing the buses. The billboard reads “I still love you. – God” and “2.1 billion people are good with God.”

Related

• Atheists Advertise ‘Man Created God’ on Chicago Buses
• Atheists Promote ‘Good Without God’ Message in Big Apple
• Pro-Christian Message Shadows Atheist Ads in Texas



(end article)

Seems it’s still taboo to be an atheist in Ft. Worth. The whole public opinion thing is what mainly bothers me. Oh no, the atheists are going to get more votes than the Christians, or at least deists. I don’t think they’re so worried about popularity as about the belief that a person’s vote is what saves them. And the fear of a communist atheist society if they win. How would life have been different without the red scare? We wouldn’t have “under God” in the pledge for one thing. The reds were pretty scary, but not all that was anti red was nice. Identity based on not being one of “those” isn’t much of an identity.

It is interesting that Adam and Eve didn’t die as we connote death at the fall. Some may even think things got more exciting for them. Some may think they were good without their previous relationship with God. These brave, honest thinkers will go on to reject God for all of the fear of punishment and impossible testing that he put Adam and Eve through. Others will blindly believe that He is good and necessary despite it all. This will prove that they are good too. In fact, better than those who are good without God. The latter think they’re better for being more honest and authentic to naked reality.

But “faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen”, according to Hebrews 11. What is hope and what comprises the invisible? They have to have substance or we wouldn’t have the capacity to hope and comprehend what invisibility is. The atheist thinks these components of humanity are as useless as an appendix.