Geoff W. Sutton Blog

  Glass church image 2023 Geoffrey Sutton and Bing AI Baptist Leader Down: What’s The Good News? The latest leader of the large US group, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) resigned last week. Willie McLaurin was interim president and CEO. The committee searching for a permanent leader discovered “McLaurin’s education credentials that he presented in his resume are false.” According to RNS , McLaurin admitted to the falsification and resigned on Thursday (17 August). False Claims Last week I joked with friends saying I studied at Oxford as I posted photos of the amazing museums, I visited during the few days I enjoyed in one of the UK’s fabulous centres of learning. Technically, one could make a case that I did study at Oxford, after all, I did learn a lot. But Willie McLaurin went much further. Here’s what the Baptist Press reported: “ On his resume, McLaurin listed earned degrees from North Carolina Central University, Duke University Divinity School and Hood Theologic...

Wheaton Chapel Christian Colleges - know before you go Wheaton College was in the news because statements by a professor were questioned. The communication became public. Since then I've heard that professors are being cautious or have been cautioned about what they may say. Conservative Christian colleges declare their beliefs and values. Freedom of speech is restricted as is the freedom to pursue some lines of research. That's why I say, "know before you go." Know what you are committing to as a student, faculty member, or staff member; however, my focus here is on students. And for traditional students who share decisions with parents--this post is for parents too. Seven Facts About Conservative Christian Campus Cultures 1. The Statement of Faith is taken seriously. Read the statement of faith and decide if you believe the words. Life's too short to put on an act. If possible, it's obviously best to learn or work at...

Years ago, at a Christian college, I took a course in Christian Philosophy . I don’t remember much from the textbook but I do recall the title of another book, Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell. Looking back, I wondered why the professor chose such a text for a course in a highly conservative college. Was he trying to prepare us to challenge the author? Was he struggling with his own faith? Spiritual Struggle / Bing Free to use/share Arguably, the leading atheist of recent decades is the biologist Richard Dawkins . Following the 911 attacks on America, Dawkins and his atheist friends published several challenges to religion. A best seller, The God Delusion , caught my attention. After all, as a psychologist, I know something about delusions. And as one who studies and writes about the psychology of religion, I wondered what might be new in this arena—new since Russell, that is. Five Things Christians Can Learn From Atheists I’ve written an academic ...

I’ve had some time to think about honoring mothers on Mother’s Day. My mother lived until she was 93. And my wife has been a mother and grandmother for some years (I'm being careful here). I’ve written about Mother’s Day before ( 2014 ,  2015 ) but this year I have been asked to talk about Ephesians 6 the week after the US Mother’s Day so I’ve been thinking about Mother’s Day from the perspective of this text about honor. One of the interesting things about this well-known phrase, “Honor your father and your mother” is that it appears eight times in the Bible (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; Matthew 15:4 & 19:19; Mark 7:10 & 10:19; Luke 18:20; Ephesians 6:2). Apparently, it was important to repeat this command. People over a span of centuries needed reminders. Maybe we do too. Here are my thoughts on this ancient text codified into a cultural norm for several decades. Words Aren’t Good Enough Christian honor required children to use their resource...

Christians are commanded to love God with all their being. Psychological scientists interested in religious studies have examined the idea of loving God in several ways, including measures of attachment. Attachment researchers have long examined the relationship between parents and children. Two components of the relationship are security and closeness or their opposites- anxious insecurity and distance or avoidance. These same dimensions have been found in the relationship between religious adults and God- especially when God is viewed as a person as in Christianity. Understanding attachment to God is one important aspect of Spiritual identity. And it is also related to morality. In this post I look at a study by Thomas Fergus and WadeRowatt at Baylor University. Morality and scrupulosity Some people experience extreme concerns about their sinfulness and have a strong sense of urgency to do something to rid themselves of their sin. This particular pattern...

Wars linked to religious motives are part of history. But lost in the details are clear causal connections between one or more religious motives and the atrocities common in warfare. In contemporary western cultures wars are conducted at the ballot box, in the courts, and in the media. Cultural war dead are counted in terms of lost pride, lost causes, lost traditions, lost influence, and even lost money. Cultural injuries can be measured by assessment of anger, resentment, plans for revenge, and money spent on causes limiting the rights of various subcultures. In the United States and western democracies, Christian traditions that informed cultural norms codified in law have been overturned at an incredible pace leaving Christians wondering about the limits of religious freedom. At this point we can only guess that in the future, people will look back on the 2015 Supreme Court decision to affirm same-sex marriage rights as indicative of the decline in the degree t...