Religious freedom means little if people can be required to act against strongly held religious precepts, writes Rick Plasterer. juicyecumenism.com/2025/10/06/sea…

Interesting quote from John Richard Neuhaus (founder of First Things). As a seminarian, he vowed to be: "in descending order of importance, religiously orthodox, culturally conservative, politically liberal, and economically pragmatic."

My @theird weekly email: Anglican chaplains, protecting confessionals, Methodist love outreach, Christian historical remembrance - mailchi.mp/theird/splitti… via @theird

Or that pastor is admitting the limits of his vocation & expertise.

Jesus is Lord but clergy are not. They are called to proclaim the Gospel. Their vocation & expertise are not universal.

John Wesley’s “The Character of a Methodist."

WATCH: Methodist pastor Matt O’Reilly of Christ Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and who teaches at Beeson Divinity School and Wesley Biblical, discusses his new book Free to Be Holy: A Biblical Theology of Sanctification.juicyecumenism.com/2025/10/07/are…

Autumn IRD Board meeting underway this morning in Washington discussing theological standards in IRD bylaws. As a religious think tank, IRD occupies a unique space. See our founding statement here: theird.org/about/founding…

Providence Provcast Ep. 102 | After Two Years of War, a Chance for Peace? - mailchi.mp/providencemag/…

Tonight at National Press Club IRD joins with Baylor in Washington co-sponsoring “the problem of dirty hands” and the challenge with both having a good regime and keeping it. More here: washington.web.baylor.edu/events

Methodist pastor ⁦Matt O'Reilly⁩ of Christ Church in Birmingham, Alabama who teaches Beeson Divinity School Wesley Biblical discusses his new book “Free to Be Holy: A Biblical Theology of Sanctification.” juicyecumenism.com/2025/10/07/are…

John Wesley thought secret sauce of Methodist revivals that changed Britain was focus on Christian perfection & entire sanctification.

Repeat 10 times daily: “Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” …Reinhold Niebuhr

“The perils of uncontrolled power are perennial reminders of the virtues of a democratic society; particularly if a society should become inclined to impatience with the dangers of freedom and should be tempted to choose the advantages of coerced unity at the price of freedom.”

“In all non-democratic political theories the state or the ruler is invested with uncontrolled power for the sake of achieving order & unity in the community. But the pessimism which prompts & justifies this policy is not consistent; for it is not applied, as it should be, to the

Methodist Pastor Riley Case connected early in his ministry with a camping program that afforded great freedom and saw campers brought to Christian faith on decision night. juicyecumenism.com/2025/10/08/met…

Without a theological foundation, the idea of intrinsic human rights is incoherent providencemag.com/2025/10/from-w…

Unlike continental Europe & Latin America, the Anglo countries have never had self-identifying Christian political parties, which is likely for the best.

How should one make sense of the Christian confession that God has instilled a “sense of divinity” in every person? juicyecumenism.com/2025/10/09/rev…

IRD's Jean Bethke Elshtain Fellowship focuses on exploring the fundamental principles of Christian realism and applying those principles to contemporary challenges to see how they stand up. Learn more at: providencemag.com/the-jean-bethk…