Rights & Duties Summer Forum

Christianity And Its Engagement With Politics And Culture

“Ideas Have Consequences” – Richard Weaver

“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle.”
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848)

“The ultimate end, with reference to and for the sake of which all other things are desirable, is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments….”
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (1863)

“On this planet of ours human culture and civilization are indissolubly bound up with the presence of the Aryan. If he should be exterminated or subjugated, then the dark shroud of a new barbarian era would enfold the earth….”
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (1925)

“Each feeble-minded person is a potential source of endless progeny of defect; we prefer the policy of immediate sterilization, [so] that parenthood is absolutely prohibited to the feeble-minded….”
Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood)
The Pivot of Civilization (1922)

“Music’s only purpose should be the glory of God and the recreation of the human spirit.” J.S. Bach

The Moravians committed to a daily prayer meeting for 100 years; one of the results was more than 300 missionaries relocating around the world to preach the gospel and to serve the poor.

“Modern art did not just happen. It came as a result of a deep reversal of spiritual values in the Age of Reason, a movement that in the course of a little more than two centuries changed the world.” H.R. Rookmaaker

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Jim Elliot, missionary to the Huaorani/Auca, martyr, whose wife, Elisabeth along with the Saint family lived among this tribe. Today, 1/3 of the Huaorani are Christians.

Evergreen Church in 1992 chose the goal of 5 congregations planted in Oregon by 2010. There are now in 2012 six congregations and four missions.

“When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith.” Abraham Kuyper, Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1901-1905

2013 Seminar Series

June 19 – The Importance of Music in the Christian Home (Juliet Kane)
June 26 – Love of “Other”: How the Trinity Shapes Our Evangelism (Eric Costa)
July 3 – Living a Christian Life in a Secular World (Cherry Woodman)
July 10 – When Christians Disagree (John Southgate)
July 17 – When Christians Met – and Accepted – Contraceptives (Eli Plopper)
July 24 – The Challenge and Opportunity of Homosexuality (Michael Kane)
July 31 – Same-Sex Relationships and the Law (Elliott Williams)
Aug 7 – Resurrecting Patriarchy – He’s Only Mostly Dead (Tim Dugan)
Aug 14 – Vocation: The Christian Doctrine of Work (Erik Haralson)
Aug 21 – What is Education? One Teacher’s Effort to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing (Diana Meadowcroft)

2012 Seminar Series

Jul 25 – John Southgate: “Does Beauty Matter?” Lecture, Q&A Session
Aug 01 – Tim Dugan: “What Does Classical Christian Education Have To Do with Technology Education?”
Lecture Notes
Aug 08 – Erik Haralson: “Education, Christianity, and the State” Lecture, Q&A Session
Aug 15 – Michael Kane: “Is Capitalism Christian?” Lecture, Q&A Session

2011 Seminar Series

From Kuyper To Hunter: Remembering Sphere Sovereignity & Considering Faithful Presence – Nathan Lewis
Freedon And Complacency: Lessons From The Gulag – Julie Southgate
Origins And Passage Of The International Religious Freedom Act – Anne Huiskes
Why Should We Study Church History?: Biographical Discussion Of Italian Reformer Pietro Martire Vermigli – John Southgate
The Grotesque South: Truth And Myth Regarding A Unique American Region – John Breckenridge
Work In The Light Of Eternity – Michael Kane
Informal Education: Its Reach & Our Responsibility -Keith Thomas