2015 is off to a questionable start as the Charlie Hebdo tragedy in Paris inspires much hand-wringing in the media (think Bill Maher) and a lively discussion on the podcast about secularism, its Christian roots, and its shaky future in an increasingly Muslim Europe.
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Goodness I love listening to you all!!! Thank you ????
Hello from Scotland,
Being a fan of VeggieTales and the “What’s In The Bible?” resources, I liked the Phil Vischer page a few weeks ago and discovered the Phil Vischer Podcast.
I really enjoy tuning in to the discussions each week. It’s interesting to hear about current affairs and issues from an enlightened, open-minded and non denominationally-specific Christian perspective, and is consistently lively and entertaining. I haven’t found anything equivalent to this in the UK.
I noticed that this week when talking about freedom of speech, you used the word “England” when referring to freedom of speech, when I think you were really referring to the UK. It might seem like a really small thing, to comment on this, especially considering the gravity of the terrorism issues you were discussing, but England is just one component of the UK, and saying “England” excludes, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland completely. (Maybe you meant to do this!- in which case, fair enough!)
I very much enjoyed this week’s episode, and looking forward to next weeks!
Yours Faithfully,
Katy Godden.
In your comments on the Christian roots of secularism, I found it interesting that you mentioned all the things that secularists love about Christianity (justice for the oppressed, thinking of others more highly than yourself, etc), but failed to note one important distinction: for the past 30 years, ever since the rise of the “Christian Right,” the most public faces of Christianity in this country have been very devoid of those good qualities – and instead replaced them with the idols of fighting gay marriage; fighting abortion; purity culture, etc. This loss of the good qualities has helped lead to the rise of two movements: secularism and Progressive Christianity (and despite what my more conservative friends think, those two are not the same thing).