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Christianity Today, August, 2007 |

Promises, Promises

How to really build a 'great society.'

Charles Colson with Anne Morse | posted 8/07/2007 08:39AM

If you're not already weary of the 2008 presidential campaign—some 15 months before we vote—you must be living in a cave without cable or internet access. The 2008 campaign began the day after ...

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Mark Chandler

Posted: August 17, 2007 9:22 PM

Colson has this one wrong. The government did not respond to Katrina because it was too large...it (FEMA) was virtually non existant. Or should I say it is a virtual agency? After 30 year of Replublicanism dismantaling the Federal Government, there was no one to do any thing and no things to do anything with. Only a strong Central Government can respond to large problems. And our only hope of any protection from or regualtion of multi-national corps is to have a large Central government with the will to retake control of all three branches of the government and run off, bar, deportoor imprison the lobbiest and corp CEO's that currently own the Federal government. Most americans do not realize as much as 80% of the legislation passed at the federal level is produced in corperate offices in the format required by congress and it smiply requires a signature. then the envelopes full of cash can be passe out. As with Abramoff right on the floor during proceedings.

Jake Meador

Posted: August 13, 2007 2:12 PM

I just returned from a two-month stay in Zambia and I feel like Mr. Colson may have too rosy an outlook on the effects of Pentecostalism and Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa. I rejoice that we have so many dear brothers and sisters in Africa, however Pentecostalism has played a role in two significant African problems. One area is that in many ways it is essentially a Christian animism for many. I don't believe that how it functions in the States, but in countries with long histories of animism, Pentecostalism is a way to maintain a link with their past. I heard people speaking of good and bad spirits, referring to angels and demons, but take away the Christian lingo and it could just as easily have been about spirits they worshiped when they were animists. Consequently, they attribute many problems to good and bad spirits. This plays out in many ways- someone gets sick with malaria, and an evil spirit is blamed and the person dies because the malaria is untreated. (Continued)

Chris Barrett

Posted: August 07, 2007 12:18 PM

Dear Mr. Colson, As a very sophisticated individual with lots of political experience, you know full well that "the political" is like oxygen in the human blood: it is everywhere. Anytime one speaks of fulfilling human needs and wants [and how different these are!] within society, one has come into the realm of the political. You truncate "politics" as a campaign, as elections, as legislation and so forth. These are among the very partisan aspects of "the political". But the minute we hear a politician say "we should not make this a political issue" or "they are just trying to 'play politics' with this..." we should know one or two things immediately: either the individual speaking is ignorant or they are being very dishonest; human beings are by nature political beings for the fact of our common earthly reality is: the political occurs when two or more people, coming together to seek to resolve a tension arising between human needs or wants and social facts. e.g: Religion

Brad Ryden

Posted: August 07, 2007 10:57 AM

I can't believe what I read in the above article. It goes against truth and logic in so many ways. The concept of 'sphere's' of our existance sounds so much like the last gasps of existential thinking, the hellish doctrine that got is in the mess we are today. And holding South Africa up as a model is an insult to intelligence. The nation with the highest degree of HIV/AIDS in the world, where one in four of their youth are infected is not a nation to model, it is one to come along side and be Christ to, to show the compassion and the way out of where they find themselves today. Third world Pentecostalism and Christianity are, in many ways, equally oppressive as any secular pholosophy araund today Come on Chuck, get your head out of the sand and stop Pontification from on high. None of us has any magic answer for today's problems except as I said to be Christ to others. Words are useless, only when we bleed for others will God be glorified.

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