Morning Roundup 04/30/13: Kermit Gosnell; Slippery Slope Arguments; Seventh Day Adventists; Making Small Groups a Priority
There are few occasions where you see something go viral for a good reason. As Trevin Wax explains, it started with Mollie Hemingway. (I should also mention Kirsten Powers of USAToday-- together they brought the story global.)
How Mollie Hemingway Introduced the Nation to Kermit Gosnell -- Trevin Wax
For the past few weeks, coverage of the Kermit Gosnell murder trial has been virtually absent in the mainstream media. Noticing the lack of media attention to such an intriguing story, Mollie Hemingway (from the must-read blog Get Religion) began writing about the oversight.
As the details of the trial began to spread through outside channels, the silence of mainstream journalists became less and less excusable. Mollie kept blogging about the journalistic oversight. Then, she extended her protest to Twitter, publicly contacting journalists across the nation and asking them to explain their silence.
On Thursday, Kirsten Powers wrote an Op-Ed for USA Today that claimed American journalists had forgotten what should be on the front page. By Thursday night, Gosnell was trending on Twitter.
Social media outlets were rapidly spreading the news story. I was one of many who blogged about the story - registering my frustration with the way abortion stories are framed by journalists.
All day Friday, Kermit Gosnell was the top subject trending on Twitter. Anderson Cooper gave extensive coverage to the story on Friday night. Over the weekend, journalists covered the story of why there hadn't been a story (which is not as good as actually covering the trial, but it's a start).
Until the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday afternoon, the Gosnell story was top news across the nation, including CBS. What media critics had called a "blackout" had ended.
Without taking away from Kirsten Powers' article or the thousands who blogged or tweeted about Gosnell, I believe Mollie Hemingway deserves most of the credit for causing respected journalists to give this story a second look. For example, when Sarah Kliff claimed Gosnell was a local crime story without policy implications, Mollie pressed her on the silliness of that excuse. Later, Sarah admitted she'd been wrong. Newsweek followed suit.
So what did Mollie do right? Several things.
1. She was an informed, credible voice on the issue.
2. She didn't just complain; she pushed.
3. She devoted time and attention to a serious issue worthy of conversation.
John Frame drops the bomb on (some) slippery slope arguments.
Why Slippery Slope Arguments Can Be Too Slippery -- John Frame
Often slippery slope arguments are buttressed by historical examples.
Such-and-such a theologian began by denying, say, total abstinence from alcoholic beverages, and five years later he abandoned the Christian faith.
Or such-and-such a denomination rejected the exclusive use of Psalms as hymns in worship, and twenty-five years later it capitulated to liberalism. . . .
In general, they prove nothing.
Usually, they do not rest on a sufficient statistical sample to establish even probable conclusions.
And they ignore the complexities of historical causation.
A denomination becomes liberal for many reasons, never just one. On the one hand, it may well be that rejection of exclusive Psalmody is in some cases at least a symptom of advancing liberalism. (I say that as an opponent of exclusive Psalmody, who nevertheless recognizes that people sometimes reject exclusive Psalmody for very bad reasons.) On the other hand, the denomination may be rejecting exclusive Psalmody for good reasons. This development may be quite independent of any trend toward liberalism, or it may bear a paradoxical relation to that trend. For example, the liberal trend may, for a time, help the church to break free of unbiblical traditions--God's bringing a good result out of an overall evil development. (It could be argued that the development toward liberalism in the Presbyterian Church U.S., for example, enabled that denomination to take a strong stand against dispensationalism, a stand that to many nonliberals was a good thing.)
Thus not very much can be deduced from historical examples. They ought to make us think twice about what we are doing. They suggest possibilities, but they are never normative in themselves.
I found the article on Seventh Day Adventists to be fascinating.
Thriving Denomination Somewhat Sad and Embarrassed To Celebrate 150 Years -- Christianity Today
Over the past 150 years, Seventh-day Adventists have built one of Christianity's most inventive and prosperous churches, all the while praying for the world to end as soon as possible.
A small band of believers has mushroomed to more than 17 million baptized members, including 1.2 million in the U.S. Nearly 8,000 Adventists schools dot dozens of countries. Hundreds of church-owned hospitals and clinics mend minds and bodies around the world.
You might expect Adventists to celebrate their success while marking their church's 150th anniversary this May. There's just one problem: the church wasn't supposed to last this long.
Back in the 1860s, the founders of Seventh-day Adventism preached that Jesus would return - and soon. That's why they called themselves "Adventists." By Second-Coming standards, the church's long life could be considered a dismal sign of failure.
"If you took a time machine and visited our founders in May 1863, they'd be disconcerted, to say the least, that we're still here," said David Trim, the church's director of archives and research.
Current Adventists aren't exactly excited about the anniversary, either.
"It's almost an embarrassment to be celebrating 150 years," said Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, the church's director of education. "But it's also an affirmation of faith in Christ's return."
Today's clip from The Exchange comes from a recent episode in which I interviewed Ronnie Floyd about small groups, curriculum and structure as well as his involvement in a new Bible study curriculum coming this fall from LifeWay-- Bible Studies for Life. There is a webcast coming up on May 8 that will provide more details about the curriculum. You can find out more here. Also, be sure to join me today at 3:00 PM Eastern for this week's episode of The Exchange. This week's show will be live from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, as I host Pastor Bob Coy.
Making Small Groups a Priority - Ronnie Floyd
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