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Christian Union: The Magazine
January 2, 2019
Jonathan Haidt on the Coddling of the American Mind; Finding Your Five; Leaving Religion at Home: Engaging Religious Thought and Action in American Society; Godlessness: the First Step to the Gulag; A Heart for Serving Neighbors and more, in this issue of Christian Union's bi-monthly email brief.
 
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Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!
— Psalm 31:23-24

 

Jonathan Haidt on the Coddling of the American Mind

By Collin Hansen
From The Gospel Coalition
01 haidtIf their intent is to foster anger and conflict, college administrators are doing an excellent job. But the rise of safe spaces hasn’t proven so safe for students, speakers, and professors who question the progressive orthodoxy of today’s academy. In many university settings today, students are encouraged to assume the worst of others, to assume they and their friends are fighting evil on behalf of good, and to assume they cannot withstand criticism or challenge from ideas they don’t like. That’s a recipe for endless quarrels.

Late last year, the Gospel Coalition interviewed social psychologist Jonathan Haidt on a book he has co-authored, called The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure.

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Finding Your Five

By Qwynn Gross
From ChristianUnion.org
Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution and broken it? Have you ever set goals and then realized by the end of the year they remain incomplete? If you are anything like me, I’ve done this too many times. When I wrote my resolutions and goals in the past, like many of you, I had every intention to complete them, but life got in the way! Before I knew it, the year was drawing to a close and I had little if any progress. I made a decision to find a better way to handle the personal life change and goals that I wanted to achieve.

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Leaving Religion at Home: Engaging Religious Thought and Action in American Society

By Nathalie Kiersznowski
From Stanford Politics Magazine
03 stanfordA student involved in Christian Union's ministry at Stanford wrote this excellent article in the December Stanford Politics Magazine:

Oxford University conference on human dignity held earlier this year, Dr. Paul Fiddes, a professor of systematic theology, presented his thesis on the role religion should play in social and political arenas. In the speech, Professor Fiddes argued that it was unethical for individuals to bring their private religious beliefs into the public sphere. He advocated for the adoption of secular public arenas as a response to increasingly multicultural societies. As the West becomes more religiously diverse, he argued, adherence to purely secular social behaviors in public would reduce cultural tension and create increasingly peaceful societies. Dr. Fiddes also contended it was culturally offensive to bring religious beliefs into public affairs, as not every member of society shares these values. Sitting in the audience, I grew increasingly unsettled by the professor’s speech; faces in the audience, though, seemed unvexed and inattentive. The room’s complete lack of recoil spoke volumes. This perspective was not bewildering: this was the West’s new normal.

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Godlessness: the First Step to the Gulag

By Alexander Solzhenitsyn
From OrthoChristian.com

Last month marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nobel laureate, Orthodox Christian author, and Russian dissident, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. In May 1983, when Solzhenitsyn received the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, he gave a brilliant — and perhaps more relevant than ever — speech, entitled Godlessness: the First Step to the Gulag.

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A Heart for Serving Neighbors

By Catherine Elvy
From Christian Union: The Magazine
05 dartmouthPeter Schroen ’19 helps coordinate Dartmouth’s student chapter of Habitat for Humanity International and is a leader with Christian Union. The government and biology major explains that focusing on the practical needs of neighbors is “a rewarding way to serve people. You get to meet them and see how you are tangibly improving their lives.”

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Please Join Us in a Fast Starting Next Monday

From Christian Union Day & Night

Join fellow Christians across America in a ten-day fast (fasting from food). Participants will follow the example of men and women of Scripture who humbled themselves and called upon the Lord through fasting. Our country needs the spiritual renewal that only God can bring. May He hear our cry and answer.

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Prayer Requests


UNIVERSITY MINISTRIES
As students return from their holiday break, pray that they would have safe travel and that they will be refreshed and encouraged for the new term ahead. Pray also for our ministry teams to kick off the new year with renewed energy and enthusiasm over the great things God can do in and through them. May we see a revival of faith in God across all of our campuses.

CITY MINISTRIES
We are grateful for all the Lord has done in New York and Washington DC during 2018. We have seen new graduates transition well and new small groups develop, a growing speaker series in both cities, our first CU Cities conference, and new networks begin to bud – all for the purpose of developing Christian leaders to engage our world for the kingdom. Thank you for your support and involvement, and we look forward to much to come in 2019 – for His glory.

DAY & NIGHT

Please pray that Christians across America would hear of — and join — the fast that starts Monday, January 7th (mentioned above). Pray that God would move powerfully, not just in and through the lives of all who fast, but in our nation as well.

Talk Back

We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback about this newsletter or about any of the articles above. Please use this Contact Us form to share your thoughts >