Christianity

1.  “The Next Christianity,” The Atlantic, 2002.

The original Reformation was far more than the rising up of irate laypeople against corrupt and exploitative priests, and it was much more than a mere theological row. It was a far-reaching social movement that sought to return to the original sources of Christianity. It challenged the idea that divine authority should be mediated through institutions or hierarchies, and it denied the value of tradition. Instead, it offered radical new notions of the supremacy of written texts (that is, the books of the Bible), interpreted by individual consciences. The Reformation made possible a religion that could be practiced privately, rather than mainly in a vast institutionalized community.

This move toward individualism, toward the privatization of religious belief, makes the spirit of the Reformation very attractive to educated people in the West.”
2.  Rev. John Piper: Unarmed Christians for Jesus, Gary North, December 25, 2015.
3.  “Beating the State,” Gary North, February 19, 2014.
4.  “Cutting Edge or Lunatic Fringe,” Gary North, July 4, 2016.  A review of the origins of the Christian Reconstructionist movement.
5.  Bible Mandates Free-Market Capitalism: It Is Anti-Socialist, Gary North, 2005.
6.  Is Free Enterprise Biblical?, Roger Morefield, 2015.
7.  The Home Business as a Christian Calling, Gary North, 2016.
8.  Onward, Secular Soldier, Marching as to War: A Myth Nearly Everyone Believes, Stromberg, The Independent Review, v. 17, n. 3, Winter 2013, ISSN 1086–1653, Copyright © 2013, pp. 461–465.
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SEPARATION of CHURCH & STATE
1.  It’s origins.  Fascinating read.

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS
1. Anti-War conscientious objectors paid with persecution and some with their lives.  This was an excellent article with terrific references to Sophie School, who, in 1943, was beheaded for her beliefs.  The article reviews the lives of two men: Ben Salmon, a Denverite, and Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer, husband, and father who refused to fight for Hitler during World War II.  Like Sophie Scholl, he was also beheaded in 1943.

Terrence Malick’s film, “Hidden Life,” was released on December 13, 2019. Well, this was interesting.  Ryan McMaken penned an article on Franz Jägerstätter back in 2012.  Nice.  And if you’d like more viewing, there was a video documentary produced back in 2009 on Franz’s life.

Germany annexed Austria in 1938 in what the Nazi party called the Anschluss or “joining.”  That link there has a terrific timeline of events leading up to WWII.  There were lots of monsters in the German government and the Nazi Party during World War II, no doubt.  We’re familiar with many of them: Adolph Hitler, Eichmann, Himmler, and others.  But the one guy whom I felt was the ugliest of all was the maniacal judge, Roland Freisler.  He was killed from Allied bombing in 1945, two years after he sentenced Sophie Scholl, her brother, and family friend to death.  Their execution occurred just a few hours after their sentencing from that bastard. 

“The Jesuit Education of Robert Mugabe,” Robert Wenzel, Target Liberty, September 7, 2019.