Usually, cheerleaders are not known for being very religious, but a group of cheerleaders put on a public display of their faith. In a news story that is quickly gaining national attention, cheerleaders in Georgia painted Christian scriptures on large banners for their school football team. The banners were painted off school property, with private funds, and during the summer when school was not in session. However, the banners were displayed at public high school football games.
The Cheerleaders at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School efforts were foiled when a lone objector filed a complaint. Hundreds of parents, students, and friends gathered at a rally in support of the cheerleaders. The school superintendent remarked,
“Personally, I appreciate this expression of their Christian values. However, as superintendent I have the responsibility of protecting the school district from legal action by groups who do not support their beliefs.”
What’s the big deal? Why can’t these cheerleaders do this? Is this about the government taking away people’s right to free speech or religious freedom?
Adam Smith is often credited with creating much of our free market principles as we know today as capitalism. Capitalism has created, at least in the West, a world where anyone can succeed if they work hard, save hard, and spend wisely. Much of our understanding of our resources is viewed through the lens of self interest. We are in control of our money and our gifts. However, we have seen how greed and corruption have affected our world through this Great Recession.
The Liberty Council, a nonprofit organization that defends religious liberties, is encouraging people to “
prayer and religious affiliation has arrived:
With mega-churches basking in the spotlight of mainstream media, several studies have been done about the mega-church movement that might just surprise you. A 
Facebook is a wonderful social networking tool that creates online communities for millions of people. Most begin filling out Facebook’s identity questions: name, sex, hometown, birthday, relationship status, and… religion? With 
‘Dante’s Inferno’ go to hell” was a sign that a protester raised in front of the E3 tech conference in June. Another sign read, “My high score is in heaven.” Still another displayed “Hell is not a game.” The LA times covered the 
Running late to meet a fellow pastor, I decided to finish writing a sermon thought instead of leaving on time. I got into my car and believed I could save time by driving fast, really fast, on the New York State Northway (I-87). Driving on the six lane highway provided for an opportunity to pass a lot other drivers. I looked at my watch and saw that I was running 15 minutes late for my lunch meeting.
There is a developing movement within literature to chronicle an outsider’s perspective on the strange land of Evangelical Christianity. It seems that the world sees all Evangelical Christians as fervent, ignorant, and misguided by a holy book. Being an Evangelical myself, I can see how the outside world can group all Evangelicals into this stereotype. The media tends to pick up on the extremes of any group, ideology, or religion and usually tries gives us the most radical angle. You would think that I would NOT recommend books about non-Christians views on Christianity, but there are two books that are worthy of your consideration about strangers in a strange land that yield some surprising insights.
I used to go on a lot of Habitat for Humanity trips, especially during college, and I frequently ended up on job sites where we had to build a house from the ground up. We framed walls, put trusses up, put the roof decking up, and shingled the roof. Over the years, I would learn a little more about building a house. Building a house is really tricky. If you are a half inch off on a line it could wreck the whole job. For a guy like me, a half inch does not seem like a whole lot, but in the building trade it can equate to disaster. I remember on one trip, we were following the directions of a volunteer on how to build the framing for the house and the gentlemen supervising the job did not really know what he was doing. We put in a half day of work on it and the real site supervisor came on the scene and told us to rip everything out! We were off two inches! Ahhhh! Needless to say, that guy was not directing anymore work for the rest of the week.
