Podcasts about pew foundation

Ep.206 Andrea Grover is the Executive Director of Guild Hall, the cornerstone cultural institution of East Hampton that combines a museum, theater, and education center. Guild Hall is completing a facility-wide renovation to restore the 1930s-era building and grounds to state-of-the-art performance and functionality. Grover has over 25 years of experience in curatorial and nonprofit leadership, focusing on art/science, moving image art, maritime themes, innovation, and participation. Most recently, she was the curator of the 2021 exhibition Alexis Rockman Shipwrecks, presented at Guild Hall, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA, The Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC, and Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ. Before joining Guild Hall in 2016, she was the Curator of Special Projects at the Parrish Art Museum, where she was awarded both a Tremaine Foundation and an AADA Curatorial Award for her exhibition, Radical Seafaring. At the Parrish, she established the extremely popular community-driven program PechaKucha Night Hamptons and the exhibition series Parrish Road Show and Platform. Grover founded the nonprofit film center Aurora Picture Show, Houston, Texas, at age 27. This groundbreaking entity focuses on experimental artist-made movies and installations and celebrates its 26th anniversary in 2024. With expertise in artists who work in scientific or technological spaces, she has served as a panelist or advisor for the Pew Foundation for Arts & Heritage, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Rauschenberg Foundation, and Bogliasco Foundation. She has taught interdisciplinary courses at the University of Houston and Texas Southern University. She has been a guest speaker or juror at SXSW Interactive, Austin, Texas, and Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, among many others. Grover has received fellowships from the Center for Curatorial Leadership, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University, and the Warhol Foundation. She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from Syracuse University. Photo credit: Lori Hawkins Andrea Grover https://www.andreagrover.com/ Guild Hall https://www.guildhall.org/people/andrea-grover/ Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Grover Studio for Creative Inquiry https://studioforcreativeinquiry.org/people/andrea-grover IMAGO https://www.imago-images.com/st/0443350624 Hamptons https://hamptons.com/guild-hall-executive-director-andrea-grover-board-chairman-marty-cohen-on-entering-phase-2/ AAQ https://aaqeastend.com/bulletins/guild-hall-an-insiders-tour-of-guild-hall-w-executive-director-andrea-grover-annual-appeal/ Long Island https://events.longisland.com/executive-directors-choice-with-andrea-grover.html

Kyonne Isaac is the founder and CEO of AbundantPhilly – a land stewardship and education firm with a mission to help organizations and individuals build their capacity to grow a more abundant life. As a real estate investor, urban gardening educator and business development consultant, Kyonne has dedicated her life's work to finding solutions to our community's largest needs: financial planning, food and affordable housing. She has spent over a decade creating successful social impact programs and leading strategic business planning for nonprofits; including restructuring business and finance operations for Philadelphia's oldest urban farm, and most recently, expanding the homeownership and home repair programs to triple the families served annually for the Philadelphia branch of Habitat for Humanity in two years. She now contracts with institutions like the Tiger Woods Foundation and Philadelphia Horticultural Society as an urban park developer and gardening educator; and works with Pew Foundation as a professional coach for leaders looking to bring innovative, equitable change to their organizations. Before moving to Philadelphia, Kyonne earned her B.A. in psychology with honors from Stanford University and earned a master's degree in social psychology & social policy from Princeton University under a fellowship with the National Science Foundation. In between her bachelor's and master's degrees, she worked as a research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley and as project manager for the World Bank, where she conducted research on the best practices for training entrepreneurs looking to build businesses with a social impact in Uganda and the United States. She became an incidental real estate investor since 2006, when she inherited property in another state; but has since she's found her stride as a purpose-driven entrepreneur, educator and affordable housing provider – bringing new life to distressed small apartment buildings and neglected green spaces here in the city. Every month, she co-leads a mastermind group for women in real estate called the Philadelphia InvestHER Community. Kyonne considers herself to be a principled land steward, concentrating on growing both the affordable housing space and urban green space development here in Philadelphia. She documents her journey growing her real estate portfolio and building parks & gardens on her blog www.AbundantPhilly.com. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rngradioshow/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rngradioshow/support

The WA Fishing Industry Council is concerned the state government's marine park policies are being set by the Pew Foundation, which WAFIC describes as "US eco-lobbyists."

This week, part two of a two-part series laying out steps with examples that represent a coherent and provocative way forward toward a plastic-free future. In this episode we discuss the list of specific recommendations from the Pew Foundation / SYSTEMIQ Report, actions to redress the plastic pollution crisis--in effect a coherent Plan for Plastic. About World Ocean Radio 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. Episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for syndicated use at no cost by college and community radio stations worldwide.

A new analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts, in association with SYSTEMIQ, finds that without immediate and sustained action, the annual flow of plastic into the world ocean could nearly triple by 2040. The study also identifies solutions that could cut this volume by more than 80% if we use technologies available today and if key decision-makers are willing to make the changes required. This week and next on World Ocean Radio we are laying out steps with examples that represent a coherent and provocative way forward toward a plastic-free future. Part one of a two-part series.World Ocean Radio 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. Episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for syndicated use at no cost by college and community radio stations worldwide.

This episode continues our conversation around incarceration and criminal justice with three top experts in the field. Elaine Leeder, who we met in our last episode, is dean emerita of Sonoma State University and author of numerous books in the field of psychology. Julie Wertheimer, an expert in family law, serves as a project director for the Pew Foundation's Charitable Trust. Malik Bandy has worked as a coordinator for the Communications and Community Engagement office of the City of Philadelphia, and has a background in counseling the formerly incarcerated as they attempt societal reentry. These three had a powerful conversation entitled “Building Interconnectedness in the Carceral Setting.”

This week Mildred interviews Dr. John Giggie on People+Culture. Dr. John Giggie is Associate Professor of History and African American Studies and Director of the Summersell Center for the Study of the South at the University of Alabama. He is Co-Creator of “History of Us,” the first Black history class taught daily in a public school in Alabama; and the West Side Scholars Academy, a middle school enrichment program teaching about social justice and civil rights. Dr. Giggie is also Director of “Alabama Memory,” an effort that seeks to recapture and memorialize the over 400 lives lost to lynching in Alabama; Director of “Queer History South,” on oral history program documenting the lives of LGBTQ+ citizens in West Alabama, and a founding member of the Tuscaloosa Civil Rights History and Reconciliation Foundation. He has been a commentator on matters of southern history for National Public Radio, Alabama Public Radio, CNN, C-Span, USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, Smithsonian Magazine, BET.com, ReckonSouth, The Birmingham Watch and local presses and television outlets. As a teacher at the University of Alabama, Prof. Giggie specializes in southern and Civil Rights history. He has been recognized as a Distinguished Fellow in Teaching by the College of Arts and Sciences and awarded the Outstanding Faculty-Initiated Engagement Effort by the Center for Community-Based Partnerships. At the University of Texas at San Antonio, Prof. Giggie was awarded the Presidential Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching and the Honors Alliance Award for Outstanding Teaching. As a scholar, Dr. Giggie has authored or edited five books and is currently completing a civil rights manuscript titled, Bloody Tuesday: The Fight for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa. He coedits the Religion and American Culture series for the University of Alabama Press, sits on the Commission on Local Government Records and the Commission of State Government Records with the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and previously served of the Executive Council of the American Society of Church Historians. His research has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Louisville Center for the Study of American Religion, the Lilly Foundation, the Pew Foundation, the Center for the Study of American Religion at Princeton University, and the American Historical Association.

Dr. Andrew Huberman — A Neurobiologist on Optimizing Sleep, Performance, and Testosterone | Brought to you by Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, Theragun percussive muscle therapy devices, and Helix Sleep premium mattresses. More on all three below.Andrew Huberman, PhD (@hubermanlab), is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University's School of Medicine. He has made numerous important contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function, and neural plasticity. Andrew is a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation fellow and recipient of the 2017 Cogan Award for his discoveries in the study of vision. Work from the Huberman Laboratory at Stanford Medicine has been consistently published in top journals including Nature, Science, and Cell.Andrew is host of the Huberman Lab podcast, which he launched in January of this year. The show aims to help viewers and listeners improve their health with science and science-based tools. New episodes air every Monday on YouTube and all podcast platforms. Please enjoy!This episode is brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the #1 overall mattress of 2020 by GQ magazine, Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. With Helix, there's a specific mattress to meet each and every body's unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk free. They'll even pick it up from you if you don't love it. And now, to my dear listeners, Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.*This episode is also brought to you by Theragun! Theragun is my go-to solution for recovery and restoration. It's a famous, handheld percussive therapy device that releases your deepest muscle tension. I own two Theraguns, and my girlfriend and I use them every day after workouts and before bed. The all-new Gen 4 Theragun is easy to use and has a proprietary brushless motor that's surprisingly quiet—about as quiet as an electric toothbrush.Go to Theragun.com/Tim right now and get your Gen 4 Theragun today, starting at only $199.*This episode is also brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could only use one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually Athletic Greens, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system. Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That's up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive all-in-one daily greens product.*If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim's email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rev. Dr. Yolanda Pierce is Professor and Dean of the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC. She is the first woman to be appointed as Dean in the Divinity School's 150-year history. In 2016, Pierce served as the Founding Director of the Center for African American Religious Life at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Previously, she served as the Founding Director of the Center for Black Church Studies and Associate Professor of Religion and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary. Pierce holds degrees from Cornell University and Princeton University.  Pierce's research specialties include African American Religious History; Womanist Theology; African American Literature; and Race and Religion. A widely-published author, her work focuses on the historical and contemporary significance of the African American religious tradition. Pierce has written over 50 critical essays and articles in academic and trade journals which consider the relationship between religious faith, race, and gender in the American context. You can find her work in a wide variety of publications, including: Time Magazine; Christian Century; Theology Today; and Christianity & Literature. Pierce is the creator and curator of “Touching the Sacred,” an exhibit on material religion and the Black Church. She is a member of various professional organizations, including the Modern Language Association, the American Academy of Religion, and the American Historical Association. Pierce has been the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Pew Foundation. In 2015, she was honoured to be selected as one of The Root 100 Most Influential African Americans. In addition to her teaching and academic scholarship, Yolanda Pierce is a dedicated mentor, community activist, board member of a foster care agency, and cable news commentator. She maintains a public intellectual presence through her blogs and frequent appearances on television and radio. She believes that teaching and scholarship are meaningful only if they truly enhance people's daily lives, thus she works tirelessly to bridge the gaps between pulpit, pew, and academy. A member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Sorority, Inc., and a native New Yorker, Pierce was raised in the Church of God in Christ and still maintains a close connection to her Pentecostal roots.~~~~~ IT'S NOT A LIE...Was Kevin's first date interrupted with an angry bowel? ~~~~~This podcast was recorded on April 13th, 2021.

This week on The Open Door we will discuss a pair of studies that compare participants in the Novus Ordo Mass with participants in the Traditional Latin Mass. Rev. Donald Kloster, the author of these studies, will be our special guest. He is a priest of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Our questions will include the following. Please feel free to suggest others!Fr. Kloster, could you please tell us a bit about your educational background?Do you have any reflections for us on Rome's questionnaire on the reception of the Extraordinary Form liturgy?Could you please summarize the results of your Kloster Study (2018)? Did they surprise you?Given that your Kloster Study (2018) is a pilot project, do you have any methodological hesitations about it?What results might you expect if questions about the approval of capital punishment and nuclear stockpiling were added to your study?You refer to the “Sunday privilege” of the Divine Liturgy. Yet quite often the celebrant thanks the congregation for their attendance. In light of the obligation to attend the Sunday liturgy, “privilege” and “thanks” seem puzzling. How are these terms being used?Your second study, Traditional Latin Mass National Adult 18-39 Survey (2019), begins with some alarming statistics based on Sherry Weddell's research. Could you please state and comment on those statistics?Can you tell us about your current and ongoing research?How will this research be funded?Do you expect that CARA and the Pew Foundation will broaden their own research in light of your work? (July 10, 2020)

Do you know what a NONE is?No, it is not a female member of a Roman Catholic Order. In fact, just the opposite. A NONE is:AN INDIVIDUAL WITH NO RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION WHATSOEVERNone!  A NONE is someone who is either totally indifferent to anything religious or even antagonistic to it. A NONE is different from an Atheist or an Agnostic, an individual who at least wrestles with Religion, the one denying there is a God and the other claiming not to know. A NONE doesn't care either way.A Catholic Priest, one Rev. Stephen M. Koeth believes in many ways that modern day NONES are pagans. They have, says Koeth, “no knowledge, no practice, no anything.” He goes on to say that for most if not all of them:“Religion just has no meaning whatsoever.”No meaning. No relevancy. Nothing real about Religion for them or their lives. NOTHING FOR THE NONES.Recent surveys, if you believe them, have shown that for the first time ever in 2019, the NONES are the largest demographic in the United States, representing 23% of the population. TWENTY THREE PERCENT! The NONES, again the largest religious demographic in the United States have overtaken the Catholics and the Evangelicals. In short, there are more NONES in the United States than there are Catholics or Evangelicals. If that is true, doesn't that shock you? It does me. We the Americans have always assumed that our country is populated with people of faith, of all faiths and that those who were Atheist, Agnostic or no Religion at all were simply the small minority. Well, guess what. THE NONES ARE NOW THE MAJORITY AND THE LARGEST DEMOGRAPHIC WITH REGARD TO RELIGION IN AMERICA! The largest. Unbelievable.The NONES are made up largely of millennials and especially the so called GEN Z young Americans. Apparently, they have seen the underbelly of RELIGION and they want no part of it. They see no reason whatsoever to bother with Religion. That led one writer to call them:THE APATHETICS.The apathetic does not attend church services. They ascribe to and believe in NO creed, doctrine or statement of faith and they have virtually no familiarity with the FAITH WORLD. Even more startling, perhaps even scary is the fact that their numbers seem to be growing by millions every year. Small wonder that the church is in disrepair, especially old–line Protestant denominations. Attendance and perhaps even commitment to the Catholic church is also on the decline while other forms of belief seem to be stagnant in terms of growth.THEY ARE TERRIFYING. Those the words of Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University (EIU) and a Baptist Pastor. Burge says of the NONES:“They have very low levels of income; low levels of education and they have sort of checked out from modern society. THEY ARE SCARY! They are the people who are isolated.”Religion and church worship have been such a vital and integral part of all that is America now for almost 250 years, more or less. But such history and tradition means little or nothing to the NONES, the APATHETICS where there is nothing about Religion which is of any interest to them. The church, formal worship, religious tradition and standard need and commitment are all severely challenged as far as they are concerned. The NONES want no part of any of it.Part of the reason is the intrusion of CULTURE. The American cultural scene has moved more liberal and progressive, far less conservative and of course with that far less religious and in fact, in many ways, the culture attacks Christianity especially encouraging all to abandon Religion directly or indirectly and live life in every way without it. In Hollywood, Christianity is often portrayed somewhere between a comedy and a disease (so said one pundit). Nothing is sacred, the person responsible for Christianity is mocked, even blasphemed and the name taken in vein with impunity. It is as though there is something wrong with any person who adopts and practices any religious faith, especially Christianity no matter the benefits. Perhaps that is partially because Christianity is so far flung, with so many different sub–faiths and therefore without any religious corporate muscle to fight back, resist and challenge any such cultural attacks. Roman Catholics, more church corporate and with larger clout as a result and perhaps Jews and Judaism fare better if and when the Hollywood culture comes after them. The NONES, the APATHETICS are well aware of this clash and constant attack and it simply fortifies their belief that Religion is irrelevant and meaningless. It is a day of change, perhaps even a fundamental religious revolution in America. The NONES are now the MAJORITY with all of the implications thereof for politics, policy, culture and especially RELIGION. Laws are changing. The Constitution is reinterpreted. Fundamental freedoms are in danger of being lost. All the more reasons for the NONES, the APATHETICS to withdraw, to become isolated from the fundamental democratic processes which govern our country. They are isolated. They simply don't care in so many ways, care about really anything of value.The Catholic Priest, the Reverend Koeth said the following, a profound even scary statement:“Religion isn't even in the cultural air and water that used to be breathed and drank by everyone.”There are obvious signs of that everywhere. For centuries, the Bible was the one cultural continuum. But now, the culture is so fragmented and visual media and the internet are far more likely to be the sources of knowledge and shared information. So that, this new cultural and religious phenomenon in America not only affects the Religion which was once the foundation of this country, but also the very fundamental structure of western culture itself. Shakespeare, like the Bible means little or nothing to the APATHETICS. American history is disrespected or ignored, or radically changed and rewritten. The NONES could care less. It seems as though all they wish is to be left alone. They refuse to be part of the typical GROW–UP cycle upon which America and the church counted.For decades, churches counted on a cycle. Young people would be raised in a family which respected the church and western culture. The teens would go to college, then get married, have children and adopt the activities and practices of the church, western culture, political traditions and moral values. THAT IS NOT HAPPENING ANYMORE. In the words of one religious observer:“Now they drift away and don't come back.”It is just incredible the growth rate of the NONES. In 2010, the APATHETICS accounted for some 18% of the population. By 2012 they were 20% and most startling, this now majority American demographic has grown by ONE PERCENT each year ever since! Religion, however you define that, seems to be in deep trouble, and the church with it. More importantly, the church, RELIGION, seems to have no real answer:NONE FOR THE NONES!The Pew Research Center for Religion and Public Life however provides some interesting counter–facts. Those proclaiming to be unaffiliated with a Religion are actually shrinking as a share of THE WORLDWIDE POPULATION. That is so worldwide but not in America. The exact sources of those newly found religious affiliations are not fully identified, but such religious activity seems to indicate that there is a hunger on the part of millions in the worldwide population for a religious affiliation. Perhaps that is because worldwide there are not the options which we have in America. There are so many ways to be entertained, to be temporarily fulfilled, to have needs met day to day without regard for the long term. Entertainment exists everywhere. Social welfare is always available, from food stamps, to shelters, to kindly acts by neighbors so that basic needs can be met. And then there are drugs, and alcohol ever on the rise and readily available almost everywhere to anyone. Even the church and religious entities shunned and ignored by the NONES offer help and assistance where necessary. It seems rather easy to live and live reasonably well in America no matter your feelings about Religion. And the NONES do just that. They live as they please, responding to the pressure of none. They often are politically indifferent as well, many not voting at all and others simply voting for someone they may like. They are politically uneducated for the most part, do not know or understand the large issues of the day especially economic and for them, all such are largely irrelevant just like Religion. Small wonder that some religious demographic analysts regard the NONES, the APATHETICS as:SCARY.Scary for America and its future. If it rests in the hands of this new majority, America is indeed in deep trouble.Christianity worldwide will hold stable at or about 32%, one out of three of the world's population. That is the prediction of the Pew Foundation as it looks at trends for the next 30 years through and including 2050. Hindus, they say, will maintain their numbers and Buddhists and Folk Religions however defined will decline slightly. And worldwide, the NONES should represent about one out of seven even as these APATHETICS grow at a much more accelerated pace in America.But the big growth globally is with regard to the:  MUSLIMS.  One of the most strict and demanding Religions, the Muslim population will rise, so Pew predicts, from approximately 23% to 29%, almost matching the number of Christians in the world. So that, in time, the world population will be comprised of one out of three of the Muslim faith, and one out of three of the Christian faith. Then, or even before, the Muslims will have incredible power politically and religiously the world over, and even in our very own America. The practice of the Muslim Religion and the implementation of Sharia Law may well become some kind of reality not only in America, but the world over. If and when that happens, the world will be a totally different place, TOTALLY!

In this episode, Bart and I talk about Wissenschaftsbarometer or “science barometer”. This annual survey in Germany and Switzerland is about the public’s trust in science and scientists. Afterward, we talk about a similar survey in the USA, published by the Pew Foundation a few months earlier. For each survey, we picked a couple of questions and interpret the answers.  As a side note: The extended version of this episode has two parts. Each one is more than an hour long. You can access both parts by becoming a supporter on Patreon. In the past, we asked for a minimum pledge of $5.99 per month for this perk. But now, any pledge will grant you access! Listen to the Full Conversation on Patreon! Wissenschaftsbarometer (find the links to this survey in the sources, below) How much do you trust scientists and other public professions? Respondents trusted scientists at public research institutes and universities the most when compared to scientists in industry, the media, and politics. However, it’s still just about 56%. Maybe it's because for some people it depends on the fields of research whether they agree with the scientific consensus. Would you want to see how scientists work? An astonishing amount of respondents would like to watch scientists work in the lab (65%). Bart and I wonder how this could be made interesting. Most days in a scientist’s life are rather boring for the typical spectator. It’s refreshing that open days at universities are indeed visited well. Bart also mentions an uplifting study about how interested people with different political views are in science. Is the public sufficiently involved in decisions about science? 51% feel like they should have more say in this. This reminded Bart of the project “Fit for Responsible Research and Innovation”. They are promoting the involvement of stakeholders from society in research from the beginning (see sources). The discussion leads us to acknowledge the constantly changing economy and job market, and how this needs to be addressed. But overall it might be overkill to ask the public for permission for every little experiment. What are we taking out of this? What stuck with me was that most people do claim to trust in science. But Wissenschaftsbarometer does not investigate possible reasons why still a large proportion of citizens don’t. Pew Research Survey Trust and Mistrust in Americans’ Views of Scientific Experts (link in the sources) Confidence in scientists to work in the public interest is rising. But views on environmental research scientists, in particular, are a bit confusing. We were surprised to find so much less confidence in health specialists and environmental research scientists than in scientists in general. The respondents consider environmental research scientists “good people”. Yet, at the same time, they have little trust in environmental scientists to communicate their findings, to admit possible mistakes, or to reveal conflicts of interest. I try to explain it with the often encountered argument that environmental scientists had financial pressures. Something about which Americans seem to be more forgiving than Europeans … Maybe?  My Take-Home A major problem - in my opinion - is that identities often dictate which scientific facts people are comfortable accepting. Many science communicators provide facts nicely packaged for lay audiences and point out the benefits we all enjoy thanks to scientific progress. But they almost exclusively reach those who are already convinced.  When the science interferes with people’s identities, interests, and convictions - and those are the people who we'd like to convince - getting their attention is a major challenge. In the interview with Deboki Chakravarti (see sources), she points out how she was able to reach her audience on YouTube. Her subscribers didn’t know her as a scientist but as a book lover.

I’m thrilled to have made friends with Dr. Amy Laura Hall. Not only is she back on the podcast to talk about Stanley Hauerwas’ influence on her work and theology, she’ll be our special guest in June at our annual live podcast at Annual Conference in Roanoke, Va. Amy Laura Hall was named a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology for 2004-2005 and has received funding from the Lilly Foundation, the Josiah Trent Memorial Foundation, the American Theological Library Association, the Child in Religion and Ethics Project, the Pew Foundation and the Project on Lived Theology.At Duke University, Professor Hall has served on the steering committee of the Genome Ethics, Law, and Policy Center and as a faculty member for the FOCUS program of the Institute on Genome Sciences and Policy. She has served on the Duke Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board and as an ethics consultant to the V.A. Center in Durham. She served as a faculty adviser with the Duke Center for Civic Engagement (under Leela Prasad), on the Academic Council, and as a faculty advisor for the NCCU-Duke Program in African, African American & Diaspora Studies. She currently teaches with and serves on the faculty advisory board for Graduate Liberal Studies and serves as a core faculty member of the Focus Program in Global Health.Professor Hall was the 2017 Scholar in Residence at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington D.C., served on the Bioethics Task Force of the United Methodist Church, and has spoken to academic and ecclesial groups across the U.S. and Europe. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, Hall is a member of the Rio Texas Annual Conference. She has served both urban and suburban parishes. Her service with the community includes an initiative called Labor Sabbath, an effort with the AFL-CIO of North Carolina to encourage congregations of faith to talk about the usefulness of labor unions, and, from August 2013 to June 2017, a monthly column for the Durham Herald-Sun. Professor Hall organized a conference against torture in 2011, entitled “Toward a Moral Consensus Against Torture,” and a “Conference Against the Use of Drones in Warfare” October 20-21, 2017. In collaboration with the North Carolina Council of Churches and the United Methodist Church, she organized a workshop with legal scholar Richard Rothstein held October, 2018.Amy Laura Hall is the author of four books: Kierkegaard and the Treachery of Love, Conceiving Parenthood: The Protestant Spirit of Biotechnological Reproduction, Writing Home with Love: Politics for Neighbors and Naysayers, and Laughing at the Devil: Seeing the World with Julian of Norwich. She has written numerous scholarly articles in theological and biomedical ethics. Recent articles include "The Single Individual in Ordinary Time: Theological Engagements in Sociobiology," which was a keynote lecture given with Kara Slade at the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics in 2012, and "Torture and American Television," which appeared in the April 2013 issue of Muslim World, a volume that Hall guest-edited with Daniel Arnold. Her essay “Love in Everything: A Brief Primer to Julian of Norwich" appeared in volume 32 of The Princeton Seminary Bulletin. Word and World published her essay on heroism in the Winter 2016 edition, and her essay "His Eye Is on the Sparrow: Collectivism and Human Significance" appeared in a volume entitled Why People Matter with Baker Publishing. Her forthcoming essays include a new piece on Kierkegaard and love for The T&T Clark Companion to the Theology of Kierkegaard, to be published by Bloomsbury T&T Clark.Laughing at the Devil was the focus of her 2018 Simpson Lecture at Simpson College in Iowa and has been chosen for the 2019 Virginia Festival of the Book. She continues work on a longer research project on masculinity and gender anxiety in mainstream, white evangelicalism.

I’m thrilled to have made friends with Dr. Amy Laura Hall. Not only is she back on the podcast to talk about Stanley Hauerwas’ influence on her work and theology, she’ll be our special guest in June at our annual live podcast at Annual Conference in Roanoke, Va. Amy Laura Hall was named a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology for 2004-2005 and has received funding from the Lilly Foundation, the Josiah Trent Memorial Foundation, the American Theological Library Association, the Child in Religion and Ethics Project, the Pew Foundation and the Project on Lived Theology.At Duke University, Professor Hall has served on the steering committee of the Genome Ethics, Law, and Policy Center and as a faculty member for the FOCUS program of the Institute on Genome Sciences and Policy. She has served on the Duke Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board and as an ethics consultant to the V.A. Center in Durham. She served as a faculty adviser with the Duke Center for Civic Engagement (under Leela Prasad), on the Academic Council, and as a faculty advisor for the NCCU-Duke Program in African, African American & Diaspora Studies. She currently teaches with and serves on the faculty advisory board for Graduate Liberal Studies and serves as a core faculty member of the Focus Program in Global Health.Professor Hall was the 2017 Scholar in Residence at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington D.C., served on the Bioethics Task Force of the United Methodist Church, and has spoken to academic and ecclesial groups across the U.S. and Europe. An ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, Hall is a member of the Rio Texas Annual Conference. She has served both urban and suburban parishes. Her service with the community includes an initiative called Labor Sabbath, an effort with the AFL-CIO of North Carolina to encourage congregations of faith to talk about the usefulness of labor unions, and, from August 2013 to June 2017, a monthly column for the Durham Herald-Sun. Professor Hall organized a conference against torture in 2011, entitled “Toward a Moral Consensus Against Torture,” and a “Conference Against the Use of Drones in Warfare” October 20-21, 2017. In collaboration with the North Carolina Council of Churches and the United Methodist Church, she organized a workshop with legal scholar Richard Rothstein held October, 2018.Amy Laura Hall is the author of four books: Kierkegaard and the Treachery of Love, Conceiving Parenthood: The Protestant Spirit of Biotechnological Reproduction, Writing Home with Love: Politics for Neighbors and Naysayers, and Laughing at the Devil: Seeing the World with Julian of Norwich. She has written numerous scholarly articles in theological and biomedical ethics. Recent articles include "The Single Individual in Ordinary Time: Theological Engagements in Sociobiology," which was a keynote lecture given with Kara Slade at the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics in 2012, and "Torture and American Television," which appeared in the April 2013 issue of Muslim World, a volume that Hall guest-edited with Daniel Arnold. Her essay “Love in Everything: A Brief Primer to Julian of Norwich" appeared in volume 32 of The Princeton Seminary Bulletin. Word and World published her essay on heroism in the Winter 2016 edition, and her essay "His Eye Is on the Sparrow: Collectivism and Human Significance" appeared in a volume entitled Why People Matter with Baker Publishing. Her forthcoming essays include a new piece on Kierkegaard and love for The T&T Clark Companion to the Theology of Kierkegaard, to be published by Bloomsbury T&T Clark.Laughing at the Devil was the focus of her 2018 Simpson Lecture at Simpson College in Iowa and has been chosen for the 2019 Virginia Festival of the Book. She continues work on a longer research project on masculinity and gender anxiety in mainstream, white evangelicalism.

Lavett Ballard is an Artist, Art historian, Curator, and Author. I hold a dual Bachelor’s in Studio Art and Art History with a minor in Museum Studies from Rutgers University, and a MFA in Studio Art from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Ballard’s art has been included in literary, film and theatre productions and museum, galleries, public, private institutions and exhibitions nationwide. Among other accolades she has been named by Black Art In America as one of the Top 10 Female Emerging Artists to Collect, and have been nominated for the inaugural Art for Social change Pew Foundation funded Residency among other distinguished honors. Her work has been included in prominent collections such as the Smithsonian, the African American Museum of Philadelphia, the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, Weeksville Heritage Center, the Nixon Family and the Grant and Tamia Hill private Collections. Ballard views her art as a re-imagined visual narrative of people of African descent. Her use of imagery reflects social issues affecting primarily Black women’s stories within a historical context. Her current body of work, uses collaged photos adorned with paint oil pastels and metallic foils .These photos are deconstructed, and layered on reclaimed large and small aged wood fences. The use of fences is a symbolic reference to how fences keep people in and out, just as racial and gender identities can do the same socially. Hey Black Child 72" x46" , 2018 Mother May I panel, diptych

On today’s Rewrite Radio, independent scholar Sarina Gruver Moore talks with author Afaa Michael Weaver about how his journey took him from factory work to a Fulbright and ultimately to a professorship and an established writing career--and the spiritual practices that helped him along the way. Afaa M. Weaver is a poet, short story writer, playwright, and editor. You need to listen to this episode to learn his whole story, but--spoiler alert--in 1985, Weaver published his first collection of poetry, Water Song, received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship for poetry, and attended Brown University’s graduate writing program on a fellowship. Weaver has gone on to publish 10 poetry collections, including Multitudes, The Ten Lights of God, and City of Eternal Spring. As a playwright, Weaver wrote Rosa, which was produced at the Venture Theatre in Philadelphia. He edited the collection These Hands I Know: African-American Writers on Family, and his short fiction appears in a number of anthologies including Children of the Night. Weaver has received many accolades, including the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, a Fulbright Scholar appointment, and a fellowship from the Pew Foundation. In addition to teaching at the National Taiwan University and Taipei National University of the Arts on his Fulbright, Weaver held the Alumnae Endowed Chair at Simmons College. He remains a member of the core faculty in the Drew MFA program in Poetry and Poetry in Translation. His papers are held in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

  Making the World a Better Place: This week, Paul Ford and Rich Ziade discuss how the ingegrity of platforms like Facebook and Twitter has been compromised by their growth. We talk about Facebook as a company versus Facebook as a system, and why they are crumbling. Was the company ignoring user concerns or just waiting until it impacted their profit?    Rich — 2:00: “People deciding that the governors of the Facebook world weren’t taking care of it well enough such that they’re emigrating out of it is a very big deal.” Paul — 3:05: “It’s not slow growth — it’s departures. The Pew Foundation did a study and they found that [like] 1 out of 4 humans are taking a break [from Facebook].” Paul — 5:15: “Let’s be clear: Platform companies only have transactions and metrics in order to understand how they’re performing. They have no sense of individuals, and if the numbers are down it’s like everyone is running around on fire.” Rich — 13:45: “You could make the case that these were just selfish people just foaming at the mouth to make money, but you could also make the case that they were just optimistic about how humans were going to be when you put 2 billion of them in a very nice place where the gestures are, ‘I like you,’ ‘I love you,’ ‘I’m crying for you,’ ‘I’m laughing at the funny thing you did,’ — it’s all optimistic. There’s no middle finger.” Paul — 14:10: “God, save the world from rich people with good intentions.” Rich — 14:40: “It’s the exact same narrative around Twitter. Twitter said, ‘[…]We’re going to make everybody a publisher. Everybody’s a broadcaster,’ […] and it’s a cesspool.” Paul — 16:15: “What you’ve got is a very very serious product problem and your product is at a scale that it interferes with things like the governance of the world and the way that human beings act and behave.” Rich — 17:40: “It’s a real investment to take care of the integrity of the platform. What they didn’t anticipate was all these other sort of dynamic things that can take hold that are much more subtle and much more insidious.” Paul — 18:00: “As far as they can tell, they were doing everything right until they weren’t. What happened is they created systems that were unbelievably easy to game. They actually had lots of good warnings, […] and they ignored it because I think they were getting so many other messages [that were] positive.” Rich — 22:25: “The terms in the code of conduct that are easiest are the ones they can most effectively enforce. If you are threatening violence on someone, that’s very explicit, because what they want to do is avoid the perception of subjective judgement of what’s on there.” Paul — 23:15: “You don’t have a congress that is truly ready to create a regulatory framework in the interest of the Republic and the world right now. We just don’t have it.” Rich — 28:30: “I think the point we’re making is that this turned out to be way bigger than a startup and that the people at the wheel — I don’t think they’re evil — I think that their mandate it to squeeze maximum value for investors and not break the law.” Paul — 30:00: “Facebook says it serves but it doesn’t really know who its master is.” LINKS Mark Zuckerberg Makes Brisket Randian Objectivists Pew Research Center: Social Media Use 2018 A Conversation with Robyn Kanner Sheryl Sandberg Code of Conduct Track Changes is the weekly technology and culture podcast from Postlight, hosted by Paul Ford and Rich Ziade. Production, show notes and transcripts by EDITAUDIO. Podcast logo and design by Will Denton of Postlight.  

I. Life in a Mixed World: The Wheat and the Weeds So as we resume this morning, our study in the book of Isaiah, we come immediately to Isaiah 56, and next time also Isaiah 57, and I'm only doing Isaiah 56 today, but in these two chapters we're going to see a rhythm going back and forth between the righteous and the unrighteous, between the wise and the foolish, between what Jesus would call in one of His parables, the wheat and the tares of the weeds, between the wheat and the weeds. Friends, we really do live in a mixed-up World and it seems more evident as time unfolds here in our country. And Jesus told a parable about the mixed-up nature of our world, spiritually in Matthew 13, the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, he described the kingdom of heaven in this way like a Man Who sowed good seed in his field. But at night while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away and then when the wheat sprouted and formed heads and the weeds became evident. And his servants came to him and said, "Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?" And the owner of the field said, "An enemy did this." servant said, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?" He said "No… because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn." Now, Jesus in interpreting the parable said, "The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. [We will call Christians] The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The wheat and the weeds grow together in close proximity, side by side. We live life together, but in the end, we will be separated one from another. And the righteous will go into the kingdom of heaven, but the wicked will be burned up with unquenchable fire in hell. "The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Our Decaying Orbit with the Surrounding Culture Now, this mixed existence that we experience as Christians is part of what makes this life so difficult. It's difficult for us but friends, it's hardly a new phenomenon. It's been going on a long time. Isaiah saw the same thing in his day. And we're going to see in the rhythm of these two chapters Isaiah 56, and then next time Isaiah 57. As Isaiah goes back and forth between the wheat and the weeds. We're going to look at two of those aspects this time and then next time more. One of the great challenges for us as we come to Isaiah is to try to understand the prophet in his own day, in his own language, his own words, his own setting, but then also see the timeless eternal vision of God, the words of God to every generation of God's people who don't live exactly when Isaiah lived but that timeless message that goes on through all generations. So we're going to see Old Covenantal type language here in Isaiah 56, but we're going to see principles that must be only fulfilled through the New Covenant and through the timeless message of Christ across every generation. He's going to speak clearly about those that are outsiders that would have been excluded in the Old Covenant being welcomed in and worshipping with God, as you heard in the text. He's also going to speak clearly about the great wickedness of Israel's Watchmen, of their shepherds, their leaders, and how they were living self-indulgent lives of feasting and following Canaanite religions. Now, these things happened, I think, right before the exile to Babylon. And so he's going to use language speaking about the sins that led to the exile to Babylon, and then speak about the re-gathering of Jews coming back in, and all of that is relevant to Isaiah's immediate circumstance. But if you look bigger, I think, they all pre-figure the in-gathering of people all over the world into the church of Jesus Christ through faith in Christ. So you've got to hold your mind in both, in both worlds, Isaiah's world and then the world that we live in today. Now, let's speak for a moment about the world that we live in today. I said that it's pretty obvious it's getting more obvious all the time, that we live in a mixed-up world, that we live side by side with people who do not love and cherish Jesus Christ as we do. And their lifestyles make it very plain that they do not cherish God's word, the way we do, and the fact that they are living out their rebellion against God, and unbelief right in front of us, right around us makes our lives far more difficult. Jesus knew that in the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. This is a mixed-up world. And for us as American Christians, it's especially challenging, because we live in a time in which we can look back where Christianity had a direct influence on our culture, on our government, our politics, on our lives very directly, especially here in the South, in an area that we used to call the Bible Belt, where the history of the saturation of the gospel and the influence of Christianity and culture was more evident. And government, not just here in the south but throughout the country, a little more supportive of Christianity used language that was taken from the Bible, public officials frequently sought days of fasting and prayer to the God of Heaven. Christianity was directly held in honor in government schools, and in the marketplace. Judeo-Christian values, you've heard that phrase so-called were honored in the schools and in public culture. There was a Christian ethic behind most of the laws of our country, even what became eventually known as misguided laws like prohibition had a very strong Christian basis in a Christian root. There was a strong church backing to the damage that alcohol did and that's what led to prohibition. However, as American citizens, we have to realize that the documents which established our nation such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, are in no way overtly Christian, keyword being, "overtly." None of these documents mention Jesus or Christ or Christianity or the Trinity or salvation. The anti-establishment clause which says that the federal government will set up or establish no religion for the people, clearly means we're not overtly Christian, we're not establishing and clearly revering Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and the American government never have. Yet we're well aware of how influential Christianity was in the lives of people who wrote those words, in the lives of those who governed according to their principles. In many cases, they were clearly Christian people in other cases not so. And yet for all of that, the general esteem with which Christianity has been held here in America is clearly a decaying orbit and I believe it's going to get worse, not better. I think it's going to become harder and harder to be clearly Christian in America. It's going to take courage, and it's going to take perspective, we need to understand what's going on. We live in a mixed-up world. We're going to be surrounded by unbelievers, they're going to be living out their unbelief in front of us. And friends for us this is a tremendous opportunity for the gospel. It's a chance for us to show the light in a very dark place. Alan Cooperman who is a director of religious research for the Pew Foundation said this, "Overall, there are more than four... "Listen to this, "More than four former Christians to every convert to Christianity in this country." So what that means is there are more... A four-to-one ratio, of those that are renouncing a previous allegiance to Christianity, then there are those that are saying that they are taking on a new allegiance to Christianity. Four to one. A Newsweek poll says that there's a great rise in the unaffiliated group, sometimes called the religious nones. Now, you shouldn't think like a Roman Catholic nun. N-U-N. It's more that you answer in the poll, religious affiliation none, none. The rise of the nones, it's happening more and more in our country, it's accelerating, especially among what's called the millennials. So that's the younger generation they're coming into their 20s, or just post-college, etcetera. More than 35% of that group of people are unaffiliated with any religion at all. So that's what we're looking at. And issues that we've been very well aware of that have been pressing on the consciences of evangelicals, like abortion and gay marriage and now especially in our state, transgender bathrooms and the whole issue of transgender-ism, have revealed I think the decaying nature of the relationship between biblical Christianity and American culture. So we're in for a rocky ride, I think. And frankly, I think we're in for the same rocky ride that most of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world have been experiencing every day of their lives. Brothers and sisters in China and Muslim countries or in other places, even in atheistic West, like in the Czech Republic other places where it's just much harder to live out a Christian life. They've known about this all their Christian lives. And so we're going to be experiencing that more and more. What we need then is we need to turn to the word of God, as never before, and find out what God is doing in the world. And derive hope and strength and purpose from that. And I think it's a great time for us to be turning back to Isaiah, and looking at and picking up where we were. We got up to Isaiah 55. And let me just give a little bit of review on the first 55 chapters of the book of Isaiah. No I'm not going to do that. Starting in chapter one, no that would take a while. But what I actually want to do is zero in on the central theme, I think of the entire book of Isaiah, and really of the whole Bible, and that is the way that the book of Isaiah, reveals Christ the savior. And we've been following that magnificently in the book of Isaiah with an individual called the suffering servant. So look with me at Isaiah 42. I'm just going to trace this out very quickly. Isaiah 42, we're introduced to the servant of the Lord, verse one, "Behold my servant whom I uphold my chosen one in whom I delight, I will put my Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed, He will not break, and a smoldering wick, He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged, until he establishes justice on earth. And in His law, the islands will put their hope." Friend just reading those words, I get happier and happier the more I read. This is Jesus, Matthew 12 says very clearly Jesus. He is the suffering servant, who comes to bring justice and righteousness to all the Earth, but who advances His kingdom in a very gentle tender loving way. He doesn't quarrel or cry out in the streets. That's not... He's not a rabble rouser, or a rebel or something like that. He just proclaims justice and tenderness and mercy. He doesn't destroy broken-hearted weak sinners, but He binds them up and saves them. Isaiah 42. Then if you look at Isaiah 49, we have the servant of the Lord, Isaiah 50 portrays Him. Let's start with Isaiah 49, especially verse six. This is the Lord, speaking to the servant of the Lord says, “And now the Lord says, he who formed me in the womb to be Him servant to bring Jacob back to Him and gather Israel to Himself for I'm honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength. 'It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel, I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.'" So here's the servant of the Lord, and it's too small to work for Him to be just Israel's savior, Israel's Messiah. God has bigger plans than that for the servant of the Lord. And that is to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. To restore and bring back even Gentiles. He is the light for the Gentiles. Isaiah 50. The servant of the Lord is revealed as clearly a suffering servant. He doesn't hide His face from mocking and spitting or His back from being beaten. He's going to pay a price to redeem sinners in the world. Then you get to Isaiah 50, 52 and 53, if you look at Isaiah 53, just go right in 53:6. Isaiah 53:6, 53 five and six, let's do that. "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him, the iniquity of us all." So that's a substitutionary atoning work of Jesus. We are no better than those that are living sinful lives around us, no better than them at all. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and God has laid on Jesus, the suffering servant, the iniquity of us all. He is our substitutionary atonement. He was pierced for our transgressions. This is the Gospel, and Isaiah 54 makes it plain. I'm not going to go through that chapter. But that Zion, the people of God, the tent that takes in the people of God needs to get a lot bigger, and larger tent make it bigger. There's going to be a lot more people coming in. And then in Isaiah 55, there's this beautiful invitation, "Come. All you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why spend yourselves on what doesn't satisfy?" And then in 55:6, he says so beautifully, "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon." So this is the focus, and this is right where we're at in Isaiah 56. Now, here's the thing. With the wheat and the weeds, some people are going to be drawn in by that beautiful message of Christ crucified, resurrected, salvation offered freely to any who repent and believe. They're going to come, and they're going to feast from all over the earth. And others are not going to accept it. They're going to have a hard hearts. They're going to live out their rebellion to the end of their days, and they're going to make life miserable for Christ's people. That's just what's going to happen. And so we have this mixed-up experience. So that brings us now to Isaiah 56. II. The Wheat: Humble Outcasts Welcomed In (vs. 1-8) Now, as we look at verses 1-8, we see the effect of the Gospel going to people who in the old covenant would have been excluded. We're going to talk about that, but God has this beautiful, magnificent salvation plan that he fashioned as we learned clearly from the book of Ephesians. He fashioned before the foundation of the world. From before the foundation of the world, He set his love on us in Christ, and He poured out spiritual blessings on us when we were still unborn in his own mind and heart. In Christ, he did us every good that we would ever need. Even long before he said, we were created. Before he even said, "Let there be light," God had this salvation plan. And that plan was to redeem us by the blood of Christ. Now, the redemptive plan of God began when Adam and Eve fell into sin. There's no need for redemption before that. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. They were kicked out. They were excluded. They're on the outside. And God put an angel there with a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. So they would not be permitted to re-enter Eden and eat from the Tree of Life. So I just want you to picture that in your mind because we're going to talk about people excluded, but I want you to include yourself in that category. We were all of us kicked out. As a human race, we were excluded from heaven. We are excluded from fellowship with God because of our sins. We're on the outside. Now, in redemptive plan, the redemptive plan of God, God chose out a specific people, the Jews. And he did it with the call of Abraham. At that point, his name was Abram. In Genesis 12, God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans and said, "Leave your country and your people, and go to the land I will show you." And he says this, "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. Whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So the Jewish nation then became a launching pad for the salvation of the world. God intended to save his chosen people, that he chose in Christ before the creation of world to save them through a Jewish plan of salvation, ultimately through a Jewish Savior as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "Salvation is from the Jews." And so God brought Israel up out of Egypt, up out of the promised land... Up out of Egypt into the promised land, through the Red Sea, brought them into the promised land. And, at the mountain of the 10 Commandments, he said this to them. He said, "If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole Earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." So what that means is, "I'm going to bless you, oh Jewish people, so that you can be a blessing to the whole earth." That was God's purpose. Psalm 67 captures it very, very well. It says, "May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on Earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, Oh God, may all the peoples praise you." The peoples are the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nation. Oh God, be gracious to us, the Jews, so that we might be a blessing to the Gentiles. That was the idea of the concept. And we've seen that in Christ, that desire is fulfilled. Jesus is the son of Abraham. He's the Son of David, He is Jewish, and he is the savior of the earth. Now look at Verse 1. "This is what the Lord says, 'Maintain justice and do what is right for my salvation is close at hand, and my righteousness will soon be revealed." That's powerful. "My salvation is drawing near now. My righteousness is coming close." Isaiah lived six centuries before Jesus was born. But in God's mind, a day is like a 1000 years, and a 1000 years is like a day. The time for salvation is drawing near. Now, we could say that the prophet might have been talking about the deliverance from the exile of Babylon, and I think that might be part of what he had in mind. The deliverance from Babylon is a picture though of the greater deliverance that Jesus works for all of us from sin, from the captivity of sin. And so, we could say that both of them are in His mind. The Jews are going to come back from Babylon, they're going to rebuild the destroyed city of Jerusalem, they're going to live there, and that's an important thing, but that's not the fulfillment of the glorious words of Isaiah 56, not at all. Something bigger is going to happen. The Jewish nation that would be established under Ezra and Nehemiah would continue living under the old covenant, under the laws of Moses. They would continue to offer animal sacrifice, to keep the Sabbath regulations, they would continue to follow the old covenant. But all of this has in view the day in which those old covenant strictures would be abolished, would be removed. And so, godly Jews are described here, in verse one and two. This is what the Lord says, "Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand, and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil." This is the call for the people of God, the Jews of Isaiah's day, or those that would come back under Ezra and Nehemiah, the godly Jewish nation, to live godly, upright lives under His law, as they waited for His redemption. The nation had been wicked, they've been sent into exile, disobeying God's laws, they had plundered the weak and helpless, they'd taken advantage of the widow and the orphan, they had shed innocent blood, they'd been sexually immoral, they'd been idolaters, that had led to the exile. "Okay, when I bring you back in, lead righteous, godly lives now, and in that way, my salvation will draw near, the nation will be able to continue." Now, for us as Christians, we have to hear this in a Christian new covenant sort of sense. We're not waiting for the restoration from Babylon, that's done, that's in the rearview mirror. What are we waiting for? We're waiting for Jesus to come back. We're waiting for the second coming of Christ. Well, what kind of lives should we live while we wait for that? 2 Peter 3 makes it very plain. It's going to be very similar type of language here. "Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?" Second Peter 3:11-12. "You ought to live godly and upright lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." So, we ought to be holy and we have to do evangelism and missions, that's what that verse says. And then, Second Peter 3:14, "So then, dear friends, since you're looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him." That's Peter writing to new covenant saints. We get the same kind of language here, in Isaiah 56, one and two. "Live godly, upright lives as you wait for righteousness of God to come near. As you wait for the next event in redemptive history to come, live godly and upright lives," that's what the call is here. Godly Outcasts Welcomed Now, in verse three, we see godly outcasts welcome. Now, this is where it gets really fascinating. Look at verse three. "Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely exclude me from His people.' And let not any eunuch complain, 'I am only a dry tree.'" So now, we're looking at foreigners, by that I mean, the text means Gentiles, outsiders, and eunuchs, eunuchs. It speaks of people, then, that are categorically excluded in the old covenant from the assembly of the Lord. They're out, they're outsiders, they can't come in. They're not allowed to come in. Eunuchs are specifically mentioned as excluded in every case in Deuteronomy 23:1. And then, specific Gentiles are excluded in Deuteronomy 23:2 and Deuteronomy 23:3. For example, 23:2 says, "No one born of a forbidden marriage or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the 10th generation." And then, verse three of Deuteronomy 23, "No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the 10th generation." These are what we would call aliens and strangers, they're outsiders, they're excluded from fellowship with the people of God because of the law. Now, we believe in Christ, all of those exclusions are abolished, they're removed. We believe that this chapter foresees the day when those exclusions are taken away. "Let no foreigner say, 'I'm excluded.'" "I'm no longer excluded." Why not? Because Jesus came and fulfilled the old covenant and brought in with His blood a new covenant. And in that new covenant, there are no such restrictions. We saw this plainly in Ephesians chapter 2, let me read that again. By the way, I'm not going back to Ephesians, I just can't seem to let it go. I love the Book of Ephesians. But Ephesians 2:11 and following is the clearest passage on the fact that these exclusions are being removed. Says in Ephesians, 2:11-12, "Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called 'uncircumcised' by those who call themselves 'the circumcision.' Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." That's how it used to be, oh Gentiles, how you used to be excluded by the law of Moses. Deuteronomy 23. The law of Moses kept such people out of the assembly of the Lord. It was what Paul called a barrier, a dividing wall of hostility. You couldn't come in. Yet through Isaiah the Prophet, even centuries before Jesus was born, there was foretold the day when those restrictions would be removed. The barrier would be taken away, and you would be allowed, as a Gentile, an uncircumcised Gentile, to enter the assembly of the Lord. You'd be welcome to come in. Now, God doesn't allow these outsiders in without transforming them. They have become radically different people; God has cleansed them of all their pagan defilements, He's washed them clean by the blood of Christ, they're made new in their hearts. John the Baptist said that God is able out of this stones to raise up children for Abraham, and so He has done. He has removed our hearts of stone and given us a heart of flesh. That's the condition for coming in now: Transformation by the Spirit of God. Ezekiel put it this way, about outsiders coming in. He said, "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean…" Ezekiel 36:25 and following, "I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols, I will give you a new heart and I'll put a new Spirit in you and I will remove from you the heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh and I'll put my Spirit in you and I will move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." That's the transformation of the new covenant, the transformation, the change wrought by the spirit of God, or again in Ephesians 2, 13-15, "but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ, for He himself is our peace, who has made the two one," [Jew and Gentile] and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the commandments and regulations that kept us out his purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace." This is the redemptive work of Christ. The Rewards of Inclusion Now, look at the rewards of being included say, "Well what do I get if I'm included?" Look at it, it's beautiful, these are rich blessings for those humble transformed outsiders. Each of these are carefully described before, the blessings are listed. The fact is you have to be changed in order to qualify, not every eunuch is blessed, not every outsider is brought near, that's not true. What does it say? Verses 4-5 "This is what the Lord says: 'to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath, and choose what pleases me, and hold fast to my covenant, to them I will give within my temple and its walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off." So the conditions are covenantal language. Now in Isaiah's day that was old covenantal language; keep the Sabbath, do the sacrificial system, all that. We know that that's just a type and a shadow of the salvation, Jesus came to bring for us in the New Covenant. The requirement is simple. Believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, trust in Him. Repent of your sins, believe in Christ and you will be brought near, you'll be given a new heart, the Holy Spirit will change you from the inside out, you'll be transformed, and you will meet the requirements and look at the rewards a place in God's temple, a spot within its walls a secure permanent place of honor, and everlasting name that will never be cut off, never be forgotten. It's amazing. Now this is very similar to the promises made to the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:12. Listen to this. "To him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God. And the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God, I will also write on him a new name." That's very similar to Isaiah 56, isn't it? So what's happening, we're talking about heaven that's coming, the new Heaven, the new Earth, the new Jerusalem, if you become in Christ brought near, transformed from the inside out, God is going to adopt you as one of his sons or daughters, he's going to give you an everlasting name better than a biological son or daughter. You'll be his forever and ever. Biological names are forgotten, if you don't think so read First Chronicles and all those genealogies you know exactly, who are these people? If the Lord doesn't return any time soon, within three or four generations probably, no one on Earth will know your name, no one. Everyone will forget you, everyone you knew will be dead, long gone. That's just the way of the earth, that's the way of death. This is talking about an eternal remembrance. An eternal relationship. This is adoption by an eternal father, and the giving of a name that you will have forever and ever. And it will never be forgotten. That's eternity, that's heaven, that's a new Jerusalem. And it must refer to that spiritual temple as we've talked about again and again, in Ephesians 2, that new and living structure in Ephesians 2, 1 Peter 2, we are all living stones built into that habitation, that eternal habitation. We will receive a name and a place in that forever and ever if we draw near. And in heaven we will be able to offer sacrifices. 1 Peter 2:9-10, says "You are a chosen people, a royal Priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God." Think about that; once you were outsiders now you're inside, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. We are drawn in and we can offer up sacrifices, of praise to God. Ultimately in heaven, there's going to be a multitude greater than anyone can count from every tribe, language, people, and nation. And they're going to be drawn near Revelation seven. They're going to be given white robes and palm branches and they're going to cry out salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb, and they're going to stand listen to this revelation 7:13-15 this multitude greater than any cookout Where are they from? They're from the Great Tribulation, they've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb, therefore listen to this Revelation, 7:15, they are before the throne of God and they serve Him day and night in His temple so that this is the language of Isaiah 56. The eunuchs, who are brought near, the outsiders who are brought near, we are given a place in the eternal temple of God and a name better than anyone could ever have in this world and forever we will bring our sacrifices and offerings in praise and they'll be accepted. That's what Isaiah is predicting. Verses 6 and 7, "Foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, to love the name of the Lord and to worship him all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold fast to my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." Now, the conditions have to be met, you have to repent and believe and be drawn near in the new covenant, you have to bind yourself to the Lord by faith, you have to yearn to love him and to serve him and to follow him and to love the name of the Lord and to worship him. The Sabbath, I believe, is fulfilled in Christ. But it's also commemorated in the Lord's Day assembly around the world of Christians who come on the first day of the week to celebrate, not looking back at the old creation, but looking ahead to the new creation, first day of the week when God is going to make everything new. So, we assemble together and so we get all of these blessings and he says, "My house will be called the house of prayer for all nations." You know that Jesus quoted this, he was talking about Herod's Temple, a temple built by a wicked man, but he honored it as what it was, a beautiful type and shadow and picture of a future reality, a heavenly reality, a heavenly temple, when people from all nations would be welcomed, and would pray and worship God in that heavenly temple, and that now the temple of Herod's day, it should be a place where they're praying toward that end and where Gentiles are welcomed to worship the true and living God in light of the new covenant, Jesus had come to bring. Instead what did he find? Corruption, money changers, people trying to make money out of religion and it enraged him. And so he sat down and he braided a whip, and he overturned the benches of the money changers, and he drove out the all of the animals and he cried out in the words of Isaiah 56. "My house will be a house of prayer for all nations." He's quoting Isaiah 56 as he cleanses the temple. Now eventually he would will that that temple be physically, completely destroyed. Its days were over, it was obsolete, the Old Covenant was done, and so the Romans finished it off. New Exiles Gathered In But the vision was still there, that in the heavenly realm there would be, all nations assembled to worship God and there would be in verse 8, new exiles drawn and look at verse 8, "The sovereign lord declares, he who gathers the exiles of Israel. I'm going to gather still others to them besides those already gathered." I'm going to do a kind of a second re-gathering. So we're going to bring in the Jews from Babylon, and they'll be re-gathered but then I'm going to do a second re-gathering I'm going to gather other exiles and bring them in. Well, who are they? Well, In Isaiah 11:12, it says that God "will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel, he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth." So there's this banner raised for the Gentiles and a gathering of people from all over the world and then even more plain in John 11:51-52, it said that "Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and not for that nation only, but also for the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one." Non-Jews, who are called the scattered children of God, they are the elect, chosen before the creation of the world, they would be gathered in Jesus's name, to one place. That's what verse 8 is talking about. I'm going to gather still others beyond those already gathered. So Verses 1 through 8 show the delights of the plan of salvation, for humble people once excluded, for exiles scattered all over the Earth, rich blessings of fellowship an eternally secure place in God's eternal temple where you will worship forever and ever. My question to you is, are you included or are you still an outsider? Are you on the outside looking in or have you been drawn in through faith in Christ? That's what you have to ask. This is visionary Old Testament prophetic language, let me speak quite plainly. Do you know yourself to be a Christian? Do you know yourself to be forgiven through faith in Christ? Have you been drawn in through faith in Christ, having repented of your sins have you found forgiveness through Christ? Are you spiritually now offering sacrifices to God, are you spiritually feasting on Christ? Are you looking forward to the day when you are literally sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Is that you? If not, If you know yourself to be an outsider believe that God brought you here for this moment and I'm calling on you while there's time, call on the Lord while he is near. Forsake your evil ways and find forgiveness in Christ. III. The Weeds: Self-Indulgent Leaders Devoured (vs. 9-12) The rest of the chapter deals with weeds, deals with people who hear that kind of invitation, hear that kind of gospel presentation and don't believe. Now they're a special category. They are leaders, they are the watchmen of Israel, but they're wicked, look at them described. They're self-indulgent leaders verses 10-12. "Israel's Watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge they're all mute dogs, they cannot bark, they lie around and dream, they love to sleep, they are dogs with mighty appetites, they never have enough, they are shepherds who lack understanding, they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. Come, each one cries, let me get wine, let us drink our fill of beer and tomorrow will be like today or even far better." Well, final paragraph to this chapter is a judgment on the watchmen of Israel. I believe it's speaking to the leaders of the Jewish nation, their kings, their prophets, their warriors, their leaders who were given positions of power and authority in the nation to serve the people not to take advantage of them or to fleece them. Israel's watchmen are the guardians of the nation, those who stand on the walls, to protect her from danger and from slaughter in the night. They are called on therefore, to deprive themselves of sleep during the night. What good is a sleeping watchman? They're supposed to be up on the walls, but they're asleep. They're supposed to be sacrificing themselves, they're supposed to be alert and courageous and wise and self-sacrificial. But instead these watchmen are deplorable. Ezekiel the Prophet was called a watchman for Israel. He said, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me." So that picture is a sleeping city, a walled fortress, and there's a possibility of an attack in the night. The watchman's job is to stand on the walls and warn the sleeping people, "Get up, there's danger." And so what God says to Ezekiel the watchman, he says, "When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself." So that's what a watchman does. Now, these watchmen are deplorable, they are blind. I mean, think about that, what good is a blind watchman? Just ponder that for a while. They are ignorant, they lack knowledge, they are mute dogs. Now, what good is a watch dog that can't bark? Isaiah calls them lazy dogs. They lie around and love to sleep, like the sluggard, they can't even pull their hand out of the dish and bring it to their mouth. They can barely rouse themselves out of bed, they're lazy. He calls them dogs with mighty appetites. Like Paul says in Philippians 3, "Their God is their stomach." They love a good meal. They love to feast. They're living for themselves, they're greedy. They never get enough. And not only that, they think the feast will never end. I like the NIV on verse 12, I really do. "Come, each one cries, let me get wine, let us drink our fill of beer. And tomorrow will be like today or even far better." That's an interesting translation, I think it's a good one. In other words, I think things are just going to get better and better. Things are really good for us right now, but they're going to get better and better. No fear of the Lord, no fear of impending judgment, just complacent, lazy comfortable expectation that life, prosperous comfortable life, is just going to keep on going the way it always has. Well, verse nine speaks of a different kind of feast, it's a different kind of feast, and these watchmen are actually invited to it. But look at it, "Come all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest." So Israel's watchmen are invited to the feast, but not as honored guests, but actually as the food. They're going to be invited to be devoured by the beast, they're going to be judged by the wrath of God. This very much reminds me of Revelation 19, when there's the armies of the Earth assembled to fight against Jesus in His second coming glory. And it says there in Revelation 19:17, it says, "I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in mid-air, 'Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and generals and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great." And so the birds came and feasted on their flesh. It's a picture of terrible judgment from God. So, simply put, at the end of the world, God is going to separate out the wheat from the weeds. And verses 9-12 give a picture, in very graphic kind of picture form, of the judgment that's going to come on those who live their lives for their stomach, for their flesh, who do not use their positions of influence and authority to glorify God. IV. Applications Alright, so applications, I've already given you the most important one. Come to the banquet of Christ while there's time. Feast on him, trust in him. Don't remain an outsider. Be welcomed by faith in Christ into God's holy temple. Accept the gifts that He wants to give you. He wants to adopt you as one of his sons or daughters. He wants to give you a name in his temple that will never end. Accept his conditions, the conditions of the new covenant, they're simple. Confess Christ as your Lord and Savior, repent of your sins, and you will be saved. Secondly, understand, Christian brothers and sisters, the mixed nature of this world. It is lamentable, we are going to grieve, it's going to cause us trouble, but it's just the reality. It's going to be like this until the end of the world. Look on it as an opportunity. Don't consider yourself superior to any of those that appear to be weeds. That's the whole thing. The reason the servants can't root them up, they can't tell the difference. Saul of Tarsus, what did he look like the morning he was converted? He looked like weeds to me. We just can't tell the difference, we never know what God's sovereign grace could do. We never know. And so, let's look on the wickedness of the people around us as an opportunity to speak the truth in love into their lives and see God save some of them. The weeds make up ISIS as they behead Christians. The weeds make-up anti-Christian college officials who issue edicts and rules that keep Christians from freely sharing the gospel on their college campuses, or professors who use their positions to speak anti-Christian doctrines to those that have to listen to them, or non-Christian government officials, not just in the US but all over the world, who use their positions of power and influence to hinder the work of God in the world. Making bad decisions, and issuing bad judgments, and bad decrees, or even to crush the Gospel overtly. The mixed up nature of this world is a constant grief to us. It's going to continue, but it's temporary. Some day the Lord is going to purge this world. In the mean time, we're going to have to bear with this suffering that comes from it and to see God use us to win people to Christ. Also, along with that, let's have a deep compassion for those that are lost, let's weep for them. Let's not feel superior to them. Let's, like Paul says, "I have a great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." And Jesus wept over Jerusalem. So ask God to make you a little less annoyed with the weeds, a little less irritated by them, and instead pray for them. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2, "I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvations in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." You know what it is? The elect are surrounded by un-elect. The wheat that hasn't been converted yet, they're surrounded by weeds that are going to pound you as you try to reach the elect. Even the elect themselves are going to treat you badly until they're finally converted. I did the same myself. They're going to beat you up while you're rescuing them from the lagoon. You're going to swim out there, and they're going to beat you up the whole way as you drag them to safety. And then they're going to cry and thank you. But that's what happens. This is the price we pay for being evangelistically fruitful in this world. Thirdly, a warning to leaders, to watchmen, be faithful. Elders, especially I want to say a word to you who are elders in this church, let us not be anything like the watchmen that are described in this chapter. Do not live for your stomach, do not live for pleasure, do not live for temporary things. I call on me and others to live up to the holiness that this passage talks about. We ought to keep watch over ourselves and the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made us overseers. Richard Baxter in his reform pastor said this, "Take heed to yourselves, lest you live in those sins that you preach against in others. Lest you be guilty of that which daily you condemn. Will you preach God's laws and yet willfully break them? If sin be evil, then why do you live in it? And if it be not, then why do you dissuade men from it? If sin be dangerous, then how dare you venture on it? And if it be not, then why do you tell men so? If God's threatenings be true, then why do you not fear them? And if they be false, then why do you needlessly trouble men with them and put them into such frights without a cause?" So that's just a warning to all of us who are elders and leaders in spiritual positions in the church, not just in this church, but in any church. I also want to give a similar warning to political leaders. God is going to hold political leaders, senators, congressmen, presidents, elected officials to account for what they did with their position of authority. And if they used their position to hinder the work of God, God is going to judge them. Finally, a word for missions. Verse seven says, "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." I yearn for this church to be on fire for evangelism and missions. That we would be a house of prayer for all nations, for the spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I especially call on home fellowships. When you meet tonight in your home fellowships, be certain you pray for missionaries, be certain you pray for unreached people groups, that you keep your heart extended to the ends of the Earth, where Jesus has believers who have not yet been converted. Move your heart out there in prayer. My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. Close with me in prayer.

Ask a scientist, and they will almost certainly tell you genetically modified food is safe to eat. Yet an awful lot of consumers disagree. Is their fear of GM food irrational? Earlier this year the Pew Foundation released a US poll which suggested 88% of scientists think GM food is generally safe to eat, while only 37% of the public agree. It is the issue on which American scientists and the general public are most divided, more so than climate change or vaccines. If the scientific consensus says it is safe, should we embrace a technology that could help solve hunger and feed the world? Or is GM food a lightning rod for justified concerns about the impact of global agribusiness and industrial food production?(Photo: Ripe wheat in a field. BBC copyright)

Bruce Bartlett Bruce Bartlett was an early “supply-side” economist who worked for President Reagan and President George H.W. Bush. He explains for us why the tax cuts of George W. Bush have not worked and why we need more revenues now. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/author/bruce-bartlett/ David Becker An expert on election reform tell us that there is no evidence of voter fraud, but that one out of eight voting records are inaccurate. The answer, says David Becker of the Pew Foundation, might be online registration. http://www.pewtrusts.org/experts_profile.aspx?id=85899368166 John Sarbanes Bill Press chats with the Congressman John Sarbanes about how to clean up campaign financing and maybe amend the Constitution to overturn the Citizens United decision. http://www.billpressshow.com/ http://sarbanes.house.gov/

(January 20, 2010) According to a recent study by the Pew Foundation, women are marrying men with lower incomes and education levels than they [the women] have.  No word on whether those women are happy with the arrangement, however.

Bill Niman and Nicolette Hahn Niman Righteous Chops on the Family Farm Join Michael Lerner in this conversation with Commonweal neighbors Bill Niman and Nicolette Hahn Niman about their compassionate ranching practices on Niman Ranch and about Nicolette’s new book, Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms. Nicolette Hahn Niman Nicolette is a rancher, attorney, and writer. Much of her time is spent speaking and writing about the problems of industrialized livestock production, including the book Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms (HarperCollins, 2009) and three essays she has written on the subject for the New York Times. Bill Niman Bill Niman is a cattle rancher in Northern California, proprietor of BN Ranch, and Founder of the natural meat company Niman Ranch, Inc. He was a member of the Pew Foundation’s National Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which released recommendations for reform of the nation’s livestock industry in April 2008. Find out more about The New School at tns.commonweal.org.

Dr. Robert Spencer  tells  "The Truth About Muhammad"  and interprets the findings of the PEW Foundation study of American Muslim attitudes.  Lotsa openline.    Then, Philip Jenkins says the Muslim sky isn't falling.  "God's Continent" isn't really in a demographic crisis after all.