Congratulations to Joe Carter who has been mentioned as a key evangelical blogger in this Washington Post article. Joe himself responds here. Joe certainly is a central figure amongst Christian bloggers. Even though I’m not an evangelical myself, I read his blog regularly to keep track of some of the thinking in that stream.
Keep up the good work!
Laura on Pursuing Holiness has now apologized for an earlier comment on Rick Warren and Saddleback Church. I share her original concerns about misreporting of numbers. I do believe that pastors are often careless with the details, thinking they are not terribly important. But especially when you’re in Rick Warren’s position, you can’t afford that.
I generally agreed with the sentiment of Laura’s original post, though I didn’t comment at the time. But I thoroughly approve of her response to a challenge and to new information. Now why can’t more of us provide an honest apology!
She said:
I may disagree with their accounting methods for the Saddleback church roll, but I was way out of line for suggesting that Rick Warren was being deceitful. I have absolutely no evidence that he was. The bottom line here is that I tossed a post out there, having done no research on either the topic at hand or Warren Smith, the article’s writer. I regurgitated Smith’s opinion with a total lack of skepticism because it fit with my world view. That “fake but accurate” nonsense is something for which I have repeatedly, and justifiably, criticized the mainstream media. I’m sorry that I did it. Aside from the fact that it was hypocritical of me to do the very thing I’ve criticized others for, I failed to give the benefit of the doubt when I should have given it. There’s no excuse for it, and in the future I will be a great deal more cautious in what I write. For whatever it’s worth, I apologize.
Wow! Bravo! I can use that as an example when I teach on Psalm 51 and true confession, which is totally unlike what politicians tend to do. Way to go! If there was an award for demonstrating what she and I both meant by “philophronos blogging” it would go to her post.
