Piano, piano: In Europe, evangelicals are divided over the right relationship with Rome.

Leonardo De Chirico is in an ongoing argument with the Italian government about the “intrinsic characteristics” of religious buildings.

The evangelical pastor insists that Breccia di Roma (Breach of Rome), which is located in a simple storefront about a kilometer from the Colosseum, is a church. Christians meet there regularly to pray, praise God, and listen to the preaching of the Word. The national tax authority has noted, though, that the multifunctional space, which also houses a theological library and a missions training center, does not have the vaulted ceilings, stained glass, raised altar, candles, or saint statues commonly associated with churches in the majority-Catholic country and therefore doesn’t qualify for religious tax exemptions.

“The arguments are silly and poor,” De Chirico told CT. “The pictures they showed were of impressive buildings, but we showed that Muslim prayer rooms are simple and some Catholic churches meet in shops. Synagogues look like our space. They are all tax-exempt. We are not asking for privilege. We are not asking for something that others don’t have.”

This conflict has been going on since 2016. A lower court sided with the Reformed Baptist church, but the tax authority filed an appeal. The case is now going to Italy’s Supreme Court.

But tax-exempt status is not the most serious disagreement De Chirico has with Italians about what a church is. In 2014, he wrote a pamphlet critiquing the papacy. In 2021, the Reformed pastor and theology chair of the Italian Evangelical Alliance wrote a book arguing that the “theological framework of Roman Catholicism is not faithful to the biblical gospel.”

So it frustrated him, to say the least, when Thomas Schirrmacher, the head of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), joined an ecumenical prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, in September. It seemed to him that the secretary general of the global evangelical association was embracing the spiritual leadership of Pope Francis and endorsing a vision of unity not grounded in the gospel.

“When you pray with someone in public, you are saying that the differences between our theologies are mere footnotes,” De Chirico said. “Dialogue is welcome, but there are core differences we cannot forget or ignore.”

In my latest for Christianity Today, I take a look at how European evangelicals approach church planting, ecumenical dialogue and other issues in contexts where Catholicism remains predominant.

U.S. Presidential Primaries: The Religion Source Guide

Buckle up, cause presidential primary season is about to really get underway.

With Iowa Republicans gathering to caucus on Jan. 15, New Hampshire’s controversial primaries coming for both parties on Jan. 23 and a flurry of primaries and caucuses following in quick succession after that, U.S. presidential politics are going to take an increasingly prime spot in our news coverage.

The road to 270 Electoral College votes next year will likely careen back-and-forth on a range of issues, from Social Security and Medicare to abortion and immigration. Along the way, it is important not to lose sight of the critical role the faith factor will play in how voters view each issue, potentially deciding who voters will choose in 2024. 

As many (re)learned in the last two elections, we ignore religion’s role in presidential elections at our peril.  

With next year unlikely to prove an exception to the rule of religion’s influence in presidential politics, this source guide provides an overview of several candidates’ faith backgrounds and angles on how religion may influence their electability in the year to come. 

Background

Despite a decline in overall religious adherence, faith continues to influence U.S. politics, not least because, in the shift from privilege to plurality, religious Americans — particularly of the evangelical variety — are not going quietly. The result is that the demographic change, where an increasing number of Americans identify as nonreligious and Christians might soon be a minority, has not meant more consensus, but increasingly polarized debates about the role of faith in U.S. public life.

The fault lines are many and include debates over access to, or restrictions on, abortion, and culture war and church-state separation issues such as banning materials dealing with sexuality and gender identity from schools or discussions of “critical race theory” from the classroom. Feeling ever more like a minority, conservative religious actors have embraced the mantle of “religious freedom,” positioning themselves as needing protection from the encroachments of a leftist agenda, led by a secular majority. All of this is cast against a background of increased “Christian nationalism,” the desire that the nation’s civic life be defined by Christianity — in its identification, history, symbols, values and public policies — and that the government take active steps to enforce this view and impose it on the populace.

At the same time, actors on the religious left can be seen at the front of protests and marches advocating for civil rights, gun control, access to abortion and immigration reform. And prominent Democrats such as Raphael Warnock and Joe Biden position their faith as a core component of their political platforms. The religious left, thought to be dormant for decades, has been quietly resurgent in recent years and may shape the 2024 elections in a significant way.

The impact of these demographic realities, debates and differing perspectives has been uneven, varying from state to state based on their respective populations, politics and histories. Some are asserting a kind of Christian identity and enacting policies that are in line with their interpretation thereof. Others are adopting what they see as more secular laws appropriate for a more plural society.

In any event, religion will — as it always has — play a prominent role in the primary season and, inevitably, during next autumn’s general elections. In fact, this year might feature one of the most religiously diverse batch of presidential candidates we have yet seen, reflecting the nation’s shifting, and increasingly plural, religious landscape.

Using pictorial art for interreligious dialogue

The Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas is not necessarily what you think it is. Unless, of course, you thought it was a decidedly nondenominational, octagonal chapel adorned with fourteen black, but colour-hued, paintings by U.S. artist Mark Rothko.

Image cover for Christopher Longhurst’s book “Pictorial Art for Interreligious Dialogue.” Photo courtesy of KAICIID.

Welcoming some 100,000 visitors of many faiths — and no faith — from across the world each year, the aim of the chapel is, “to create opportunities for spiritual growth and dialogue that illuminate our shared humanity and lead to a world in which all are treated with dignity and respect.” Quite frequently, after stepping outside the chapel, visitors will often ask each other, “what did you see in there?”

It is those kinds of conversations that Roman Catholic theologian and 2020 KAICIID Fellow Dr. Christopher Longhurst hopes to prompt with his new book, Pictorial Art for Interreligious Dialogue.

Funded by the KAICIID Fellows Programme, the publication explores the unique usage of pictorial art to undertake interreligious dialogue, presenting a practical guide to help educators learn and teach an effective and enjoyable interreligious dialogue in both academic and informal settings.

O Antiphons - when Advent calls out for Christmas

From now until Christmas the O Antiphons are the Advent call for the coming of the Messiah, at Christmas and at the eschaton - the last of days. Each antiphon begins with the interjection "O," an exclamation of hope, expectance, excitement, and need. Each antiphon culminates with a call for the Messiah to come. As Christmas draws nigh, the cry beckons more urgently.

Originally composed in 7th- or 8th-century C.E. by monks who merged texts from the Hebrew Testament with the hopes of the New Testament, the antiphons were meant to help the world look to the coming of salvation in Christ Jesus - then, now, and in the future. Popular in the Middle Ages, when monastic choirs sang the antiphons in chorus with the great bells of cathedrals, the antiphons are also an acrostic. Together, the antiphons weave a rich tapestry of scriptural metaphors and images and provide a masterful mosaic of meditations leading up to the celebration of Christmas.

Yet the cries for the coming of Christ do not fall on deaf ears. There is a response embedded in the orations as well. The first Latin letter of each invocation (backwards) forms the phrase ero cras (Emmanuel - Rex - Oriens | Clavis - Radix - Adonai - Sapientia). The line is, indeed, the response of Christ to the calls of Advent, "Tomorrow, I will be there." 

With that response assured, let us together pray aloud and think upon the "O Antiphons" over the subsequent seven days. Each day until Christmas I will be posting an O Antiphon with its full verse and an image to meditate upon. 

And so, an expectant Advent and a Happy Christmas to all of you!

"O Wisdom, proceeding from the mouth of the Most High, pervading and permeating all creation, mightily ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence." 

O Sapientia, quae ex ore Altissimi prodidisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviter disponensque omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.