While environmentalists focus on Earth Day celebrations and public policy debates and initiatives, the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation is announcing a new initiative, “Resisting the Green Dragon,” that will sound the alarm about dangerous environmental extremism and bring a Biblical viewpoint on environmental issues and creation stewardship to evangelical churches, ministries, and schools.

We've all heard of people who consider themselves "spiritual but not religious." Some, for sure, are sincere about believing in a higher power to which they should submit their will, but others are more concerned about making up their own religion to suit their own preferences. We're addressing this issue because most discussion is around the "religious" versus "secular humanist" divide. It's pretty easy to distinguish between those who believe in God and those who don't. A special problem occurs with those who believe in a God of their own making.

We lived for a time in California and here are some of the ideas and their implications.

There is only one God: Christians believe this, too. However, the 'spiritual' believe there is only one God and he has many names, e.g., Jesus Christ, Yaweh, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Gitchee-Manitou, Gaia, Seth, etc. Implication: Since every religion points, ultimately, to the same diety, one can pick and choose which rituals and moral orders to follow from day-to-day and change them as easily as one changes clothes. It's spiritual relativism.

God made the world out of himself: Selecting the very beginning of "in the beginning... " and ignoring what the first couple did in paradise, the 'spiritual' rationalize a blameless world. Implication: Since God is only good, the world is only good. There is no evil in God, therefore there is no evil in the world. Since terrorist masterminds like bin Ladin were made by God, they are not evil. The 'spiritual' rationale for the existence of terrorism is that America is reaping its own 'bad karma.' This plays into the hands of the hate-America-first crowd.

The world is a reflection of yourself: Since the world is only good, evil is only a distortion of good. Implication: Only those who are themselves "distorted" would perceive evil. Naturally, 'spiritual' people are aghast (and smugly superior) when President Bush speaks of the "Axis of Evil."

There is no hell: Since the world is only good, the afterlife must be even better. Implication: It is OK to put some people "out of their misery" because the mercy killers are merely "letting them go" to a "better place." What really matters is living with dignity and all suffering should be eliminated. Those who don't believe this have a 'distorted' view of the world.

There is no devil: Since everything supernatural is, by definition, divine, then any mystical revelation (e.g. voices in your head) could only be from God. There are no temptations from the Devil. Implication: Whoopee! Anything goes. Feel empowered to "experiment" with any sort of degraded behavior because it's just a "learning experience" and "it's all good" isn't it? And if it happens to turn out badly, just take a pill to end it all and go off to somewhere better.

So what's the danger in this self-serving, superficial spirituality? Their proponents view these bumper-sticker slogans as "progressive" in contrast to the archaic "superstitions" of Christians and the religious of other traditions. They imagine that the world is ready for a forward leap of evolving consciousness and that it is only the superstitious that are holding back the rest of the would-be "enlightened". While it's not widespread, there is a growing segment of this movement that suggests it would be better for "the world" to get rid of those who are holding back the enlightened, holding back "progress." If that sounds ridiculously paranoid, harken back to the Communist era of the 20th century for a little perspective. Recall the millions who died to make way for Mao's "Great Leap Forward."

Peter and Helen Evans, "http://peterandhelenevans.com.

My son is eight. Our normal bedtime routine is to read chapters from great novels and have short discussions on them before turning out the light. We recently finished up Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. The book deals with a lot of grown-up topics, and we used it as a springboard to discuss all kinds of issues, but especially the nature of crime, punishment, and torture.

In the book, Esméralda is accused of killing Captain Phoebus and of witchcraft. Since she refused to confess, she was taken to the dungeon to be tortured into confessing.

Knowing that she was just a young girl, my son sat up and asked, “Dad, who is going to torture her?”

“They’re Catholic priests,” I replied.

“They can't be real priests,” my son replied, “Real priests couldn't do that.”

www.peterandhelenevans.com/Our current crisis is not a financial crisis. It was not caused by some complicated financial dealing that only a few 'experts' can understand. No, it was caused by a whole lot of people doing things that they knew were wrong. Our current crisis is a moral crisis.

The financial meltdown was caused by the failure of credit markets. When you boil it down, credit is really just another name for trust, which is another name for a mortgage, too. As long as we trust that our debtors will pay us back, the system works better than anything the world has ever seen. But, as soon as doubt and uncertainty replace trust, the whole structure falls down. That's where we are today.

In the U.S., Orthodox Christians rarely get the opportunity to feel good about celebrities. There are quite a few people who claim to be Orthodox who work in movies, in politics, and in the arts. Unfortunately, almost all of these people are not what could be termed spiritual role models. Nominally Orthodox politicians get busted for corruption, Hollywood Hellenes live tabloid lives that shame everyone, and our artists cause no end of mischief. We are so used to this state of affairs, most of us don't even react anymore. Which is why when someone who is genuinely Orthodox, and famous, does something important we need to take notice.

Handy links to all of the Orthodox Christian Network's new shows are included below.

In addition to those mentioned in the title of this post, be sure to check out "Journeys to Orthodoxy" for the story of an African-American jazz musician and Assistant Professor of Music at Ohio State University who recently entered the Orthodox Church.

What a week! All our shows are back, now that a couple have returned from their summer siesta. You can listen to all 10 of them by clicking on the links below or by tuning in to any of our 27 online Orthodox radio stations at the listed times (EST).

As gas prices continue to increase, Congress continues to blame others while ignoring practical steps to stop the pain Americans are feeling at the pump. To lower gasoline prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we need real solutions to our energy challenges. http://www.americansolutions.com/ is a site that is petitioning the government

Here is a letter I wrote to hopefully make people aware of what is going on in the public school system. I called the superintendent of schools office, the school and school board. As of yet no one has called me back as is the case whenever I have a concern.

Like a lot of other Orthodox Christians who spent time in a Greek parish, I've done my share of festival duty. Several years in the Gyros booth, a couple in the parish bookstore, one doing church tours - been there done that.

A few years back, I had the opportunity to deliver my standard presentation on Jihad to a Greek Orthodox Sunday school class. Towards the end of the presentation, I started fielding questions. A few of the ladies in the class were really interested in the role of the Middle East in fulfilling Biblical prophecy. I was taken aback by the questions. I knew the ladies were cradle Orthodox, but the tone and content of the questions betrayed both a knowledge of, and a belief in, the Dispensationalist view of the ‘End Times.'

My wife and I were filling out the paperwork to join a homeschooling umbrella group when we hit a huge snag. The umbrella school we planned to use is Christian-based, but it's run by very, very Protestant people. They had a statement of faith which all potential members had to sign. The statement of faith was, essentially, a Protestant catechism which included such fundamental Protestant beliefs as justification by faith alone and the Bible as the only rule of faith.

Looking over the statement, I immediately picked out nine heresies I could actually name. That was out of only eight clauses in the whole document. Their version of fundamental, commonly accepted Christian truths was like a mini-catalog of errors rejected by the Orthodox Church.

God could have chosen to have His son born in a palace. He could have been born to wealth and privilege, never needing to struggle or work hard to put food on the table.

But that wasn't the plan He pursued. Rather, Jesus was born to a working family. He grew up and pursued a trade. He labored and earned His keep by the sweat of His brow. So did his disciples and apostles.