![]() ![]() Then, like most people-and not just Catholics-I was amazed by the achievement of his 2011 film series “Catholicism,” which aired on public television nationwide and which impressed almost all who saw it with its breadth and ambition. When Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire ministry was launched in 2000, I observed its rapid ascent to popularity with a skepticism similar to that of my youth. ![]() I was led to believe that all televangelists-besides, of course, Billy Graham-were hucksters and charlatans. ![]() I listened as my father criticized the narrow-minded and self-absorbed views of Jerry Falwell and Oral Roberts. I watched Jimmy Swaggart make his tearful and hyperbolic confession of his adultery on national television. It’s no surprise therefore that I was raised as well with a strong skepticism about Christian “media personalities.” I grew up in the age of Ernest Angley’s healings and Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s public shenanigans. I was taught not only to believe, and to love I was also taught how to think. I was taught then, from childhood, not only a solid foundation in Christianity, but also principles of empathy and engaged inquiry. addressed his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Prior to my conversion, I was raised in a fairly progressive Southern Baptist church, pastored at one time by one of the clergymen to whom Dr. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |