Rob Bell courtesy Beliefnet

Pastor/author Rob Bell launched a boisterous discussion last week when he attempted to define the word “evangelical” during an interview with the Boston Globe.   Here’s the exchange between reporter Michael Paulson and Rob Bell that’s been getting most of the attention:

Q. What does it mean to you to be an evangelical?

A. I take issue with the word to a certain degree, so I make a distinction between a capital E and a small e. I was in the Caribbean in 2004, watching the election returns with a group of friends, and when Fox News, in a state of delirious joy, announced that evangelicals had helped sway the election, I realized this word has really been hijacked. I find the word troubling, because it has come in America to mean politically to the right, almost, at times, anti-intellectual. For many, the word has nothing to do with a spiritual…

USA Today has a story out today (Thursday) analyzing results released today from the latest Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

“Most American religious believers, including most Christians, say eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Christ as their savior, a new survey finds.

Of the 65% of people who held this open view of heaven’s gates, 80% named at least one non-Christian group — Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists or people with no religion at all — who may also be saved, according to a new survey released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.”

The “including most Christians” part is a symptom of the rampant doctrinal confusion that abounds within Christianity today.

I suggest that the folks the article calls “most Christians”, the ones who believe that salvation outside of Christ is possible - they should at least be consistent and make a…

Terry Mattingly, Director of the Washington Journalism Center for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and a religion columnist for Scripps Howard News Service (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Associated Press reports a story describing a possible trend in newsrooms to avoid cultural diversity by excluding evangelicals. If a journalism student is an evangelical, and is politically moderate-to-conservative, she should expect to have a tough time obtaining and keeping a job in mainstream, non-religious journalism.

“Journalism has become more of a white-collar field that draws from elite colleges,” said Terry Mattingly, director of the Washington Journalism Center for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and a religion columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. “While there’s been heavy gender and racial diversity … there’s a lack of cultural diversity in journalism,” including religion.

It’s unclear exactly how many evangelicals work in newsrooms, and federal laws against religious discrimination prevent news managers from asking…

Thinking ahead to what is on the calender in the next week, here are some excellent books I’ve discovered in recent months.

May 11: Mother’s Day

The Christian Grandma’s Idea Book: Hundreds of Ideas, Tips, and Activities to Help You be a Good Grandma by Ellen Banks Elwell.

The Christian Mom’s Idea Book: Hundreds of Ideas, Tips, and Activities to Help You be a Great Mom by Ellen Banks Elwell.

* In both of these books, Elwell puts her own encouragement and insight into the mixture along with the words of hundreds of other mothers and grandmothers. These books are short on ivory-tower theory, and long in practical advice, sensible living, and Christian encouragement.

May 14 : The 60th Anniversary of the state of Israel

On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend by Timothy P. Weber.

Future Israel: Why Christian Anti-Judaism Must Be Challenged by Barry E. Horner.

* Sixty years. Given the furor Israel faced in even…