Lectures: Rowan Williams on Christ's Uniqueness

I am planning to spend more of my free time in the morning watching more serious lectures from theologians and thinkers on YouTube rather than cartoons or re-runs.  The best or most thought-provoking of these I plan to share on this blog - a "Gloria Deo Lecture Series" if you will.  I am not necessarily endorsing all that is said here, but I am holding up some serious thinkers with some deep claims that are worth our attention.  If you have the time to engage with some of these lectures, I hope they will get "the wheels turning" in your head.

The First video is a lecture from Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury on the finality and uniqueness or even the exclusivity of Christ (as expressed in John 14:5-6 and Acts 4:11-12) in a "Pluralistic" World.

Rule of Law and Freedom of Religion

Interesting video from a PBS segment discussing rule of law "versus" freedom of religion in light of the recent Kim Davis case in Kentucky.

I think it is interesting that the liberal spokesman, the UCC minister, neglected to mention the long tradition, often claimed and celebrated by progressive Christians, of civil disobedience in the name of justice (as with Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement).  One wonders what to make of that omission, as well as the lack of any mention of our tradition of allowing "conscientious objection" to important civic duties such as military service or the pledge of allegiance on religious grounds.

I also think it is interesting that none of the speakers acknowledged the dilemma potentially faced by any elected official when the law gets changed after you have already been serving in office. It is one thing to know ahead of time that assuming a particular elected office will mean signing onto acts that go against one's conscience or religion, it is (in my view) quite another thing to find that after being elected and serving without any scruple for some period of time such an official finds himself thrown into a moral quandary because "the rules have changed " (thanks to a Supreme Court decree).

I also worry that the "last word" in this video may turn out to be true...though it may be a trend that has been happening a long time.  What do you think? Are we moving from a live and let live society to a winner take all society?