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By Soner Cagaptay, Special to CNN
Soner Cagaptay is a Beyer Family fellow at The Washington Institute and author of 'Turkey Rising: The 21st Century's First Muslim Power.' You can follow him @sonercagaptay. The views expressed are his own.
Today's attack against the U.S. Embassy in Ankara suggests Turkey's radical leftist Marxist groups, as small as they might be, could be mobilizing against America.
Turkey's political landscape continues to bear the vestiges of violent leftist movements from the 1970s, laden with deep-rooted Cold War-style anti-Americanism. These small but active movements have rallied against the deployment of U.S. and NATO Patriot missiles in southern Turkey, and are believed to have been behind a January 21 protest aimed at Patriot teams arriving in the port of Iskenderun.
Although such groups operate at the political margin, they could have an outsized impact. Iranian and Russian media have covered these incidents extensively, no doubt in order to feed into anti-NATO sentiment and to increase the political costs for Ankara supporting the Syrian opposition. Indeed, small Turkish Marxist groups could even emerge as nodes of broader opposition to Ankara's effective policy of working to help oust the al-Assad regime.
But there is also a sectarian dimension at play. The al-Assad regime is supported by Syria's minority Alawite sect of Islam. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to hundreds of thousands of Alawites. Some Turkish citizens of Alawite origin are unabashedly pro-al-Assad, and they have also been disproportionately represented among Turkey's radical leftist movements, including the Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), the radical terrorist group that Turkish police believe was behind today's attacks against the U.S. Embassy.
But there is an even greater risk: Turkey is home to another traditionally leftist and historically (in the Cold War context) Marxist-leaning branch of Islam, the Alevis, with followers believed to number around 10 million people.
The Alevis and Alawites are different groups, despite phonetically similar names (both Alawites and Alevis derive their names from their reverence for Ali, a close relative of the Muslim prophet Mohammed, but they represent different and distinct strains of Islam).
Still, Ankara's Syria policy could rally the Alevis behind a hard leftist agenda, one opposed to the United States. Like the Alawites, the Alevis are disproportionately represented in Turkey's Marxist groups, including DHKP-C.
It is clear that further NATO and U.S. deployments in Turkey could mobilize the Alawites and Alevis to adopt a more visceral anti-American position, representing another area of spillover into Turkey from the Syria conflict.
Communism is dead, but part of Turkey's radical left could be rising from its ashes.
Don't forget the role Turkey played in destabilising Europe and the deep ties to operation Gladio, heroin smuggling, and always consider the possibility of FALSE FLAG attacks, which justify our hate, fear and retaliation against the scapegoats.
You are a dreamer. Pkk terrorist organization is the key of heroin and smuggling. I really love you goverment conspiracies.
No doubt, the work of Commies probably aided by the PKK.
Another stupid comment from another lame brained, government loving Tea Partier! These people believe everything this government along with the right-wing news media says, no matter how false it may be!
Why would Marxists attack Globalists ( international capitalism in a few hands) when their aims are the same ? It makes no sense. Unfortunately , there is little truth in our media. There is propaganda and censorship so who knows what is actually going on .
Is the Ankara attack truly a sign of things to come? Hopefully, yes! The man who attacked the U.S. embassy there had the right idea. In other words, anyone who opposes NATO and it's malicious and sinister plans can't possibly be all bad!!! In fact, the neocons in Washington currently run things in Turkey!
USA army cannot go to each and every terrorist disturbed country of the world. This fact is well understood by the terrorist group. Terrorist group are led by modern brain with all kinds of intelligence and high tech knowledge. These new brains have logical reasoning that if we create problems in different countries where their is a weak government or there is in-direct government blessings then they will create enough problems for USA and UK, which is their main target. USA need to target such weak governments and not only terrorist group. If we kill one terrorist, there will be more in the future just growing up of weeds. They have nothing to loose, their life is miserable and they are creating imaginary value in their life in name of religion or say in name of Allah which is exploited well by their intelligent leaders. Their leaders real benefit is fame, authority, power in fanatic Muslim world and that what we saw in case of Bin Landen. Money source to terrorist group is very important which got to be curtailed. In USA, now also Hawala money transfer system is being used successfully without notice of the government.
It appears that Turkey is ripe for a revolution against a government both bought and paid for by Washington. The Turks need to get out from under the thumb of the right-wing thugs in Washington, grant the Kurds the independence they deserve and pull out of NATO once and for all!
Dear Quigley. I invite you to find out about Tukrey more deeply if you are interested in international politics. Turkish Kurds are already independent and they are parts of our nation which includes many different ethnicities. They have their lands, houses and they have the equal rights with other ethnicities. According to the independent surveys, more than 75% of the Turkish Kurds have no intention of having a separate country. However, there is a separatist terorist group called PKK who does not represent the whole Kurdish people and whose biggest income is from drugs. They have killed thousands of people and soldiers regardless of their ethnicity and unfortunately, their biggest supporters are Iran, Syria, Israel, Armenia and Greece. It is also known that the European countries like France and Germany has indirect support to them. There were cases when USA also supported this terrorist group by providing them guns just like how they provide weapon to the mafia groups accross the borders to Mexico. Currently, the government is in contact with the related parties to stop the terrorist activities of this group. Hopefully, they will leave their weapons and will take part to improve the country.
Well Soleiman , I think you call peace and nice enviroment before the napoleonic invasions when 50.000 man of the Spanish Army fought to the 100.000 peacefull turks in 1540 after the peacefull siege of Viena in 1529 where the germans called a mayday we cannot resist more we need serious help or we will be peacefully invaded . lol...
We can call also peacefull after this battle of Malta in 1565(coalition of emperor army and templars )and in vengance the destruction of Tunis-spanish army of 30.000 man in 1570 peacefully of course . And im not talking about dozen battles more with less importance but bloody ones ..
Europe and Turkey where at war until the destruction of the otoman empire around 1800 where the tecnological difference was so big between armies,
The suicide bomber were trained in DHKP-C terrorist camps in Greece. This is not the first time Greece follows hostile politics against Turkey. However, this time the target was not only Turkey but US Embassy. Once more it has become obvious that supporting terrorism gives unexpected results. USA has to concentrate more on Greeks support to terrorism if US wants to sort out such incidents in the long run.
Ahmet, one has to remember that the animosity between Greece and Turkey goes all the way back to the 15th century when the Turks finally overran the Eastern Roman Empire in which Greece was an integral part of. The Greeks suffered heavily under Turkish rule for some 400 years thereafter and they were more impoverished by heavy taxes and the poorer ones had the children taken instead and brought up to become Jannizeries for the Turkish Sultan. This went on until 1831!
That is a lie. Turks and Greeks lived in peacefully for many years until nationalism rised in europe after french revolotion in 1789. Turks had never been colonist like like west world. Colonism and Slave Trade is relate to the history of west world.
yeah, maybe you're right, but before you try to look around litfen...we have made conquests. Where is the real landowners ?? where is the indians,romans?we still were good to the Romans.We have to live with us, and allowed to marry.You can see it when you look to the people of anatolia.are all intertwined with mosaic. Turks Kürds Greek Circassian Christian Jewish. Thank's.
"The suicide bomber were trained in DHKP-C terrorist camps in Greece."...Hahahahhaha ! Are you serious ? No, he trained in Mars and came down in an asteroid to ruin Turkey ! Behave yourselves Turks, be more mature to your thinking and stop blamming us the Greeks for your incompetence.
It is hard to accept the truth. Still I have sympathy to Greek people because we have a lot of common values coming from the history. They are closer to Turks than European Community. In the future, Turks , Greeks , Bulgarian, Macedonian , Hungary can built an alternative union against western europe because they have many common values.
The group's main power-base is among the urban poor and the educated: students, reporters, lawyers etc. They have been a thorn in Turkey's side for long. The protests in 2000 deepened their resentment towards Turkish authorities. The group spearheaded a long-running hunger strike in prisons over the introduction of high-security jails. More than 60 people died in the protest, most of them DHKP-C members. Another 30 inmates were killed when the army stormed prisons in December 2000 to end the campaign.
I doubt that the pheriphery of the radical leftist are taking such propoganda to heart. When I meet a symphasizer, he/she is more likely to join such groups as a means of meeting the opposite gender or take it as a tea party. Or for being something different than his/her peer group. The old leftist or communist in Turkey have long lost belief in the currency of communism. These recent bloody acts can only be foreign- origined.
Yes, the extremists will try to destabilise Turkey, the most secular Islamic nation. Other islamic nations will implode eventually leading to failed states as islam is not compatible to democracy if there is no secularism. Just look at Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria, mali, Libya, Algeria, Pakistan, lebanon etc. If Turkey is not careful, it will go the same route
It also clearly underlines the reality, that Turkey is no longer a secularist nation, but rather, it is now in the control of Islam.
I hate tutkish politicians they are ruinning Syria.
Awedsome post.


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CBS Ratings Extra...
HAWAII FIVE-0 overtook "Castle" in viewers with live plus 7-day playback lift after trailing in live plus same day ratings to win its Monday 10:00 PM time period, according to Nielsen live plus 7-day ratings and live same day ratings for the week of Oct.3-Oct. 9, the third week of the season.
When live plus same day ratings were released for Monday, Oct. 3, HAWAII FIVE-0 handily beat "Castle" in adults 18-49 (3.2 vs. 2.5) but trailed the ABC drama in viewers (11.07m vs. 11.23m). With today's release of live plus 7-day playback lift, HAWAII FIVE-0 gained +3.39 million viewers to move ahead of "Castle" (14.46m vs. 14.07m) while also gaining an additional +1.1 ratings points in adults 18-49 to increase its advantage in that key demographics (4.3 to 3.4).
For the week ending Oct. 9, HAWAII FIVE-0 was once again a top playback performer ranking fourth in viewer lift among all broadcast programs. For the third consecutive week, CBS posted the largest absolute lift in viewers (+1.89m, +17%), adults 18-49 (+0.7, +24%) and adults 25-54 (+0.8, +21%).


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Lackey, Pedroia help Sox grind out win vs. A's
Righty yields just two runs; second baseman delivers clutch single
OAKLAND -- You wouldn't know it from a glance at the box score or even necessarily by watching the game, but the Red Sox's 4-2 win over the A's on Friday night was a challenge for starter John Lackey.
"Honestly, tonight was kind of a grind," Lackey said. "I didn't really feel as good as I have the last four or five times, but I was able to kind of grind through it. Guys made a couple nice plays for me, especially [second baseman Dustin] Pedroia on the double play ball. It was a huge play for me, and then they picked me up with a couple runs there in the end. It was a good team effort."
That about sums things up. Lackey allowed just two runs over seven innings of work at O.co Coliseum, yielding just three hits and striking out five on the way to his seventh win and 12th quality start of the season.
The right-hander has now allowed three runs or fewer in 14 of his 16 starts this season and posted a 2.32 ERA in 11 outings since May 19, yet his uncharacteristic four walks in the series opener are indicative that he wasn't as sharp as past outings, even if some the credit should go to Oakland, the most-walked team in baseball.
"This is one that probably says more about where I'm at than anything," Lackey said of the win. "I probably didn't have my best stuff that I've had the last few times out and I was still able to do pretty good against a pretty good team."
Boston (58-37) maintained its hold of the best record in the American League with its win over the AL West-leading A's (54-39). The Red Sox are 5-3 thus far on their current 10-game excursion down the West Coast to set a Red Sox pre-All-Star break record with 58 wins.
The team's success of late can be attributed to clutch two-out hitting, which accounted for all four of Boston's runs Friday and 11 of the team's last 13.
Brock Holt extended his hitting streak to six games with a two-run knock in a second inning that featured two A's errors and home-plate umpire CB Bucknor exiting the game early after he was struck in the facemask by a mid-90s fastball from Jarrod Parker.
Parker responded by retiring the next 16 batters he faced, but Sean Doolittle and Ryan Cook couldn't preserve the tie by allowing two runs in the seventh off a single to left field, once again with two outs, from Pedroia.
"There's no secret," Pedroia said. "We're just turning out quality at-bats. Brock's at-bat was huge. We've just been able to find ways to find that one pitch and make sure we don't miss it."
Pedroia also came up big on the defensive end in the fifth inning with one out and runners at the corners. Boston's second baseman picked Josh Donaldson's sizzling liner to start a double play and end the inning with Boston up just one run at the time.
"That defensive play was kind of self-defense," Pedroia said. "Thank God it went in my glove, because if it didn't, it would've probably put a hole in my chest."
"That's one of those momentum shifts we're talking about," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "We had a lot of momentum there. J.D.'s up and hits a bullet. As soon as he hits it you're thinking there's no way he's going to make that play, and all of a sudden it ends up into two. That was probably the biggest play of the game."
The A's scored an additional run off a solo home run from former Red Sox shortstop Jed Lowrie an inning later, but Lackey settled down to retire the last six batters he faced, an encouraging sign for a player who has said he pitches better in the second half of the season.
"It's still a work in progress, but I feel pretty good with where I'm at," Lackey said. "Usually my touch and feel and that sort of stuff, offspeed pitches, it's usually better in the second half, that's usually what happens for me."
Former A's closer Andrew Bailey pitched a scoreless eighth for the Red Sox, striking out Chevrolet Home Run Derby participant Yoenis Cespedes with a man on first to end the inning, and Koji Uehara earned his eighth save of the season by striking out the side in the ninth.
The four-run showing was a drop in production for the Red Sox, who had scored 34 runs in their last four games, but that's to be expected against an A's rotation that has now allowed three runs or fewer in their last nine games. Jacoby Ellsbury's 19-game hitting streak came to a close. He had batted .413 with seven doubles, two home runs, 11 RBIs and 16 runs during the stretch.
Boston is now one win away from claiming its 20th series victory of the season before the All-Star break, which would match the Sox's total number of series victories last season. Friday's win snapped a six-game losing streak at the Coliseum, where the A's had won 18 of their last 22 games and own the best home record in the American League.
"In any series you're always hopeful that you can come out on top to give you a chance by winning game one," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "We know this is going to be a challenge for us. They're a very good team. Just reflecting on the April series against them, this is going to be a hard-fought three-game series. It's good to get the first win in."


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TheMindRapist wrote:How about when you go into a forum like Basic or whatever, the topics are listed in order of most recent post.
bjvanwash wrote:EDIT: Something else I just now noticed. I searched the entire board index and nowhere on there is a link back to main part of hackthissite. The huge banner at the top that says "Hack This Site" links you to the board index. That should be a link to the main site, considering we already have a link saying "Board index" < "HackThisSite" < "Comments & Suggestions".
What do you think?
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Asaram Bapu holds girl responsible for Delhi gangrape,
Asaram Bapu holds girl responsible for Delhi gangrape, against harsh punishment
Spiritual Guru Asaram Bapu has landed himself in a controversy over his remark that the December 16 Delhi gang rape victim is as guilty as those responsible for the barbaric sexual assault on her.
"Only 5-6 people are not the culprits. The victim daughter is as guilty as her rapists… She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop… This could have saved her dignity and life. Can one hand clap? I don't think so," Media reports quoted Asaram Bapu, as saying.
According to media reports, the self-proclaimed godman further said that he was against harsher punishments for the accused as the law could be misutilised.
Complete Text on IE
Misc News/Press Release
Himachal: Education Minister, 22 Teachers in Three Schools, SDM Test Positive for COVID-19
Shimla-Ahead of re-opening of schools for regular classes from November 2, 22 teachers in three schools of Mandi district – Sarkaghat, Killing, Thunag- have tested positive. Today, Education Minister Govind Singh Thakur and a person in his staff also tested positive. He informed regarding the report through a social media post. He has quarantined himself at his residence, he said. He has requested other people who have come in contact with him recently to get tested and isolate themselves.
Besides, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Joginder Nagar, has also tested positive.
गत दिनों किसी कोरोना पोसिटिव व्यक्ति के सम्पर्क में आने के कारण मैंने अपने स्टाफ सहित आज सुबह अपना रेपिड एंटीजन कोरोना टेस्ट करवाया था जिसकी रिपोर्ट पोसिटिव आई है।
मेरा स्वास्थ्य बिल्कुल ठीक है तथा मैं चिकित्सकों के परामर्शानुसार अपने घर में आईसोलेट हुआ हूँ।
— Govind Singh Thakur (@govind4betterHP) October 29, 2020
A total of 332 new cases with two deaths were recorded on Wednesday, according to the statistics provided by the Health Department. So far, about half a dozen ministers and the Chief Minister have tested positive for COVID-19 and recovered too.
Four deaths have been reported today (till 12 pm), and the COVID-19 tally for the state had reached 21150, of which 2513 were active cases.
So far, a total of 298 persons have lost their lives due to COVID-19, if the official statistics to be believed. The actual number of cases, as well as, deaths could be higher due to a community spread. However, so far, the state government has not given any projection regarding the actual numbers.
Till yesterday evening (9 PM), a total of 380415 persons had been tested for COVID-19 in the state.
Campus Watch
Nauni Varsity COH&F to Prepare 'Peoples Biodiversity Registers'
Hamirpur-The College of Horticulture & Forestry (COH&F), Neri, Hamirpur, a constituent College of the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni is preparing Peoples Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) of Hamirpur, Una, Bilaspur and Chamba districts and 15 blocks. The project has been funded by the HP State Biodiversity Board, Shimla for which the university has been sanctioned a budget of Rs 27.50 lakh, informed the Public Relation Officer of the varsity Suchet Attri.
He informed that these PBRs contain comprehensive information on biodiversity components such as plants, animals, microbes, insects and their possible use by the local communities in the BMC areas. Further, PBRs also include information on topographic and socio-economic parameters including human population, climate, topography, natural ecosystems, livestock resources, livelihood patterns, etc.
He said that in addition, these 32 types of formats including agricultural, fodder crops, fruits, medicinal, ornamental, timber plants, weeds, pests and insects of crops, microbial diversity, domesticated animals, fish diversity, the market for domesticated animals, market/fairs for domesticated animals, and other products, people-scape, landscape, waterscape, soil type, trees, shrubs, herbs, tubers, grasses, climbers, wild plant species of importance, wild plants of medicinal importance, wild relatives of crops, wild ornamental plants, wild fumigate/chewing plants, timber plants, other plants in the wild, wild animal species, wild aquatic biodiversity and wild aquatic species of importance are covered under the PBR.
UHF Vice-Chancellor Dr Parvinder Kaushal said,
"Once these PBRs are prepared, the University, the Biodiversity Board and the concerned BMCs will have all information about the biological resources, their sustainable use, threatened species, etc. found in different blocks of these districts. This information will be helpful for any type of future planning and research on conservation and sustainable harnessing and judicious use of biological resources found in these districts".
Attri informed further informed that these PBRs are being prepared as per the Biological Diversity Act 2002, and in accordance with the standardized formats of the National Biodiversity Authority, Chennai. Dr Dushyant Sharma, Assistant Professor, COH&F Neri has been designated by the University as a Nodal Officer for the preparation of these PBRs. Dr Sanjeev Banyal, Dr Deepa Sharma, Dr Ravi Bhardwaj and Dr Richa Salwan will also be a part of the project.
The Biological Diversity Act 2002 has been enacted by the Parliament of India for conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of the biological resources. Under this Act, committees named as Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) have been formed at all 3371 local body levels in the State.
Campus Watch
Jio TV Launches Three new Channels in Himachal for Elementary, Higher and Vocational Education
Shimla– Jio TV has launched three new Elementary, Higher and vocational channels in Himachal Pradesh. The Government of Himachal Pradesh has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jio TV on 20th August, 2020 so that Education Department could reach the students. The government said that soon two more channels would also be started for students.
E-content of every subject for students of 1st to 12th classes would be made available on Jio TV. If any student is unable to view this e-content as per the subject schedule due to any reason, then the missed e-content will be available in catch up throughout the week. On converting this facility to video on demand, the overall education is going to be made available through Himachal Pradesh Jio TV soon, the government said.
In the view of COVID-19 pandemic, currently, the state government is running WhatsApp groups for pre-nursery to 12th standard. Other than that, Gyanshala programme is being run for class 10th and 12th through Doordarshan Shimla.
According to the state government, online content is being prepared by 200 teachers (State Resource Group) of the state.
It's pertinent to mention that students of government schools have been facing a huge loss in terms of studies as WhatsApp groups haven't proved effective enough to be termed as online education. As most children in government schools come from economically weak background and rural areas, procuring smartphones and Internet service is no less than a challenge for them. While private schools are using web applications like zoom and google hangout to conduct online classes, according to several teachers, government school students and their parents are not taking study through WhatsApp groups seriously.
The state government has yesterday decided to open schools for regular classes for students of 9th to 12th standard. The syllabus has been cut short but still teachers are likely to face tough time covering it.
Himachal: Education Minister, 22 Teachers in Three Schools, SDM Test Positive for COVID-19
Nauni Varsity COH&F to Prepare 'Peoples Biodiversity Registers'
Jio TV Launches Three new Channels in Himachal for Elementary, Higher and Vocational Education
Himachal to Set up 100 Swachhta Cafés Worth Rs. 10 Crore to Promote Traditional Cuisine, Collect Tonnes of Single-Use Plastic
While People Await Relief Amid Pandemic, HP Govt Minister Faces Backlash for Buying New Luxury Car
Shocker for Himachal as Ex-CBI Chief & Governor Ashwani Kumar Found Dead at His Shimla Residence
Rohtang Tunnel-World's Longest Highway Tunnel-Commissioned, First Bus Flagged-Off
Seven New Deaths Including an 18-Year-Old in a Day, 29 in Five Days, Official COVID-19 Death Tally Reaches 219
MHA Guidelines: Schools, Cinema Halls and Other Facilities Allowed to Open from Oct 15
Misc News/Press Release2 months ago
Night Bus Services in Himachal to Start Operating from Today on These Routes
Misc News/Press Release1 month ago
Five More COVID-19 Deaths, Three Suicides, Shimla's Kotkhai Nagar Panchayat Sealed
Misc News/Press Release2 months ago
Himachal: 316 News Cases with Three Deaths, Shimla in Community Spread Phase
Campus Watch1 month ago
UHF Nauni Bags Rs.25 Crore Funding, Set for Major Overhaul
Misc News/Press Release2 months ago
Himachal Enters Community Spread Phase, Rise in Mortality Rate Worrisome: Govt
Misc News/Press Release2 months ago
Opening of Temples/Religious Places in Himachal: Read All Dos and Don'ts
Misc News/Press Release1 month ago
Himachal: 10 COVID-19 Deaths in Single Day Take Tally to 145, DDU MS Replaced Following Patient Suicide
Misc News/Press Release3 weeks ago
Shocker for Himachal as Ex-CBI Chief & Governor Ashwani Kumar Found Dead at His Shimla Residence


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New Haven's Chad Dawson begins patient comeback
LOS ANGELES >> Chad Dawson spent 11 years climbing to the top of boxing. With two disastrous fights, he fell most of the way back down.
The former light heavyweight champion has spent the past year out of the ring after consecutive knockout losses to Andre Ward and Adonis Stevenson. Yet Dawson certainly doesn't look like a shot fighter as he shows off his usual stealthy movement and quick hands while going through a workout at the Westside Boxing Club this week in preparation for his comeback fight.
"It's the process of boxing, and I had to accept that," Dawson said. "You take one step forward. You get knocked down. You take one step back."
Dawson (31-3, 17 KOs) wasn't tired of his sport, but he realized he had to rethink his approach to it.
He returns on Saturday night in the outdoor ring in Carson, California, fighting far down the undercard against 39-year-old journeyman George Blades (23-5, 16 KOs).
It's an unlikely place to find Bad Chad, the former HBO headliner who has held multiple versions of the 175-pound title. Dawson lost his belts and much of his prominence with that first-round stoppage loss to Stevenson, but he kept the fire that got him to the pinnacle.
"I'm older and I'm smarter, and I wouldn't be a former world champion if I wasn't confident," Dawson said. "As long as I do what's asked of me, I'm going to get back to the top. I don't have anything to prove to anybody. I've had those belts. I do it for myself and my family."
Redemption is the common theme of an intriguing card at StubHub Center.
Robert Guerrero returns from his 2013 blowout loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the headlining bout against Yoshihiro Kamegai, while former two-belt champion Devon Alexander is back from a loss to face Jesus Soto Karass. Vasyl Lomachenko, the two-time Olympic gold medalist from Ukraine, attempts to win a title in his third pro fight after losing in his first shot at a belt in March.
But nobody has farther to go than Dawson, who sees his mistakes of hubris and miscalculation when he looks back on the last two years.
He acknowledges he shouldn't have cut down to 168 pounds before his fight with super middleweight kingpin Ward, who pummeled the dehydrated Dawson in a 10th-round stoppage.
When Dawson returned nine months later for a self-described "tuneup fight" against Stevenson, he was caught with a vicious left cross and left wobbly-legged just 76 seconds in.
Dawson believes he should have been allowed to keep fighting against Stevenson, but he knows he underestimated the man who replaced him as the WBC's light heavyweight champ.
Dawson's life changes were in motion even before he lost his belts: He left his suburban family home in Connecticut and relocated to Las Vegas two years ago. After switching trainers more frequently than some fighters change mouth guards, he reconnected with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad for his comeback.
"I just had to get away from all the negativity," Dawson said of leaving the state where he grew up and came to prominence. "People can be so disrespectful. I think that was the best thing for me, just to let everything die down. I had the whole year to spend with my wife and my four boys. That's a great feeling, to be able to take your kids to school. My family is happy. I'm happy, and I figured this was the right time to come back."
Perhaps most importantly, Dawson signed with adviser Al Haymon, the mastermind behind Mayweather and countless other fighters in recent years. Haymon set up a plan for Dawson's return to prominence, and Dawson said he is committed to a schedule that hopefully includes two more fights in 2014.
"I'm going to be a three-time world champion," Dawson said. "I can see it."


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text:
BRUNSWICK, Ga. – As the teens accused of killing a 13-month-old boy made their first appearances in court on murder charges, the family of that boy said their final goodbyes.
Antonio Santiago's family held a private memorial for him Monday morning.
Sherry West, the child's mother, didn't attend either the ceremony or the court hearings, saying both were just too painful.
West said she is afraid to go anywhere, especially the court hearings, because she doesn't know if the shooting was random or if she might still be a target.
As for her son's memorial, she said she wants to remember her son like he was -- happy and joyful.
"I couldn't see my baby like that," she said. "He was mangled, he was shot in the head at close range. So I just couldn't. I want to remember him alive, walking around."
West said she decided to stay home instead of attending the memorial because it was too painful. The family decided to cremate his body.
"I don't want anyone to see him like that," West said. "And I want them to remember him the way he looked when he was alive."
Meanwhile, De'Marquise Elkins (pictured above on right), 17, and Dominique Lane, 15, made their first appearances before a judge. While West stayed at home, Lane's family showed up to the hearing, claiming the 15-year-old was innocent and just a witness.
West claims otherwise.
"He was there. He was there and he must have knew that he had a gun," she said. "And even if he didn't, he could have went for help."
Even though Lane's case is just entering the courts, West says she's already thinking about his sentencing.
"I think that he should be sent to a correctional facility until he's 21 and a consecutive life sentence in state prison," she said.
As for Elkins, West believes he doesn't deserve to live.
"I had to watch my baby die. I want to see him die," West said. "I'm sorry, but that's how I feel. You know what? I'm not sorry. He should be the one that's sorry."
At age 17, Elkins will never be eligible for the death penalty, if convicted, because of a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Although West said she didn't want to go to Monday's hearings, she said she is planning to go to the teens' trials.


text:
Young, Restless, Reformed
- Collin Hansen Author
- 2008 20 May
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from Young, Restless, Reformed by Collin Hansen (Crossway Books).
Chapter One: Born Again Again
Passion Conference, Atlanta, Georgia
Downtown Atlanta was prepared to host the 1996 Summer Olympics. But I don't know if any city is prepared to accommodate nearly twenty-three thousand college students all trying to check into their hotels at the same time. At least not when they show up New Year's Day less than twenty-four hours after the home-state football team won a bowl game in Atlanta's Georgia Dome.
Daunting lines at the Sheraton Hotel ruined my best-laid plans to arrive on time for the opening session of the 2007 Passion conference. The downstairs lobby teemed with college students knitting, chatting, or listening to iPods as they waited in lines that did not move. After a few minutes of moping and fruitless scheming, I determined to make the best of a bad situation. Suddenly the insufferable lines appeared differently—a captive interview audience, I thought.
Soon I overheard two young men in the line next to me talking about theology and church. There is no tactful way to butt in on someone else's conversation. So I just asked why they signed up for Passion. The older man said he escorted a group of college students from Florida Hospital Church, a Seventh-day Adventist congregation in Orlando. Among them was Robin Treto, eighteen, a freshman at Seminole Community College. "I'm a John Piper fiend," Robin responded. He spoke excitedly, yet with careful thought for his words.
"He's so Jesus-centered in his preaching," Robin said of Piper. "He doesn't just share anecdotal stories. I look to guys like Piper because he looks to Jesus."
Piper, the best-selling author and pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a Passion fixture. His book Don't Waste Your Life emerged from a talk he delivered in front of about forty thousand students for the Passion OneDay event in 2000. But what exactly is a John Piper fiend? Robin apparently listened online to two hundred Piper sermons from the book of Romans alone during just four months. That's a John Piper fiend.
I was curious to learn from Robin how an Adventist student from Florida became such a big fan of a Baptist pastor in Minnesota. Seventh-day Adventists have sometimes worshiped at arm's length from the evangelical mainstream. Robin began to explain that he has only believed in Jesus Christ for a couple of years. Just a few months earlier, Robin would not have been confused by anyone for the type who sits down and listens to hundreds of sermons. Between smoking marijuana and heavy alcohol use, Robin had rebelled against what he described as the legalistic environment at the Adventist church of his parents, who had emigrated from Cuba.
Robin's lifestyle began to change when he was sixteen. The older cousin who introduced him to party life began talking about Jesus. His cousin had been touched by the gospel. Sitting together at his cousin's house, they opened the Bible and read Romans 8 together. Robin was so impressed by the dramatic and unexpected conversion that he patiently heard his cousin out. But the Bible did not make sense to him. Frustrated, Robin left his cousin's house confused. Yet as he sat in his car and prepared to drive away, everything suddenly changed. The words of Scripture began to strike him as true. He understood at once that Jesus Christ had paid the penalty on the cross for his sins and three days later rose from the dead, achieving salvation for those who would believe. In a moment Robin lost his heart for partying but gained a new heart filled with passion for God.
"That's why I have hope for a generation like ours," Robin told me. "The gospel is powerful enough to change hearts."
Robin did not return to his parents' church. But he did not leave Adventism. Shortly after Robin's conversion, a pastor from a nearby Adventist church gave him CDs with conference talks from C. J. Mahaney, a charismatic teacher from suburban Maryland. Mahaney delivered the messages over the span of six years at the New Attitude conference, launched by pastor/author Joshua Harris for young adults. Robin also listened to some of Harris's talks. During one message, Harris quoted Piper's manifesto, Desiring God. This stirring call to "Christian hedonism" argues that "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him."1 Piper's teaching about Calvinism squared with Robin's growing knowledge of Scripture.
You will find no explanation and no index entry for Calvinism in Desiring God. But it's all there, if you know what to look for. Calvinists— like their namesake, Reformation theologian John Calvin—stress that the initiative, sovereignty, and power of God is the only sure hope for sinful, fickle, and morally weak human beings. Furthermore, they teach that the glory of God is the ultimate theme of preaching and the focus of worship.
Many recognize Calvinism, described by some as Reformed theology, by the acronym TULIP.2 You won't find these terms in Desiring God either. But you will find the concepts as early as the second chapter. Piper quotes Romans 3:10—"None is righteous, no, not one" (Total depravity). A little later Piper writes, "Regeneration is totally unconditional. It is owing solely to the free grace of God. 'It does not depend on the one who wills or runs, but on God who has mercy' (Romans 9:16). We get no credit. He gets all the glory."3 Here you can see Unconditional election and a hint of Irresistible grace. Piper explains Limited atonement in a footnote. "All contempt for [God's] glory is duly punished, either on the Cross, where the wrath of God is propitiated for those who believe, or in hell, where the wrath of God is poured out on those who don't."4 In a later footnote Piper defends eternal security, or Perseverance of the saints, from Romans 8:30—"And those whom [God] predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."5
These beliefs didn't go down easy with Robin. He described Calvinism as rough sledding at first. God's sovereignty was a fearsome concept. But these fears evaporated as he saw the scriptural basis through positive presentations.
"Guys who taught it to me—Mahaney, Harris, Piper—said it humbly and so passionately," Robin explained. "They loved what they were talking about."
I asked Robin how Calvinism meshes with the Adventist church he attends. "It doesn't," Robin answered. He spent his first semester of college studying theology at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee. His increasing unwillingness to go along with unique points of Adventist theology led to conflict with faculty. He returned home to Orlando rather than cementing an unwanted reputation as the only non-Adventist theology major.
But if he's not Adventist, why does Robin still attend an Adventist church? Because that's where he can make a difference and maybe even teach others with his Calvinist theology. Besides, since Adventists meet on Saturdays, he can spend his Sunday mornings in Saint Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, Florida, where R. C. Sproul preaches. He first heard about the famed Calvinist teacher when he read Sproul's classic The Holiness of God. He was thrilled to learn that Sproul, a Presbyterian, preaches in the Orlando area. Robin considers Sproul to be the best Bible teacher in town. "But I skip the first thirty minutes," Robin clarified. He arrives just in time to miss the traditional music but still catch the sermon. That's no surprise. Sproul doesn't exactly share a taste for the modern praise music that unites the college students at Passion.
"We wait all year to worship like this," Robin said of Passion.
If Calvinism finds renewed interest among the young, you cannot understand that resurgence without understanding Passion. Not that Passion proclaims Calvinism by name. Piper doesn't know what Passion founder Louie Giglio believes about Reformed theology. But he does know that Giglio adores the glory of God and desires to spread God's renown around the world. And Giglio doesn't protest what Piper teaches the students. That's good enough for Piper.
"I'm sixty. What am I doing at Passion?" Piper asked when we met at his home. Unlike Giglio, an athletic man who wears tight-fitting, hip T-shirts, nothing in Piper's appearance or dress would indicate popularity among youth. Though obviously fit and healthy, Piper does not cut a strong physical presence. Unlike his dynamic, intense preaching style, he spoke to me in a friendly, calm manner. But do not mistake friendly with jovial. Talking for about two hours over dinner, he spoke with quiet seriousness. He looks like a college professor with tousled thin hair and glasses. Actually, he did teach at Bethel College (now university) in Minnesota until 1980 when he moved to Bethlehem Baptist Church.
Piper may not know what he's doing at Passion, but it's obvious to students such as Robin why he fits with Passion. Piper lends academic weight, moral authority, and theological precision to the conference. More than that, Piper shares Passion's overarching vision. Worship songs from Charlie Hall and Chris Tomlin, preceding talks by Giglio, pound home two themes beloved by Calvinists—God's sovereignty and glory. From there, Giglio encourages students to devote themselves to evangelism and global missions by pointing to the transcendent God of heaven. His appeals go something like this: God is wonderfully, inexpressibly glorious. You are not. But how amazing is it that the very God of the universe invites screwed-up people to give their lives in sold-out service to his eternal kingdom!
Piper attributes the growing attraction of Calvinism to the way Passion pairs demanding obedience with God's grandeur. Even without an explicitly Calvinist appeal, Passion exemplifies how today's Calvinists relate theology to issues of Christian living such as worship, joy, and missions. "They're not going to embrace your theology unless it makes their hearts sing," Piper told me.
This positive, transformational view of theology might be why so many young evangelicals today hum along to TULIP. Even ten years ago, Piper's ensemble boasted far fewer singers. You don't need me to tell you that Calvinism has a bad reputation. If you consider yourself an Arminian, the rival to Calvinism that emphasizes free will over God's sovereignty in salvation, you bristle at teachings such as limited atonement and irresistible grace. With the feel of a beleaguered minority, even proponents sometimes apologize for Calvinism.
"Calvinists have certainly not stood out in the Christian community as especially pure people when it comes to the way they behave," Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, writes in Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport. "They have frequently been intolerant, sometimes to the point of taking abusive and violent action toward people with whom they have disagreed. They have often promoted racist policies. And the fact that they have often defended these things by appealing directly to Calvinist teachings suggests that at least something in these patterns may be due to some weaknesses in the Calvinist perspective itself."6
Other than endorsing racism and murder, Calvinism is great, Mouw seems to say. And this comes from someone who considers himself a Calvinist. Mouw writes, "While I sincerely subscribe to the TULIP doctrines, I have to admit that, when stated bluntly, they have a harsh feel about them."7
Harsh is how most Christians—indeed, most evangelicals—probably feel about the Puritans, among history's most accomplished Calvinists. Oliver Cromwell exemplifies the Puritan cause in Britain. He ruled the isles from 1649 to 1658 after Puritans and their allies beheaded King Charles I. Textbook writers gloss over Cromwell's contemporaries, including spiritual giants John Owen and Richard Baxter. In America, far more recall the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, than later Calvinists who led explosive revivals (George Whitefield) or achieved theological genius (Jonathan Edwards, best known for his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God").
Already by the early 1800s during the Second Great Awakening, Calvinism had sustained some serious blows. Infighting plagued the successors to Edwards in New England. Many Southern Presbyterians defended slavery using Scripture. Renowned evangelist Charles Finney, meanwhile, claimed the Reformed heritage but turned many of its teachings upside down.
More recently, Calvinism lost favor as the church growth and charismatic movements swept through American evangelicalism. Church growth principles urged a focus on common-denominator Christian basics, not including doctrines such as predestination. Fast-growing Pentecostal and charismatic churches trace their roots to the Wesleyan/holiness tree. To be sure, Calvinism never went away. But it did remain largely quarantined among the ethnic Dutch in the Christian Reformed Church or the Princeton Presbyterians who built Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
When I first wrote for Christianity Today in September 2006 about the resurgence of Calvinism among young evangelicals,8 I heard from many pastors, theologians, and lay leaders in these traditional communities. "Um, hello!" they gently reminded me. "What about us? Don't call it a comeback, Hansen. We didn't go anywhere!" Duly noted. Yet for a tradition that claims John Calvin and Martin Luther, Reformed theology had shriveled into a gaunt caricature of its former self. Who but the gallant few at Banner of Truth kept Puritan writings in print? Who but theologians J. I. Packer and R. C. Sproul convened audiences interested in Reformed theology? Who but the small circle of founders-friendly churches recalled that Calvinists founded the Southern Baptist Convention? Even these stalwarts likely never envisioned that today Sovereign Grace churches pair charismatic worship with Calvinist theology. They still don't know what to make of the radical church planters who fly the Reformed banner as they employ missional evangelism techniques. They probably never expected a pastor with such definite, controversial views to be warmly received by more than twenty thousand college students who dig modern praise music. These are a few of the leads I pursued to learn about the reasons for the latest Calvinist comeback.
After Joshua Harris attended Passion in 1999, he sought Giglio's help to plan a similar event, from which blossomed the current version of his New Attitude conferences. Harris, the thirty-three-year-old senior pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is widely known for his best-selling book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. But dating polemics take a backseat these days to leading a thriving church at the heart of the growing Sovereign Grace church network. The compassionate, soft-spoken Harris told me he found Giglio's God-centered focus at Passion to be refreshing. "What I grew up with was so man-centered," Harris said. "It was all about you and what you do and what you accomplish. Even the songs we sang were so self-centered about God: 'Do this for me.'"
It's pretty common to hear Reformed leaders lament modern praise music. They bemoan forgotten hymns, shallow theology, and repetitive refrains. But you won't hear Piper complain—at least not about the good stuff. "The worship songs that are being written and sung today are about a great God," he said. "They have set the stage for the theology. I still don't understand why many churches don't follow that with preaching that gets the theology of the songs. But at least for the Passion movement, that music is very God-exalting. The things that nineteen-year olds are willing to say about God in their songs is mind-boggling."
Piper could be thinking about a number of songs belted out by the throngs that packed Atlanta's Phillips Arena, normally home to professional basketball and hockey franchises. I considered Chris Tomlin's "Indescribable": "All powerful, untamable, awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim you are amazing God." I also recalled one of my favorite songs, "Wholly Yours" by the David Crowder Band: "I am full of earth, you are heaven's worth; I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity; you are everything that is bright and clean, the antonym of me, you are divinity."
These songs from Passion artists illustrate the conference's picture of a transcendent God, untamable and wholly unlike us. With intimate knowledge of our depravity, we respond by falling to our knees—actually at Passion, students are more likely to raise and wave their arms. Those physical acts of worship alone prove that these students don't act like Baptists from previous generations. As I watched Passion, I couldn't help but wonder, don't many of these students attend churches where pastors sound a lot like therapists and teach that God just wants us to do good and feel good about ourselves? Some even attend churches that promise health and wealth for faithful believers. If so, why do these youths sing songs about depravity?
Maybe you can only survive so long on a self-help diet. Eventually you get pretty sick of yourself. A biblical understanding of God—big beyond description, active, perfectly holy—tastes much better than junk-food pop psychology. Imagine that this transcendent God still condescended to save his disobedient people. Because he so loved the world, this God of the universe dressed in flesh and suffered on the cross. Yet he did not stay in that tomb. The power of God raised Jesus Christ, who made a way for us to dwell in the house of the Lord forever if we only believe. Transcendent, yet immanent, he transforms us, and then he employs us in transforming the world to renew his creation. For students at Passion, the biblical picture of God feels new, appealing, and exciting.
"I do wonder if some of the appeal [of Calvinism] and the trend isn't a reaction to the watered-down vision of God that's been portrayed in the evangelical seeker-oriented churches," Joshua Harris told me. "I'm not trying to knock them, but I just think that there's such a hunger for the transcendent and for a God who is not just sitting around waiting for us to show up so that the party can get started."
Many churches geared toward so-called spiritual seekers focus on God's immanence, his nearness. They talk about a personal relationship with Christ, emphasizing his friendship and reminding audiences that God made us in his image. It all makes sense, because so many baby boomers left churches that felt impersonal and irrelevant. But the culture has shifted. Fewer Americans now claim any church background. Evangelical megachurches, once the upstart challengers, have become the new mainstream. Teenagers who grew up with buddy Jesus in youth group don't know as much about Father God.
"We live in a transcendence-starved culture and a transcendence-starved evangelicalism," said Timothy George, founding dean of Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. "We've so dumbed down the gospel and dumbed down worship in a good effort to reach as many people as we can that there's almost a backlash. It comes from this great hunger for a genuinely God-centered, transcendence-focused understanding of who God is and what God wants us to do and what God has given us in Jesus Christ. All of that resonates deeply with a kind of pastoral Reformed position that Piper articulates so well."
Indeed, Calvinism puts much stock in transcendence, which draws out biblical themes such as God's holiness, glory, and majesty. Think of the prophet Isaiah's vision in Isaiah 6:1: "In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple." In Piper's preaching and Passion's music, beholding God's transcendence helps us experience his immanence or nearness. This powerful combination at conferences like Passion blows apart stereotypes of Reformed theology as cold and detached study of God.
"Someone like Louie Giglio is saying, 'You know what, it's not about us, it's about God's glory, it's about his renown,'" Harris said. "Now I don't think most kids realize this, but that's the first step down a pathway of Reformed theology. Because if you say that it's not about you, well, then you're on that road of saying it's not about your actions, your choosings, your determination.
"If you believe that ultimately it is your action, your choosing, your decision—that ultimately your salvation finally gets back to you— that's going to turn into a very moralistic kind of religion," Harris said. "That's why a lot of people I hear from who discover Reformed theology talk about it almost like they got saved for the first time."
A note of caution is in order. If we are to believe history's most thorough study of teenagers' religious attitudes, moralism is still winning. Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, the sociologists who conducted that survey, argue that a new religion has supplanted Christianity in America. This religion teaches that "God is something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist: he is always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, professionally helps his people to feel better about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in the process," Smith and Denton argue in Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.9 They call this religion Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.
Smith and Denton, sociologists with the National Study of Youth and Religion, offer a grim diagnosis. "It is not so much that U.S. Christianity is being secularized," they write. "Rather more subtly, Christianity is either degenerating into a pathetic version of itself or, more significantly, Christianity is actively being colonized and displaced by a quite different religious faith."10
Oddly enough, Smith and Denton found that most teenagers like church and appreciate their parents. But hundreds of phone surveys and more than two hundred and fifty face-to-face interviews revealed that astonishingly few teenagers can articulate even the basics about their religious beliefs. The students aren't dumb. According to Smith and Denton, they speak intelligently about drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases, for example. Catechesis isn't dead after all. It's just that many churches and families have ceded this responsibility to public schools. As a result, teenagers can express a deep understanding of toleration but not of justification. They know the problems of teenage pregnancy but do not fear the God who commands holiness.
The raw statistics make you wonder what's going on in evangelical youth groups. Around one-third of the surveyed conservative Protestant teenagers affirmed belief in fortune-tellers, reincarnation, and astrology.11 More said many religions may be true (48 percent) than affirmed the exclusive truth of one religion (46 percent). Teenagers may like church, but they don't think it's important—64 percent of conservative Protestants responded that believers need not be involved in a religious congregation in order to be truly religious or spiritual.12
"What legitimates the religion of most youth today is not that it is the life-transformative, transcendent truth, but that it instrumentally provides mental, psychological, emotional, and social benefits that teens find useful and valuable," Smith and Denton write.13 They note that almost none of the teenagers talked about God's sovereignty.
If my investigation would find a resurgence of Calvinism, then something must happen to these students after high school. Smith and Denton offer some clues. They found that teenagers have the desire but not the opportunities to learn from adult role models. Rather unrebellious, these teenagers will respond to challenging guidance from caring adults—the kind of messages delivered by John Piper at Passion, for example. Piper struck a nerve in 2000 when he challenged his largest audience—about forty thousand students gathered outside Memphis, Tennessee, on a blustery May day—not to waste their lives pursuing the American dream. The resulting book, Don't Waste Your Life, has sold more than 250,000 copies.
Smith and Denton write, "We suspect that there are opportunities to show youth how very conventional they are actually acting, how unexciting they are in their approach to faith, to create discomforts to motivate them to more seriously engage what faith is and might be in their lives."14
They warn middle-aged religious leaders not to expect today's youth to think and behave as they did in the more tumultuous 1960s and 1970s. "[O]ur findings suggest to us that religious communities should also stop—again, as we not infrequently observe—presuming that U.S. teenagers are actively alienated by religion, are dropping out of their religious congregations in large numbers, cannot relate to adults in their congregations, and so need some radically new 'postmodern' type of program or ministry."15
So what do they need? Though it may be dominant among today's American teenagers, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism cannot save. As evangelicals graduate from high school and leave the churches of their youth, many end up at conferences like Passion or New Attitude and begin to be transformed by the transcendent God they behold through Reformed theology. I suspect that Calvinism strikes a chord with these college-age students precisely because Moralistic Therapeutic Deism has infiltrated so many evangelical youth groups.
In offering this hypothesis, I speak with some experience. I had been a Christian for about two and a half years when I arrived in Evanston, Illinois, in 1999 to study journalism at Northwestern University. During my last two years in high school I had helped lead United Methodist Youth Fellowship at my family's small church in rural South Dakota. The denomination even paid for me to fly to Los Angeles to attend a conference for youth considering full-time ministry.
All the while, my knowledge of Scripture grew little. Sin plagued me with guilt, and I saw little victory over temptation. I'm glad neither Smith nor Denton called to ask me what Christians believe. Yet I knew without a doubt that I had been saved. I recalled with joy the moment my resistance fell and I trusted in Christ to forgive me of my sins. I knew God gave his church the Bible so that we might know about Jesus and learn the story of salvation. I actively shared with unbelieving friends and family about the joy God had given me.
Even before I enrolled, I confirmed that Campus Crusade for Christ ran a chapter at Northwestern. I harbored no false expectations about the climate for Christians at this school that long ago ditched its Methodist roots. I hoped Crusade would help me grow in the faith and introduce me to other students trying to follow Christ. Crusade did that—and much, much more. Our campus director studied for his Master of Divinity degree up the road at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Most Crusade students attended a nearby Evangelical Free church, pastored by a Trinity grad. My first morning in church, the pastor rocked my Methodist sensibilities. It wasn't so much the sermon's content that shocked me. Rather, I was surprised the sermon contained any content at all. On top of that, the pastor even raised his voice a few times and preached for more than thirty minutes. That kind of behavior gets you fired by Midwestern Methodists.
I had never heard of Calvinism until a Crusade friend, also a Methodist, told me she believed that God predestines salvation. Before long that's what I believed too. My weekly Bible study with fellow freshmen worked through Romans. An older student took me to hear R. C. Sproul preach. I didn't go looking for Reformed theology. But Reformed theology found me. Beginning college as I did with an almost blank slate, Calvinists impressed me with their knowledge of Scripture and devotion to theological depth. Calvinism made the best sense of what Scripture teaches about salvation. None of this theology seemed to dampen my friends' passion to evangelize the campus and consider serving as missionaries after graduation. As I began teaching Bible studies and mentoring younger students, we discussed Calvinism. One day between classes I sat eating in a dorm with one of my friends and his academic adviser, a history professor. We began talking about the Puritans and Calvinism—surely the only time this has happened to him before then or since. I professed, "I am a Calvinist."
"Wow!" the professor exclaimed. "I didn't know any of them were still alive." He proceeded to argue away my Calvinism. He asked how I could reconcile God's sovereignty with free will. He prodded me to see if I thought God orchestrated the Fall in the Garden of Eden. It wasn't a fair fight. I couldn't match this professor who teaches about intellectual history.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have answers for any of your questions," I responded sheepishly. "I merely believe Calvinism comes closest to honoring the teachings of Jesus and the apostle Paul."
"Oh, if that's your criteria," the professor said, "then you're right."
Believe it or not, that's not the only time Calvinism came up with a professor. During my senior year Northwestern hired a visiting professor to teach about American evangelicalism. More than a hundred and fifty students filled the classroom. About half considered themselves evangelicals and participated in the activities of Crusade or InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, among other groups. During the course's first lecture, the professor, an evangelical himself, surveyed American religious history. Calvinists dominated the First Great Awakening, concentrated in New England, he explained. But their rather frightening view of God dissipated a few decades later during the Second Great Awakening.
"Now only a few Calvinists remain—mostly a few crazies in Grand Rapids," the professor said to classroom laughter.
Taken aback, I approached the professor during the class break. I told him I could point out a number of Calvinists in the room that very day. And I explained that a growing number of Calvinists studied at Trinity, a seminary he had attended decades earlier. What did he make of my pleas? Nothing, really. I was just a student whose name he would never remember. The nation's best universities pay him to teach about evangelical history, culture, and politics.
What I found while investigating youth trends and Calvinism may shock my college professors. It may even surprise a number of evangelicals who don't see the appeal of this difficult theology with a bad reputation. Based on conversations about my previous writing, I know this book will surprise many young Calvinists themselves. As I experienced with our small movement at Northwestern, few have ever viewed these trends from a wider scope. Many who heard Piper speak at Passion and bought Desiring God probably never realized they are traveling down a path trod by many of their peers. But they may recognize themselves in these stories of conversion—born again by the power of God, then transformed by the mystery of grace.
1John Piper, Desiring God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1996), 238.
2For a fuller explanation, see Chapter Two of this book, "Out of Bethlehem."
3Piper, Desiring God, 64.
4Ibid., 296.
5Ibid., 302.
6Richard J. Mouw, Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004),
7Ibid., 14.
8Collin Hansen, "Young, Restless, Reformed," Christianity Today, September 2006, 32; http://
9Christian Smith with Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual
Lives of American Teenagers (New York: Oxford University Press USA, 2005), 165.
10Ibid., 171.
11Ibid., 44.
12Ibid., 74.
13Ibid., 154.
14Ibid., 268.
15Ibid., 266.
Young, Restless, Reformed
Copyright © 2008 by Collin Hansen
Published by Crossway Books
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