View Of Church Research Articles

The Church in the Contemporary Ecumenical-Missional Moment:Together towards Lifein Dialogue withThe Cape Town CommitmentandEvangelii Gaudium

Abstract The doctrine of church has always been important to developments in mission and ecumenism--a fact that has been true since birth of modern ecumenical movement and is no less so today. This article compares three recent documents--the WCC's Together towards Life (2013), Lausanne Movement's Cape Town Commitment (2011), and Pope Francis' exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (2014)--in light of rise of a prominent new way of expressing role of church in mission of Christ (missio Dei). This theological development has significantly impacted mission and ecumenical thinking and practice in recent decades, requiring us to consider church's relationship to mission in a new and important way. The article reveals various aspects of missio Dei theology at work in all three of these documents, and finally looks at visionary leadership of Pope Francis in calling Catholic Church to a joyful expression of gospel of Christ through both words and deeds. EG does not so much address doctrine of church as it assumes it. Its concern is far more pastoral: How do we more effectively and powerfully communicate gospel in our time?' ********** If there is one thing that can be said regarding evangelical Christianity it has to be this: If you get three evangelicals in same room you will likely have four different views of church. wag told me story, when I was teaching and preaching in Wales (UK) some years ago, of some missionaries who came upon a remote and almost abandoned Welsh village. They were surprised to discover three well-kept chapels. But there were only two single men who remained in village. When missionaries asked what prompted these two Welshmen to keep open all three chapels, answer expressed something of evangelical dilemma clearly. Well, one of chapels is for me and other is for my neighbour. The third is for one we will need if one of us separates from chapel he attends. While Roman Catholics generally have an idea about what church is, and is not, evangelicals debate and divide over a plethora of doctrines and practices that define and guide life of their churches. Such ecclesiology is often implied but rarely articulated. While serious evangelical theologians have worked out meaning and practice of church, at least within their various Protestant traditions, most members of evangelical churches have acted out their beliefs without statements and clear doctrines. Rare is occasion, at least in my experience, where I meet an evangelical who has strong views about specific characteristics of church. Bruce Hindmarsh, professor of spiritual theology at highly regarded evangelical school Regent College (Vancouver, Canada), expresses what I have in mind: One might even suggest, given history of schism among evangelicals, that 'evangelical ecclesiology' is an oxymoron, like an 'honest thief or 'airline food.' (1) Hindmarsh says this is very odd given the way evangelicals have proclaimed and appreciated spiritual unity of all those who are truly 'born again' while at same time have so often separated from one another in practice. (2) He rightly argues that this was not always case. This has been my experience of evangelical Protestantism as an insider for well more than half a century. The pleasant surprise, at least for me, is that an increasing number of evangelicals have become highly engaged in global concerns for Christian unity in mission last five years. Though ecumenism has always occupied a small place within evangelicalism, a new generation of leaders is asking, Why must we continue to divide church? It seems abundantly clear that Evangelicals are now speaking about mission and evangelism in language that is remarkably similar to that of other (non-Evangelical) Christians. I call this a missional- ecumenical convergence. …

PLURALISME AGAMA MENURUT PERSPEKTIF DOSEN-DOSEN FAKULTAS USHULUDDIN DAN HUMANIORA DAN STT GEREJA KALIMANTAN EVANGELIS (GKE) BANJARMASIN

This script writing against the background of social conditions in South Kalimantan diverse in terms of ethnicity, or religion. We take the example of religious pluralism in South Kalimantan. This religious pluralism condition often we term Religious Pluralism. Religious Pluralism succession plays a very important to maintain the diversity and creating understanding of the harmony that lately in various areas, especially in Indonesia being tested. Religious pluralism is a perspective of religious harmony. This understanding of the role in order to be more effective is to educate every student either by teachers, lecturers and other teaching staff in order to achieve that purpose. Both from the Primary Education, Secondary, to university, both from High school and College of General. Results of field interviews showed that religious pluralism is understood by some of the Faculty of Islamic Theology and Humanities IAIN Antasari is a pluralism that if no further interpreted it leads to liberalism even to relativism and nihilism. However, if seen from what has been interpreted by some leaders of Religious Pluralism, then pluralism itself be accepted as a philosophy in building harmony. While others say that sociologically Religious Pluralism has to be accepted by Muslims without having interpreted the deeper, because Pluralism itself is not relativism, or even nihilism. Meanwhile, partially-Lecturer Lecturer STT Borneo Evangelical Church (GKE) views of Religious Pluralism in context pluralistic society will be criticized for some faiths who are intolerant of other religions. While others consider only limited Religious Pluralism understand the differences and cooperation in specific social issues, without any compromise in theology, leading to the elimination of the role of God in life.

Book Review: Fresh Expressions of Church and the Kingdom of God

Fresh Expressions of and Kingdom of God. Edited by Graham Cray, Ian Mobsby, and Aaron Kennedy. Ancient Faith, Future Mission, volume 3. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2012.179 pp. $20.00 (paper).The identifier expressions came into being through of England working group chaired by Graham Cray. The report titled Mission-shaped was filed in 2004 and saw both immediate celebration and criticism. Cray would go on to be lead in UK Fresh Expressions Team. His co-editors of this volume, Ian Mobsby and Aaron Kennedy, are leaders in their own right in Fresh Expressions as developers and practitioners of new monasticism in Moot Community they facilitate in London.The editors assume reader understands terms and concepts relevant to Fresh Expressions and perhaps it is thought to be unnecessary to offer further elucidation. Someone encountering Fresh Expressions for first time would be at loss to appreciate insider language in book. This is of particular concern since one main principle of Fresh Expressions is to create an inviting culture in Christian community for newcomers and seekers. Fresh Expressions, in North American context, has borrowed heavily from UK and has even adopted same definition of term: fresh expression is new church plant adopting different style or ethos from which it originated and it is established for who are not yet members of any Christian community.The book attempts to bridge what is understood as divide between who have view of Church and those whose centre of gravity is in mission (p. xiv). The editors go on to say, Those who have high regard for tend to feel that is more important than and the more kingdom focused emphasize that missiology is far more important than ecclesiology (p. xiv). For this reason editors hope to take non-dual and integrated approach to holding both and Kingdom of God in tension (p. xv).In collection of fifteen short essays reader is offered smorgasbord of perspectives and ideas on how church might better engage in God's mission, with several writers providing cautionaiy notes on pitfalls to avoid. Of fifteen contributors all are British, except for three who are American.Rowan Williams is one contributor who wonders if it may be consumer approach attempting to address a generally individualistic culture and that is losing confidence in its own distinctive calling or gift that is contributing to a deeply unhelpful collusion leading to desperate scramble to find 'acceptable' words or behaviours that will respond to market demand (p. 3). Williams warns that there are not going to be any crystalclear methods to avoid error, whether engaged in inherited or experimental church community (p. …

Book Review: The Quest for the Trinity: The Doctrine of God in Scripture, History and Modernity

Quest for Trinity: Doctrine of God in Scripture, History and Modernity. By Stephen R. Holmes. Downers Grove, 111.: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2012. xix + 230 pp. $26.00 (paper).Stephen R. Holmes's Quest for Trinity is a challenging book. It assumes capacity to understand the most abstruse of theological differences (p. 28). And it calls into question, if not dismisses altogether, a major claim of contemporary accounts of Trinity: that doctrine of Trinity can in and of itself ground egalitarian and liberating ethics and ecclesiology. This is a book for those who have read widely and thought deeply about doctrine of Trinity.Holmes argues that even most exacting and careful expositions of Trinity today-those of Volf, Moltmann, Boff, and Jenson-either misunderstand or depart from the traditional doctrine ... settled in fourth century (p. xv). At least two moves constitute this departure. first pertains to grounding egalitarian and liberating views of church and of social ethics in very nature of God. Doing so requires seeing inner relations of God (the immanent Trinity) as fundamentally mutually giving and receiving love. But to see immanent Trinity in this way, authors like Volf and Boff have to see perichoresis as decisive principle of ordering, rather than origin. In this way they differentiate between relations of origin and eternal relations of love in (p. 27). This differentiation does not occur in patristic doctrine, as Zizioulas notes. Insofar as theologians claim to be retrieving, reconstructing, or building on tradition (as both content and process), this first move is highly problematic and requires, at least, a straightforward and clear methodological explanation.The other move is more fundamental theologically, with greater risks in theology, ethics, worship, and various practices. That is, in recent discussions of Trinity, certain concepts, notably person, are seen as univocal, or at least as very closely analogical, when applied to divine persons and human people (p. 29). issue here? more human beings are seen as like God in fundamental ways, more likely we are to lose sight of sheer otherness of God, and more likely we are to cast God as man in a loud voice (as Barth had it).Holmes is very exacting in substantiating these claims. He begins with most important biblical texts in Old and New Testament, noting that while contemporary theologians may not want to see Old Testament as prefiguring New, there is even so ample evidence of some sense of complexity in God before common era. But Holmes's main point here is to indicate what texts were important in patristic era, many of which are not ones that Christians today would consider Trinitarian.Holmes then turns to early patristic developments in order to lay groundwork for debates of fourth century. In two chapters on these debates, he builds to a clear statement of Cappadocian Trinitarianism: The Godhead is simple, and exists thrice-over, in hypostases distinguished by relations of origin, and not otherwise (p. 116).The next chapter focuses Holmes's argument that Augustine is the greatest interpreter of Cappadocian theology (pp. 121-122)-a controversial claim. following chapter on medieval period argues that filioque controversy does not signal a substantive difference in doctrine between East and West. …

Sidney Montagu and the Sacramental Sign: Memorial and Sacred Objects in Post-Reformation England

Following three-year-old Henry Montagu’s death in 1625, his father installed a memorial comprised of three objects in Barnwell All Saints Church. In addition to an alabaster monument, Sidney Montagu incorporated into his memorial program a thirteenth-century piscina (a basin for washing liturgical vessels), and a painted wooden box containing a manuscript sheet, “Upon the Birth and death of his deere sonne.” Montagu’s commemorative program invests memorial artifacts with the qualities attributed to sacred objects and develops and defends a private idolatry in which secular objects acquire the aura of the sacred. While the Barnwell monument engages with a high church view of the sacraments as signs of remembrance, the manuscript box reveals Montagu turning from the sacramental to the superstitious. This object displays how religious faith and personal belief bleed into each other when sacred objects, images, and practices move into secular spheres.

하워드 스나이더(Howard A. Snyder)의 선교적 교회론

Howard A. Snyder is world-renowned for his church renewal studies. He, however, is one of the front runners of missional church theorists along with L. Newbigin, D. L. Guder, and C. Van Gelder. Snyder considers Newbigin as the deepest theologically and most comprehensive. In this sense he sees Guder and Van Gelder as derivative, but helpful. Snyder thinks his work overall is more comprehensive than theirs, and in that sense closer to Newbigin. The major goal of this article is to articulate Snyder's missional ecclesiology, his missional church view, based on interviews with him and investigation of his various writings. On questions “How do I frame your ecclesiology? Can you give me a big picture of your ecclesiology?” Snyder answers as follows: “Fundamentally biblically, which means an ecclesiology grounded in the biblical images and metaphors of ‘church’-particularly people of God, body of Christ, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit. All these are relational and organic; images from life. So in that sense they are ecological, reflecting and tying in with the whole biblical revelation and the Triune character of God. Ecclesiology must never be divorced from the larger oikonomia of God. If it is, it is not wholistic (thus not fully missional) in the biblical sense. Quite clearly in the New Testament, the church is primarily the community of people joined to Jesus Christ (‘membered together,’ as Paul puts it), and so the primary agency by the Holy Spirit for continuing God’s work in the world today — though the Spirit works beyond and ahead of the church, and at times in judgment on the church.” On question “How is your church renewal theory, Kingdom theory, and ecological ecclesiology related to the missional church?” Snyder replies as follows: “My ideas were developed before the term ‘missional’ became popular. But of course they are inherently ‘missional.’ I would put all these within the circle of what today is labeled ‘missional.’ Biblically speaking, ‘missional’ should include the whole missio Dei, including the kingdom of God in fullness and ​God’s plan for the restoration of all creation-the importance of the ‘land’ theme. I don’t find a lot in the current ‘missional church’ discussion that was not already present in The Problem of Wineskins, at least in seminal form.Snyder believes that there are important genetic links between God as Trinity and the missional nature of the church. The church's fundamental DNA makes the church the sign, foretaste, and intial embodiment of the reign of God and a reflection or echo of the Trinity. In this sense, he describes the church as a community that is missional, alternative, covenantal, and Trinitarian.

The Catholic Church in Palestine/Israel: Real Estate in Terra Sancta

This paper traces the history and development of Catholic real estate ownership in Palestine/Israel, uses of the properties, and the impact on the physical and cultural landscapes and on identity formation of the local population. It takes a long-term perspective, beginning with the return, after a short absence, of the Franciscans to the Holy Land in the fourteenth century and ending with the present position of the Catholic Church and the properties of its various sects and orders. It examines the history of the Catholic Church in Palestine/Israel under the Ottoman, British, Jordanian, Egyptian and Israeli regimes. In contrast to the large body of existing scholarship on the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, this examination of the local history of the Catholic Church views it through the prism of land ownership and properties. The landholdings of the Catholics are compared and contrasted with findings of previous studies by authors on those of the Greek-Orthodox and Anglican churches. Special attention is paid to the differences in frameworks, functions and geographic dispersal of the church organs, such as monasteries and educational institutions as well as the property of the local Arab Greek-Catholics. The article also examines the effect of Arabization of the Catholic clergy in relation to the lands owned by the Catholic Church and finds that, unlike other churches in the Holy Land, the Catholic Church has not generally experienced ethnic-related dissent over property.

The American Nehemiad, or the Tale of Two Walls

One of the central images of American church–state relations is the wall. For most political scientists and historians, the wall par excellence is the wall of separation that Jefferson built, a barrier around the state to exclude the church.1 However, there is another wall, one that scholars have been slow to recognize, although it has long shaped American views of church–state relations: the wall Nehemiah rebuilt around Jerusalem. American Protestant clergy have made extensive use of Nehemiah's wall as a symbol for church and state cooperation in order to keep the people faithful and to protect the nation from impious enemies at home and abroad.2 This article focuses on the period between the Puritans and the Founding, defining and developing the concept of the “nehemiad,” a religious narrative articulating and advocating religious involvement in political affairs, as an alternative and complement to the long-recognized jeremiad, the narrative that exhorts the faithful to turn away from the world lest they forfeit their grace.

From religious icon to ‘our mother from heaven’: The appropriation of the Virgin Mary by Catholic women in Quito

In this article I look at the cult of the Virgin Mary in terms of its practices and its meanings. I did fieldwork in Quito, Ecuador, where I interviewed more than 20 women, aged between 30 and 50, who belong to Catholic groups or are active members of the parish. I found out that these women strongly identify with the Virgin Mary; they view her as a protector and a mother. Furthermore, the Virgin is not regarded as an afflicted figure or victim, but instead as a brave and empowered woman. The image they have of the Virgin contrasts with the Church's views that emphasise her obedience and sexual purity. Thus, I argue that the Virgin has become the property of these Catholic women and an icon of resistance of male-imposed Catholic rules.

Devojački moral i predbračni život u diskursu pravoslavne crkve

This paper deals with the discourse of the Orthodox Church (both Russian and Serbian) on morality and sexual aspects of behavior and dressing of single women prior to marriage. The view of the church is displayed through the work of its representatives from among the clergy and laity who discuss moral issues and dilemmas concerning the pre-marital period in the life of women - girlhood. The views of the Orthodox church and its moral code fully corresponds to patriarchal morality in Serbia and relies on its standards. In addition, it also incorporate elements of pre-Christian, pagan mentality and morality found in traditional morality, and thus the moral code of the Orthodox Church.

The ‘sectarian’ Church. Catholicism in Italy since John Paul II

Many surveys report that the rate of church attendance in Italy is still very high, one of the highest in Europe. Are these data reliable? Is there really a ‘Catholic effect’ in Italy, a persistent popular affection for the Catholic Church, a slower rate of secularization? It is difficult to give a definitive answer to these questions but there are many elements that would contradict the optimistic (for the Catholic Church) view: 1) different (and more pessimistic) data on church attendance; 2) the decreasing number of priests and their ageing; and 3) disaffection among the younger generation. A good part of the Catholic hierarchy, and the two last popes, firmly believe that the rise of new movements (Comunione and Liberazione, Neocatecumenals, Charismatic Renewals and others) may correct the secularization trend and the demise of traditional territorial parishes. But encouraging these movements requires promoting a fundamental change in the cultural and organizational form of Catholicism towards a sort of never-seen ‘sectarian Church’.

PACEM IN TERRIS AND THE JUST WAR TRADITION: A SEMICENTENNIAL RECONSIDERATION

11 April 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the papal encyclical, Pacem in Terris, a document that has exerted enormous influence on the doctrines of war and peace articulated by Roman Catholic and non-Catholic writers alike. The argument we make here is that in its understanding of human rights, international peace and philosophical anthropology, the encyclical in effect abandons the ‘just war’ teachings that had guided the church's view of human conflict for 16 centuries, and we argue that the departure is a mistake.

Law, Lies and Letter Writing: An Analysis of Jerome and Augustine on the Antioch Incident (Galatians 2:11–14)

AbstractVarious critics of the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) often highlight the lack of church tradition as one deficiency of the various interpretations of Paul. To some, the lack of church history automatically renders such newer interpretations suspect. In turn critics of the NPP often turn to the reformers such as Calvin and Luther to defend the traditional reading of Paul and trace this traditional reading back to Augustine. For the critics, church tradition stands on the side of the traditional reading.This article seeks to highlight an often neglected early church view on one aspect of the NPP, that of Paul and the Law. This article highlights one of the fiercest exchanges between two church fathers. Through a series of letters, Jerome and Augustine corresponded on Jerome's interpretation of Galatians 2 and the Antioch incident. For Augustine the pastor, nothing less than the veracity of scripture was at stake and Augustine mounts a defence of Paul's actions in Galatians 2 in response to Jerome's insistence of an agreed-upon lie between Peter and Paul. In the process of Augustine's rebuttal of Jerome, he notes that Paul followed the law without ‘pretence’ and that there was a period in early Christianity where Jewish Christians practised law observance. Augustine highlights the divine origin of the Mosaic law, which renders a positive role for the law in early Christianity, and notes that the negative critique of the law comes within the context of a Gentile audience, but did not have implications for Jewish Christians. Augustine rightly notices and raises the important context of Paul's negative statements on the law and offers a nuanced discussion of Paul's treatment of the law.Augustine notes some of the important conclusions drawn by the NPP, namely a positive view of the law and its practice by Paul and other Jewish Christians. He also notes the various ways the law functions in Jewish and Gentile contexts. Such a positive view of Paul and the law may appear striking to many, but must be considered by those who are otherwise critical of the NPP. This article shows that there was at least one voice, among others, within the early church which advocated for a positive reading of Paul and the law. The history of interpretation of Galatians 2 offers many insights for contemporary Pauline scholars which ought to be heeded in future discussions. This article, by highlighting the exchange between Jerome and Augustine, seeks to give the NPP a historical ‘rootedness’ and placement within the history of interpretation.

The priorities of the Catholic social doctrine in the definitions of the Second Vatican Council

The Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church has had a fatal significance in its history. In addition to the important documents that were adopted by the Council, and then creatively developed by the theorists and practitioners of the Church, Catholicism was enriched with a new awareness of significant changes in the world. The Church acknowledged that there have been radical transformations in the outlook and behavior of people, in particular Catholics, in their attitude to issues of faith, to God, to the relationship between God and man. But perhaps the most influential for the further development of Catholicism in the world was the social doctrine of the Church, which eventually turned into a social doctrine. The latter is understood not only as a list of practical guidelines for solving the "social question", but also not a sum of knowledge in contemporary sociology1, but a set of religious beliefs developed by theologians and endorsed by the whole Church in the form of a body of special documents on the Church's views on society and social issues. In addition to the general theological principles of attitude towards peace and relations with society, the Catholic social doctrine contains the historical work of the Church in solving social problems in different epochs, recorded information about the social challenges of the past and present, eschatological expectations and real forecasts for the future of mankind.

Race Patriotism: Protest and Print Culture in the AME Church

E. Franklin Frazier identified the African American Church as a “nation within a nation,” and now Julius H. Bailey explores what professions of allegiance to such a body entail, mostly confining his discussion to the nineteenth-century African Methodist Episcopal (ame) Church (E. Franklin Frazier, The Negro Church in America, 1964, p. 49). Using an examination of the extensive print culture of the ame Church as his springboard, Bailey proceeds to discuss topics that include the Church's expansion into the western United States, ame Church views of evolution, the controversy over whether to preserve the word African in the denomination's title, and debates over whether African Americans should emigrate to Africa. Unsurprisingly, he uncovers tremendous diversity regarding these topics. The ame Church was no monolith. Bailey gives a full account of competition and conflict between the light-skinned African American minister Daniel Coker and his dark-skinned contemporary Richard Allen, both of whom were elected bishops of the new ame Church in 1817. (Allen accepted the position; Coker, possibly feeling his light-skinned appearance to be a hindrance, declined, and in three years' time emigrated to Liberia.)

The physical nature of Christian life: neuroscience, psychology, and the church

This book explores the implications of recent insights in modern neuroscience for the church's view of spiritual formation. Science suggests that functions of the brain and body in collaboration with social experience, rather than a disembodied soul, provide physical basis for the mental capacities, interpersonal relations, and religious experiences of human beings. The realization that human beings are wholly physical, but with unique mental, relational and spiritual capacities, challenges traditional views of Christian life as defined by the care of souls, a view that leads to inwardness and individuality. Psychology and neuroscience suggest the importance of developmental openness, attachment, imitation and stories as tools in spiritual formation. Accordingly, the idea that care of embodied persons should be fundamentally social and communal sets new priorities for encouraging spiritual growth and building congregations.

FAITH‐BASED SOCIAL SERVICES: FROM COMMUNITARIAN TO INDIVIDUALISTIC VALUES

Abstract. This article argues that a primary, contemporary product of four moments in the history of faith‐based social services has been a highly selective and inconsistent use of the notion of human rights by churches and church leaders. Churches still occasionally reference a communitarian sense of human rights and public good but now more commonly use the rhetoric of individual rights to contest specific political positions and social policies in the arena of the social service agencies these churches sponsor. Changing church views of human nature are not sweeping changes, but small changes of degree that still have the power to powerfully reorient social relations. In this sense, churches that sponsor social services increasingly espouse a privatized, economic, and individualistic “Civil Society” in sharp contrast to communitarian notions of social citizenship that formerly better reflected churches’ operating ontology.

Neither Just nor Necessary: Barth and War, Again

The terms "justice" and "necessity" are often employed in discussions of war. The just war tradition seeks to delineate when wars are and are not just; other theologians who do not find this approach helpful may nevertheless resort to the logic of necessity. Although unjust, some wars may still be deemed necessary. Barth employs both the language and logic of justice and necessity in his approach to war. The purpose of this paper is to address Barth's exposition of war in relation to his approach to divine justice and the necessity of Christian affliction. It does not attempt to make any large claims about the just war tradition or other approaches to war. Rather, it is intended to be an immanent critique of Barth from Barth's own theology, showing that, although consistent with his view of church and state, Barth's theology of war is inconsistent with his view of both God's character as just and the external necessity of affliction to Christian witness.

People of the Spirit: Exploring Luke's View of the Church – By Graham H. Twelftree

People of the Spirit: Exploring Luke's View of the Church – By Graham H. Twelftree

Kościół a polityka. Rozważania wokół aktywności politycznej duchowieństwa rzymskokatolickiego podczas wyborów prezydenckich 2010 roku

The campaign preceding the early presidential elections in 2010 reminded Polish society of the strong position the Catholic Church holds in political life, and mainly its role in the political system. In the context of the latest elections, it was observed that the Church went beyond the framework of its evangelization mission to enter realms it has long been driven out from in other modern states. This breaches the principle of the secular character of the state, its neutral point of view and separation (autonomy) of state and Church. This paper is limited to the presentation of the Polish Church’s political standpoint. The involvement of Catholic clergy in the presidential campaign serves only as a background to present the larger problem of political involvement of the clergy in general. Therefore, the main research issue is not the question of the forms of political activity which members of the Church assume, although some exemplifications are present in this paper, but rather what justifies the involvement of the Church in politics. It is demonstrated that neither theological doctrine nor the normative theory of democracy sufficiently justifies the active participation of the clergy in politics. It is also stressed, however, that the Church cannot be prohibited from partaking in public debate unless democratic principles are breached. Yet the Church’s involvement needs to fulfill one condition: it has to approve the principles of democratic discourse, such as the equal rights of different standpoints and the approval of the principle of relativity in political communication.