Ravi Zacharias speaks at the ReFresh 2018 conference. (RZIM)
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Leading Christian scholars have signed a public letter calling on Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and its board to move forward with its investigation of the ministry s namesake with transparency and objectivity.
Philosopher William Lane Craig posted the letter on his Facebook page earlier this week, saying that the signators all respected Ravi Zacharias, and have been grieving the revelation that Zacharias was a sexual predator. As Christian philosophers and apologists who have respected Ravi Zacharias, we have been deeply troubled and grieved by Ravi’s documented sexual misconduct against women, the letter opens.
Ravi Zacharias speaks in Houston, Texas, on September 21, 2017. | Screenshot: Facebook/Houston s First Baptist Church)
New details have emerged related to the now-acknowledged sexual misconduct of the late Ravi Zacharias as recordings of a former business partner have surfaced describing Zacharias misdeeds.
According to Anurag Sharma, a man who co-owned two spas with the late apologist, Zacharias repeatedly engaged in exposing himself to massage therapists and masturbating in front of them over the course of several years. In recently recorded audio footage that was shared exclusively with The Roys Report Monday, the website of independent investigative journalist Julie Roys, Sharma told investigators that he confronted Zacharias about his actions, which he discovered sometime between 2007 and 2010. Sharma also maintained that Zacharias told him to erase all information about his appointments at the spa from the company computer system.
Column: Religious institutions behaving badly
Randall Balmer.
Modified: 1/2/2021 10:20:14 PM
I’ve long argued that institutions are remarkably poor vessels for piety, in part because it is in the nature of institutions to preserve themselves. It’s very difficult, after all, to kill an institution. At best, the institution becomes so bloated or dysfunctional or even corrupt that someone comes along to demand reform.
In the West, monastic movements emerged following the conversion of the Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 312 C.E.; many Christians believed that the church became too friendly with temporal powers and needed reform. Martin Luther’s agenda for change in the 16th century led to a wholesale reshaping of Western Christendom by means of the Protestant Reformation.
Religious institutions are poor vessels for piety, especially in politics
Published: 1/3/2021 11:00:51 AM
I’ve long argued that institutions are remarkably poor vessels for piety, in part because it is in the nature of institutions to preserve themselves. It’s very difficult, after all, to kill an institution. At best, the institution becomes so bloated or dysfunctional or even corrupt that someone comes along to demand reform.
In the West, monastic movements emerged following the conversion of the Emperor Constantine to Christianity in 312 C.E.; many Christians believed that the church became too friendly with temporal powers and needed reform. Martin Luther’s agenda for change in the sixteenth century led to a wholesale reshaping of Western Christendom by means of the Protestant Reformation.