Chautauqua: Full of Lukewarm Religion, Also Deadly Mosquitoes

In today’s On the Square , Mark D. Tooley takes a trip to Chautauqua, and meditates on how far it has strayed from its original mission:

At the United Methodist House the week I attended the chaplain was the delightful president of a historic black seminary in the south. A native of Antigua reared in British Methodism, he offered a robust explanation of Methodism’s traditional understanding of salvation. After one presentation, an older couple appreciatively approached him to say they wondered why they never heard messages like his at Chautauqua. The religion speakers instead all seemed instead to have an “agenda,” the husband noted ruefully.

Read the rest here . If you have never actually heard of Chautauqua before, Steve Odland gave a (somewhat more positive) write-up of the place here . Other things I learned today: Apparently, the area around Chautauqua is also the first place in New York to have mosquitoes with Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus , so, if this post inspires you to head up to Chautauqua, maybe you should go after mosquito season?