Destroying the Boy Scouts

February 4, 2013 by 144 Comments

The Boy Scouts are caught between Scylla and Charybdis–or, as more of them might put it less classically, a rock and a hard place.   The organization has had to deal with scandals involving gay scoutmasters and some incidents of child sexual abuse.  So it tightened its standards and its scrutiny.  Now the organization is under fire for being anti-gay.   The organization has announced that it is reconsidering its policies banning openly gay leaders and scouts.  Barton Gingerich (a former student of mine) has some inside information about what is going on. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Culture, Ethics, sex Tagged With: , , 144 Comments

There’s a new sheriff in town

February 4, 2013 by 13 Comments

Remember when the United States used to be “the world’s policeman”?  We don’t do that anymore, for some arguably good reasons.  But the USA used to be the go-to world power, the defender of freedom, a force to counter tyranny and social disorder.  But we’ve declined from that role.  The world’s policeman is now France.  And the European Union in general.  And not just in Mali.  Europe is doing what the United States used to do. [Read more…]

Filed Under: International, war Tagged With: , , 13 Comments

Lutheran pastor rejects Baptism, Lord’s Supper

February 1, 2013 by 401 Comments

I don’t expect non-Lutherans to believe what Lutherans do.  I do expect Lutherans to believe what Lutherans do.  Especially Lutheran pastors.  Rev. Dan Delzell, the pastor of Wellspring Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska,is a regular writer for ChristianPost.com.  As we blogged earlier, last year he wrote a piece denying what Lutherans believe about the Lord’s Supper.  Now he has written another piece denying what Lutherans believe about baptism. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Church, Theology Tagged With: , , , 401 Comments

Eugenics in Israel and America

February 1, 2013 by 23 Comments

You’d think the people who once were targets of racist eugenics would not practice that on others:

Israel has admitted for the first time that it has been giving Ethiopian Jewish immigrants birth-control injections, often without their knowledge or consent. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Life Issues Tagged With: , 23 Comments

$1.2 trillion in automatic cuts might kick in

February 1, 2013 by 9 Comments

Remember the “sequester,” the automatic budget cuts that were supposed to go into effect on January 2 but were kicked down the road to March 1?  The result of last year’s agreement on the national debt and the recent “fiscal cliff” deliberations?  Since the cuts would hit Republican causes (the Pentagon) and Democratic causes (social programs) alike, it was assumed that Congress would get rid of them.  Well, it looks like they may go into effect after all. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Economics, Government Tagged With: , , 9 Comments

Superbowl XLVII

February 1, 2013 by 19 Comments

The day may come when reckoning time according to the birth of Christ will give way to numbering our years according to the Roman numerals of the Superbowl.  That’s basically what the ancient Greeks did when they counted their years according to what Olympiad it was.   Anyway, we need to recognize our de facto national holiday, which happens on Sunday:  The Superbowl.  It has acquired its own rituals:  assembling not with family but with friends; feasting on finger foods; watching commercials.  Maybe it’s time to ask of this festival day what we ask of other holidays:  What is the true meaning of Superbowl? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Culture, Football, Holidays Tagged With: 19 Comments

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