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Newt as front-runner, so attacks begin

November 21, 2011 By Gene Veith

Newt Gingrich, according to some polls, has pulled ahead of Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. So, following form, the news stories are digging up unfavorable material about him. But there is a difference this time: The stories are about how he has violated conservative orthodoxy: His think tank to propose free market solutions to health care issues once suggested–or maybe even came up with the idea–of mandatory insurance coverage, a hallmark of Obamacare. He once… Read more

Congress fails again

November 21, 2011 By Gene Veith

28 Comments

Back in August, Congress averted a government shutdown at the last minute by kicking the can to a “Supercommittee” that was assigned to find $1.2 trillion in savings. The incentive was a provision that if the bipartisan task force failed to do so, $1.2 trillion would automatically be cut, with half from social programs (to get the liberals to co-operate) and half from defense (to get the conservatives to co-operate). The deadline for an agreement would be Thanksgiving. Well, that… Read more

Why no two snowflakes are identical

November 18, 2011 By Gene Veith

48 Comments

As if to put us in the mood for winter, the Washington Post has a fascinating feature explaining why no two snowflakes are the same: Newly formed snow crystals with only a handful of molecules would be nearly impossible to distinguish. But that’s not really the issue. We’re talking about real snowflakes, which have something on the order of a quintillion molecules. (That’s the number 1 with 18 zeros.) Now, it’s not a law of nature that no two snowflakes… Read more

Would Calvin have Occupied Wall Street?

November 18, 2011 By Gene Veith

64 Comments

Would even liberal Lutherans say this of Martin Luther? The cause of demonstrators involved in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement would have been supported by John Calvin, the 16th century church reformer who helped shape modern-day Protestantism, says the General Secretary of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). “I am sure he would have been in the streets of New York or London with a placard,” says Setri Nyomi of the French lawyer and theologian who wrote extensively about… Read more

Huntsman’s conservative credentials

November 18, 2011 By Gene Veith

56 Comments

The impression most people have is that Jon Huntsman is not conservative, that he is at best a moderate. Not so, says Nichole Austin: Despite scuttlebutt to the contrary, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is not a Democrat in disguise, but was in fact a relatively ambitious conservative governor. And if he is “moderate,” he is not appreciably more moderate than other leading candidates or party leaders. If one compares records honestly and looks at policy positions realistically, one will… Read more

A pro-life movement in Russia

November 18, 2011 By Gene Veith

6 Comments

In Russia, the most commonly-used method of birth control is abortion. It has the world’s highest abortion rate: 73 for every 100 births. But now a pro-life movement has started up in Russia, led by the Orthodox Church, and the Russian parliament, faced not only with the church’s lobbying but with a population collapse, is expected to pass a law imposing sharp restrictions (though not prohibition) of the practice: Backed by the Russian Orthodox Church, an influential anti-abortion lobby is… Read more

Chaplain Mike on the Sacraments

November 17, 2011 By Gene Veith

12 Comments

The third installment from Chaplain Mike on what he is appreciating so much from his new Lutheranism. This time he focuses on the Sacraments. Read the whole post, but here is a sample: The sacramental perspective takes God’s presence and action in the midst of his creation seriously. Some expressions of faith are essentially world-denying and more akin to forms of Platonism or gnosticism that make radical distinctions between the material and spiritual worlds. From this perspective, God works and… Read more

The beam in our Missouri Synod eyes

November 17, 2011 By Gene Veith

229 Comments

Friends, you should read the comments on Chaplain Mike’s sacrament post at Internet monk, linked above. It’s touching how some of his evangelical readers are responding to what he is saying. I have to say, though, that I’m kind of ashamed that some of these potential Lutherans have come to THIS blog, which Chaplain Mike links to, and are marveling about how all we Missouri Synod Lutherans can say about his joy in discovering Lutheran theology is to castigate him for… Read more

Respect vs. pity

November 17, 2011 By Gene Veith

18 Comments

I have long observed this and written about it, that instead of honoring those who hold the military vocation in the traditional way–admiring their prowess in battle and celebrating their victories–today our culture’s support for our troops is expressed by feeling sorry for them. Now this is getting on their nerves: The troops are lavished with praise for their sacrifices. But the praise comes with a price, service members say. The public increasingly acts as if it feels sorry for… Read more

Cosmology and the speed of light

November 16, 2011 By Gene Veith

70 Comments

We’ve blogged about the discovery of neutrinos that seemed to have traveled faster than light. As scientists try to replicate and study that event, Joel Aschenbach has a good explanation of what’s at stake if light is not the fastest thing in the universe: There is logic and beauty in a universe in which space, time, energy and matter are tightly associated with the speed of light. The special status of the speed of light isn’t like an Olympic record,… Read more