William Peter Blatty is the author of The Exorcist, a novel about demonic possession. He also wrote the screenplay for the movie version, which is considered one of the scariest films of all time. It turns out the former Hollywood comedy writer penned the novel
American foreign policy is in the toilet, with our adversaries not respecting us and our allies not trusting us. Pundits here and abroad have been proclaiming the end of America’s global dominance. And yet, if you factor out our government’s ineptitude, the United States has
Today is election day. Mostly up for grabs are local and state races. Voting has been called a “civic sacrament.” The analogy is an imperfect one, and it applies only to democratic systems. Some say that voting “doesn’t do any good,” which even if it
Nadia Bolz-Weber is a tattooed, non-conformist, cutting-edge kind of person. She’s also a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, two strikes against her for us Missouri-Synod Lutherans. But she has the ear of “progressive Christians.” And the thing is, she preaches the Gospel.
An issue for election day: One of the problems in our political system today is that Congressional districts have been drawn up to ensure that each one is a “safe seat” for the incumbent and a particular political party. That means that voters almost never
On the Sunday of All Saints yesterday, a new saint was added to the number of saints who constitute Christ’s church. My new grandson, Thomas Gene Edward Hensley, was baptized. “When[the church] baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected
Flying into California for my grandson’s baptism, I had to connect through LAX. This was on Friday, the day of the shootings at that airport. That happened in the morning. My plane was coming in that afternoon. We heard about the shootings just before we
Belgium is considering a law that would extend “the right to euthanasia” to children, so that they could request their own deaths. The Washington Post story about this, excerpted after the jump, gives a grisly survey of existing euthanasia laws. It also quotes an Archbishop
Church historian Martin Marty discusses how conservative Christians are pulling back from the culture wars. He cites the leadership of Pope Francis for the Roman Catholics and Russell Moore for the Southern Baptists. An additional factor is the increasing secularization of the conservative movement, citing
All Saints’ Day is the Christian Memorial Day, a time to remember loved ones who have died and who now are with all of the other saints, enjoying everlasting life with Christ. The custom on All Saints’ Day in church is simply to list those
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