I try to put out a post a week just to keep the juices flowing. But some weeks are harder than others, and I just do not know what I am going to post. This week was shaping up to be such a week as I did not feel posting about Cohen’s testimony or any other current event. But sometimes I get into a conversation and it all comes together. My writer’s block goes away, and I have my message... Read more
Okay I want to discuss something that is vexing to me. I try to understand where people are coming from. But I must admit that I fail to fully comprehend why there is continual evangelical support of Trump. When I argued with my evangelical friends about their support of Trump I received many answers from them for why they were willing to provide such support. But one of the most common reasons given to me was that they were afraid... Read more
Well last week I wrote about how the controversy over Governor Northam in Virginia was not going to spur this important conversation on race. So far I am right. Sometimes I hate being right. That conversation on race is badly needed, but I fear we are a long ways from being honest enough to have it. But this week I want to look at a different angle to this Virginia controversy. It has become clear that Northam is not going... Read more
When I teach my race and ethnicity class, I tell them that at some point during the semester we will have some type of national racial controversy. We are a country that goes from one racial controversy to the next. Of course the latest is the yearbook pictures of Ralph Northam, the governor of Virginia, who was found to have overtly racist pictures on his page in the yearbook. Yikes!!! What happens whenever we have one of these episodes is... Read more
Last week I outlined what I do not like about the right. This week I will discuss what I do not like about the left. As I did last week, I am going to focus less on issues and more on overall philosophy. I think that this overall philosophy leads to stances on issues, and so I may use issues to illustrate my concerns. But it is that overall philosophy which I think creates some of the shortcomings of modern... Read more
Several times the last few weeks I have been accused in some form or fashion of false equivalency. Every time it has been when I have pointed out that things such as the left not caring more than the right (they just care for different groups of people) or the left being just as uncivil as the right. So as you can tell this accusation comes more from my readers on the left side of the political spectrum. I understand... Read more
You probably have heard about the controversy of the students from a Covington Catholic school who were accused of mocking a Native American veteran. A longer version of the video reveals that the initial interpretation of high school students seeking to disrupt a protest from a Native American does not seem to be accurate. I am not going to comment on which is the more accurate interpretation. I do not have to make that comment to be incredibly sad at... Read more
Okay so some form of this article has passed along my facebook page this past week. Basically we are not replacing ourselves. For a population to replace itself there needs to be a total fertility rate (TFR) of about 2.1. When I looked at this a few years ago the total fertility rate in the U.S. was about 2.08. Barely missing replacement level but not too bad. Especially not too bad when countries in Europe had TFR ranging from 1.7... Read more
There is an antiquated belief that science and religion cannot mix. Some try to hold onto this belief for what I believe are political reasons and this belief is doing a lot of damage. I have even seen some people comment that Christians cannot be scientists which of course sets Christians up for prejudice in academic settings. I generally take the view of Non-overlapping Magisteria by Stephen Gould. My starting point is that science and religion are asking different questions... Read more
As I consider the changes occurring in our society and the movement towards a post-Christian world, I have concluded that one of the most important things we can do as Christians is to focus on the development of our own community. What do you think about when you hear the word “community?” Traditionally, we think about community as people we see every day or even weekly. We might think of our family as the core of the community and the... Read more
Shattering Paradigms
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