Bill Belichick is bad for sports. His badness is not helped if he is not the worst. His badness is not helped if he an otherwise decent guy. I do not know Mr. Belichick so he might be terrific in the other roles he holds, but that does not make him good for sports. His badness is made worse when he wins. Why? Professional sports has few redeeming values. The outcome of the Super Bowl matters, but only because we have decided... Read more
The leaders from the World War II era are gone: one ruler remains. Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain (etcetera!) will be feted by her subjects for many reasons this year, especially as she is compared with so many other heads of state. Americans should be thankful for her reign as well and remember the enduring value of our relationship with Great Britain. I had an ancestor on the patriot side of Yorktown, but thank God the old quarrel has... Read more
There are days for Duck Dynasty and days for Dante, but no days where I don’t love both Duck Dynasty and Dante with appropriate levels of love. The illumined Rod Dreher says that Dante sometimes conflicts with Duck Dynasty and he is right, the habit of rightfulness being one he cannot break, but I have never experienced this real conflict. In my life, shaped by West Virginia culture, and lived in Upstate New York, California, and now Texas, the ideas of Dante and Duck... Read more
Speed kills cultures. At the speed of mules, Medieval people learned to discuss, debate, and decide. A certain amount of thoughfulness was possible in the lag time of copying a scroll. Burn a few copies of an intemperate letter and it was gone. At the speed of printing presses, Christians discussed with Medieval rules and there was no longer enough time for thinking, discussing or compromising. Luther spoke, printed, distributed and the councils could not keep up. The ability to... Read more
She did it, she made it great, but it was a mistake and that mistake will limit her later. The pity is that Rowling did well, but her partner failed her. J.K. Rowling had the theme park world at her feet a decade and she chose Universal Florida to build two sections of their parks using her characters and ideas. The first time my family walked toward Diagon Alley we were stunned. My adult kids had grown up at Disneyland... Read more
My Super Bowl party was set. Fourth quarter and my Packers (hey, I am an owner) were in control, especially after yet another Seahawks interception. Cheese-head firmly on head, I said to Hope, also a Packer fanatic: “We have this. I mean: a touchdown, an onside kick, a touchdown? Rodgers has this.” Wrong: instead of becoming a football prognosticator, I need to stick to my day job. The Packers lost what is already being called the Choke Bowl. The Super... Read more
Faculty matter. Other issues matter, but nothing counts more than faculty if we are discussing the quality of education at small schools. How can a small Bible college, liberal arts college, or university compete? The big players can match any innovation we try, but in a recent lecture, I suggested that small schools have an advantage big schools could match, but are unlikely to attempt due to the politics of big time higher education. The best news is that this “new approach”... Read more
Sin is all around and if it doesn’t make the world go round it does make the world go bad. If you are not a Christian, you might be confused about the idea of “sin” and that would mean missing a good bit of reality. Sin is real and dealing with it matters. At least when portrayed in the media, Christians seem obsessed with sin, though the Christians I have known are much more interested in mercy. Of course, we... Read more
There is no sense pretending Rev. Dr. King and I would have agreed on everything because we would not have done so (as if the great man should care about my agreement!), but we would have agreed on one thing: the need for racial justice in the United States. It is important to acknowledge this lest King become a series of banal out of context quotes that hide the man. Men are always more interesting than busts of men in... Read more
Hunter Baker is a good man, a thoughtful man, a Christian, and is convinced that my young earth creationist views are wrong, but he does not stop there. He also thinks them wrong headed. They certainly have kept me from jobs and he is right when he says that being publicly young earth costs me credibility with a certain sort of person. He has allowed me to respond publicly to his letter arguing that I should stop being young earth,... Read more
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