Last night Joe Biden laughed about havoc and chuckled his way through talk of war. If there is an old drinking game tradition during political debates, his performance last night was a cautionary tale that playing the game during your own debate is unwise. He grinned, guffawed, and then grumped as the evening stretched on. The Vice-Presidency cannot be demeaned of course: a job once described as not worth a bucket of warm “stuff” (in Biden’s terminology) has low requirements.... Read more
Jesus is Lord and Caesar is not. No polity that disregards those two truths is worthy of a free Christian’s allegiance. Fortunately our Founders created a system where I can acknowledge Christ’s lordship without excluded most Americans. They knew rights came from Nature and the Creator and not from the state. When the Pledge of Allegiance was modified in the middle of the twentieth century to add “under God,” it was in the face of secularist regime that demanded total... Read more
As the referee peers “under the hood” during a football game to review the call on the field, I am reminded of an ancient staring at the entrails of a beast. In both cases visual evidence allegedly will clarify everything, but in both cases it is a human that makes the call. And to err is human. At least in the case of studying the guts of a slaughtered sheep there was no actual evidence and a highly sophisticated priest.... Read more
Yesterday, two news stories broke. Both were important, but both immediately generate buzz that suggested a great many people misunderstood their importance. Evidently a fragment of an ancient document exists in which Jesus is talking about His wife. This is a great and exciting find for those of us who are interested in relatively early forms of Christianity. The scholar involved was careful to correctly say that this document had no (or little) historic bearing on whether the historic Jesus... Read more
The main problem with Mitt Romney’s statement about the forty-seven percent is that it gives up on a big group of Americans. This is not the conservatism of Reagan or Burke. It is isn’t even the conservatism I find attractive. Like Mr. Obama’s comments about bitter Bible-clingers, it was off-the-cuff and foolish. Great leaders, in their hearts, believe that most decent people are persuadable. Excellent representatives find it hard to “give up” on any citizen, because they hope that every... Read more
Slowly, I am catching up with “Supernatural.” This is a show that at best reminds a man of Joss Whedon, who at his best reminds a man of Charles Williams, who at his best reminds a man of Dante. We are, in this show, many copies from the original and the fading shows. Beatrice? If she appears on “Supernatural,” her acting skills would be very bad. I have never seen a television program, including the original Star Trek, with a... Read more
Once I said to an old man next to me: “Today is Pearl Harbor Day.” He was startled and said: “I did not think anyone your age remembered that day.” He did. And he told me his memories of the day the Empire of Japan attacked the United States and made herself infamous, but not forever. Times change and people move on. It is fitting we do so. It is Istanbul now, not Constantinople no matter what I wish. 1453... Read more
I realized today I like the smell of coffee, better than the taste of coffee. Do I like coffee? At first, I thought this meant I did not, because coffee is a “drink,” but then I realized that I may drink coffee, but only incidentally. For me coffee is a caffeine delivery system, a smell, and a ritual of adulthood. I don’t get to make many tangible things in my job so making the coffee is a pleasure. This mug... Read more
My family has a suspicion: there are very few people so wicked one cannot think of at least five nice things to say about them. When we must oppose a person, we try to balance our opposition by thinking of five (or even ten!) nice things to say about them. Why? At least in me, it tempers my ego and softens my judgement. Most humans struggle, fail, and do what they can. All of our “is” falls short of “should.”... Read more
Juan Williams said Ann Romney looked like a “corporate wife.” Evidently this is a person whose husband takes care of her. Horror filled me. I realized that this weekend my Dad took care of my Mom this weekend. She looked happy, healthy, and flourishing. My Dad after fifty-two years of pastoral ministry left my Mom thoughtful, opinionated, and competent. He had turned her into a ‘corporate wife.” You might wonder how Dad did this terrible thing since this year we... Read more
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