2014-12-11T18:44:32-05:00

That’s not just a little kid question but a genuine scientific mystery.  In the early days of earth’s existence, according to scientists, the planet was just too hot for there to be water.  After things cooled down, there still would have been no water.  Comets

2014-12-10T16:39:59-05:00

The Barna Group has finished a major study of people who do not go to church.  (They used to be called the “unchurched”; this study calls them “churchless.”)  And it has some surprises.  For example, the churchless tend to be less educated than those who

2014-12-10T17:37:14-05:00

Time’s Persons of the Year are the Ebola fighters.  I think that’s a pretty good choice.  A good many of them are missionaries, who, in the accompanying story, explain their faith and why they risk their lives to help those who are suffering. Our custom

2014-12-10T19:05:33-05:00

The Senate released a report detailing the way the CIA used brutal interrogation techniques during the War on Terrorism.  The report said that not only was the torture–which included waterboarding and “rectal rehydration”–immoral, but  that it was ineffective in uncovering terrorist threats.  The CIA strongly

2014-12-09T19:29:46-05:00

Much contemporary church architecture features sanctuaries “in the round,” so that the worshippers can see each other.  Traditional churches are linear, with a sequence of spaces facing the altar.  (Actually, the super-traditional churches are also cruciform, with the congregation coming together in the Cross.)  After

2014-12-09T19:30:43-05:00

Researchers have injected brain cells from human fetuses into baby mice, giving them brains that are half human.  Those “humanized mice” are much more intelligent than regular mice.  Read the report, which is breezily free of moral judgment, and contemplate just how many things are

2014-12-09T19:31:27-05:00

The Chinese government is forbidding the use of puns in state-supported media.  Alexandra Petri objects.  (If you are one of those, like Chinese communists, who can’t stand puns, do NOT read her punitive words after the jump.  I invite you, though, to respond in kind

2014-12-09T19:23:52-05:00

When we blogged about the Wittenberg Nightingale,  the all-Lutheran online radio channel, the number of listeners shot up into the stratosphere.  So founder Lori Lewis said that as a gesture of thanks, she would set aside a block of programming and bill it as “brought

2014-12-08T21:22:47-05:00

The great figure of Advent is John the Baptist.  We think of him as that harsh, say-it-like-it-is prophet who ate insects.  But what he preached was repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  Which he conveyed by baptism. (more…)

2014-12-08T19:24:54-05:00

Conservatives are skeptical about the government and look to the private sector to solve our problems.  Liberals are skeptical about the private sector and look to the government for solutions.  Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers says that our problem is that BOTH the public sector

Follow Us!


TAKE THE
Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who told God, "I am slow of speech and of tongue"?

Select your answer to see how you score.


Browse Our Archives