Liberals used to champion individual freedom, including religious liberty. But, argues Family Policy Institute scholar Joseph Backholm, that concern has shifted to a new set of values centered around tolerance, the need to prevent anyone from being discriminated against. To the point that some Democratic
Today’s Republican party is in exactly the same situation as the Democratic party of 1989 and making exactly the same excuses for why they can’t win a national presidential election. This is the point made by two Democratic strategists who revisit an essay they wrote
In a discussion of memory, the internet, and our impulse to document every moment of our lives (are we really going to look back at all of the photographs on our cell phones?), novelist Dara Horn tells about a medieval synagogue that, in its refusal
This weekend, I’m making a mad dash to Oklahoma to be there for the baptism of my new grandson, Michael Gustavus. Getting ready to go, I came across this, which has rated a RealClearReligion link, a rather flippant dismissal of infant baptism except as a
More and more states are not only legalizing gambling, they are cashing in on it, raking in lots of revenue through mutually cushy deals with big casinos. Michael Gerson discusses the problems with what he calls “the casino-government complex.” (more…)
In a story about how the rotation of the earth has slowed 2/1000 of a second over the last century, science writer Ivan Amato explains how dependent our technology is on extremely accurate time-keeping. For example, if the clocks in your GPS device and the
An article about the arrest in India of the guru Asaram Bapu–worshipped as the “godman”–for sexually assaulting a 16 year old girl includes some background information which suggests that what has happened in America with Christianity is happening in India with Hinduism. (more…)
Germany’s conservative Chancellor, Angela Merkel, was re-elected, as voters gave her party an overwhelming victory in seats in parliament. Political campaigns in Germany, though, are rather different from the way they are in the United States. (more…)
Before Charles Krauthammer became an influential conservative pundit, he was a medical doctor; specifically, a psychiatrist who worked the emergency room at Massachusetts General Hospital. So what he says about Aaron Alexis, who killed 12 people at Washington’s Navy Yard, carries some weight. (more…)
Our Scripture reading last Sunday included the Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-15), which is probably one of the toughest parables to make sense of. A household manager gets sacked because of his corruption, so before he cleans out his desk he discounts the
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