Collin Garbarino makes a Christian’s case that they should: A sermon is a proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If a bureaucrat wants to read about the gift of salvation given to those who believe in Christ Jesus, who am I to stop him? Every pastor I know would love to have people pore over his sermons. But all of the sudden this changes when the person in question works for a lesbian Democrat. Now I hear people shouting,... Read more
A constitutional disaster is unfolding in Houston, where the mayor, Annise Parker, has demanded that several local pastors turn in any sermons or material critical of homosexuality, Houston anti-discrimination laws, or Parker herself. Houston’s embattled equal rights ordinance took another legal turn this week when it surfaced that city attorneys, in an unusual step, subpoenaed sermons given by local pastors who oppose the law and are tied to the conservative Christian activists that have sued the city. Opponents of the... Read more
In her review of the newest pro-choice manifesto by Katha Pollitt, Hanna Rosin expresses frustration at the “muddled middle” of the pro-choice movement. These are the kinds of people who believe abortion should be legal but avoided, who give lip service to Roe but in a “fog of regret:” We shouldn’t need a book explaining why abortion rights are important. We should be over that by now. The reason we’re not, according to Pollitt, is that we have all essentially... Read more
“No wonder millions of teenagers forged such a deep and lasting identification with him,” Mark Bauerlein writes of Harry Potter. “He’s a celebrity, and his fame is an aspiration for them. Adolescents crave it. They want to be known. Why else pile up all those selfies and updates and texts for others to see?” Harry, according to Bauerlein, is a splendid cultural symbol of vanity and easy fame. Harry is what so many schoolchildren aspire to be: Famous and unaccomplished. No condition meets... Read more
Why do many millennials avoid church? Joel Miller ponders one reason: College students who lose their virginity, for instance, report declining interest in religion and religious services, according to a new study by Pennsylvania State University. Skipping church, say researchers, is “a way to relieve cognitive dissonance that results from engaging in prohibited behaviors. . . .” The study, summarized by the Boston Globe, is not yet published but seems to echo the observations of others. In his book, The... Read more
I grew up in the afterglow of contemporary Christian music’s astonishing 90s heyday. I was only 6 years old in 1995, the year that dc Talk and Jars of Clay released multi-platinum albums and became “crossover” successes. But by freshman year of high school I was enjoying a CCM industry that was exploding with a seemingly unending stream of new artists, albums, and record labels. At some point in high school CCM fell off of my radar (with some exceptions; I’ve purchased... Read more
Andrew Sullivan has every right to celebrate the impending national reality of same-sex marriage. This is what he has advocated and striven towards for years. Though I disagree profoundly with his moral logic, I am nevertheless deeply respectful of Sullivan’s sense of triumph. What Sullivan doesn’t have a right to do, however, is willfully misrepresent, which is exactly what he is doing. Sullivan’s glowing language about the transformative power of ideas to win democracy is not in any way the journey that same-sex marriage... Read more
John Gray’s withering review of Richard Dawkins’s new autobiography is not just good reading, it’s more evidence that cultural enchanment with Dawkins (and perhaps New Atheism itself) is evaporating. Even in Dawkins’s childhood anecdotes, Gray finds the ingredients for an insufferably arrogant personality: Loyal servants turn up at several points in Dawkins’s progress through life. When he arrives at Oxford, the porter at Balliol—a college that had demonstrated its intellectual credentials by admitting three members of his family—recalls Dawkins’s father... Read more
If I had a dollar for every time Bill Maher got more cheers from conservatives than liberals, I’d almost have enough for a Little Ceasars Hot-N-Ready. Yet Maher is getting support from several conservative quadrants for his bold and non-compromising stance on the inherently violent nature of Islam. It’s kind of amusing how host Charlie Rose keeps throwing Maher a lifeline (how many times does he say something like, “But you’re not really saying…”). Maher doesn’t take the hint, though;... Read more
Introducing Mailbag Monday! On Mondays, I will be selecting 1 or 2 worthwhile reader comments and feature/respond to them. I read every comment that’s posted on the blog. The feedback from readers is very important to the discipline of blogging. Yet we’ve all seen cases in which the quality of dialogue descends into trolling or flame wars. I hope that featuring comments on Mailbag Mondays will give the proper kudos to thoughtful comments, and will afford me a chance to... Read more
Samuel D. James
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In