Samuel D. James
I’ll be taking an early and extended weekend away from this blog, starting today. Need to finish up some important summer reading as well as other projects. See you Monday. Read more
I’ll be taking an early and extended weekend away from this blog, starting today. Need to finish up some important summer reading as well as other projects. See you Monday. Read more
The editorial staff over at Christianity Today’s website have said, “Farewell, blog commenters.” At their best, online comments sections sustain vibrant, respectful, and diverse conversations. That’s true on some of our own blogs and channels, we’re happy to say. But too often, our efforts to carefully and thoughtfully report on controversial subjects have been swamped by comments that do not reflect the mutual respect and civil conversation we want to promote. Therefore, our news and feature coverage will no longer... Read more
Jonathan Merritt really enjoys sticking it to evangelicals. He’s had a full menu of “Gotchas” for them lately, from arguing that businesses cannot have Christian values to insisting that Christian teaching is actually popular in American culture (because of Pope Francis). It seems Merritt’s blogging itinerary this year has been to go down the list of what conservative evangelicals think and then write up the reasons they’re wrong, ignorant or dangerous. His latest piece is, for me, proof positive that... Read more
Generally, I try to avoid (and will continue to do so) posting multiple blogs on the same story. Please forgive me for suspending my typical M.O. and returning to Ray Rice’s pathetic punishment from the NFL for domestic abuse. Listen, my beef is pretty simple. Roger Goodell’s NFL is a league that takes no prisoners when it comes to handling people who make the game look bad. That’s the reason for its strict anti-drug policies and ruthless pursuit of Sean... Read more
A woman once wrote to C.S. Lewis in great distress. It appeared, she said, that England was becoming a very pagan nation. She meant “pagan” not in the imprecise sense of “generally un-Christian” but specifically that the culture of Britain was reverting back to pre-Christian worldviews of spiritism, ritual and nature-worship. She expressed this concern earnestly to Professor Lewis to see what analysis or prescription he could give to the state of the nation. I’m guessing his response surprised her. “Oh... Read more
This week we saw a stark, disturbing contrast that illustrates how the New Left is determined to obliterate its opposition. On Monday, former Super Bowl winning coach and current NBC football analyst Tony Dungy received wave after wave after wave of the harshest criticism for what he told The Tampa Tribune about Michael Sam. His great offense? Saying that he would not have drafted Sam because of the intense media narratives surrounding the first openly gay NFL player. There’s no... Read more
As a fan of the NFL and a defender of football against some contemporary criticisms of the sport, I’m discouraged that the league and its commissioner Roger Goodell do not seem serious about disciplining players for domestic violence incidents. Ray Rice, a successful running back for the 2012 Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, is the latest beneficiary of the NFL’s moral hypocrisy. Rice was videotaped in February dragging his semi-conscious fiance out of a New Jersey casino. The fiance later... Read more
For those who may not know, Tony Dungy is a big name in professional football. He was the first black NFL coach to win the Super Bowl. His career win percentage with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts is 139-69, one of the best ever. He took his team to the playoffs eleven times and coached Peyton Manning to dominance. Since retiring, Dungy has kept busy as a football analyst for NBC, charity spokesperson, bestselling author and motivational speaker. Dungy is one of the most well-respected... Read more
I’ve noticed two trends that are becoming lately characteristic of American culture. One is outrage. We are a society brimming with anger, some articulate and much inarticulate. We are quick to be offended and even quicker to call our offenders to account for themselves. Worst of all, we are losing our ability to exchange in the marketplace of ideas without verbally assaulting “the enemy” (ie, all those who disagree). I’m not even referring to culture war. Culture war is... Read more
When you think of beloved writers, writers who receive adulation and respect and even affection, and whose deaths are felt deeply and widely, you probably do not think of film critics. Roger Ebert, however, was not an ordinary film critic. His career transformed the perception of the movie critic, breaking out of the the ivory tower and infiltrating the Saturday night planning of average moviegoers across the country. Perhaps more than that, his lifelong residence in Chicago and loyalty to the Sun... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In