Perhaps you grew up in a rule-oriented religion. Perhaps you found yourself in the church one day, looked around, and wondered if you really knew God or if you were one who only knew what it was like to be religious. Perhaps you have explored being the best possible Christian and found the chase exhausting. Perhaps you’ve tried to keep all the rules and wonder if you’ve ever experienced grace. Perhaps … perhaps you are longing for grace and yearning... Read more

What can be done? Anyone have some wisdom on this one? The shortage of rural physicians is a “huge problem,” said Dr. Howard Rabinowitz, professor of family and community medicine at Thomas Jefferson University’s Medical College. “About 20% of the population lives in rural areas but only 9% of physicians practice there,” said Rabinowitz who has studied the issue for more than 30 years. He said insufficient insurance payments, administrative hassles tied to insurance claims, and rising business and malpractice... Read more

UberBubble with BubbleMeister! Please pray. Conversion as process and Crazy Heart with Alyce McKenzie. Speaking of conversion, J.K.A. Smith, instead of reviewing Francis Beckwith’s memoir, decides to unleash … well, there’s got to be something more going on here. Please sing with extra gusto this year with Nancy Faust. Dan gets it about education in the church. Jodi gets it about the health care and insurance reform discussions. And she’s an American living in Sweden. Brian McLaren interview; worth reading. One... Read more

This from Vinoth Ramachandra… please read it all if you can, but here’s a clip of the end of the piece. What would you say to the question at the end? And I’d love to hear some Republican Christians explain this, and I mean that only in a good sense. One thing that has been missing in our public rhetoric is a clear Republican explanation of how to handle the problem of the lack of health care for so many.... Read more

From Michael Kruse… Michael here reflects on a TED lecture on happiness, and you might be interested in a piece I wrote on happiness a couple years back. But Michael has found a fascinating study on what it is that makes us happy.   How can we best measure well-being? Are you an experience kind of happiness person? Or a story kind of happiness person? Which makes you happiesr? Happiness Economics   How can we best measure well-being?  An economist... Read more

Allan Bevere, at his blog, engages the Christian and the State issue, and here’s a major idea. My thesis throughout this multi-part discussion will be that the main reason the practices of discipleship are in such sad shape in Western culture is not because Christians don’t want to read their Bibles, nor because they don’t want to take time to pray, nor because they would rather hoard their money than give it to those in need. While all of those... Read more

Andrew Sullivan, at the Daily Dish, is obsessed with speculation on the stunted sexuality of abusing priests, which would probably be hard to deny, but does not dwell enough on two things: 1. Mercy and care for the children, many of whom are now adults, who were abused. 2. The system that drags its feet, protects priests in order to help them, fails to report abuse as a crime to the legal system, and then spends too much energy protecting... Read more

Michael Kruse, one of our favorite bloggers and readers of this blog and constant commenter, has drafted up for us a useful sketch of the economic systems at work right not in political rhetoric. [BTW: on Scandinavia.] What is socialism? Here’s Michael’s sketch… Where do you see the USA fitting in this scheme? Why? What’s the decisive indicator for you? The differing economic and political systems hinge on who controls the means of production and distribution. It is probably most... Read more

I’m a fan of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters , as much for its insight into human nature as anything else, and I think Lewis now has a rival: The Loser Letters , by Mary Eberstadt. But instead of insight into the moral and religious problems at work among Christians as one finds in Lewis’ classic, Eberstadt’s book explores the logical and moral problems at work in new atheism. What does her book do? It’s a series of ten letters to... Read more