It seriously puzzles me. OK, he’s no doubt a competent administrator. But who cares how competent he is if he’s sold his soul? Romney and McCain campaigned in Michigan on the issue of the economy and the loss of jobs. McCain was honest, Romney gave a lot of smarmy feel-good talk that didn’t mean anything, and Romney won. Did people seriously believe that Romney could deliver his promise to bring back lost jobs? Why would they believe a thing like... Read more

The war was stupid and wrong from the start. We (Americans, British, etc.) went into it on false pretences, and we have almost certainly done more harm than good. But we are there now. You can’t just charge into a neighbor’s house and make a mess and then run off. We have made ourselves reponsible for what happens. To withdraw unilaterally simply compounds the evil we committed by invading in the first place. We must withdraw when and only when... Read more

After 1500 years, Origen gets a break. Pope Benedict dedicated his Wednesday audience to him, saying in part: I invite you to welcome the teachings of this great teacher of the faith intoyour hearts. He reminds us that in the prayerful reading of Scripture and in acoherent way of life, the Church is renewed and rejuvenated. The Word of God,which never ages or has its meaning exhausted, is a privileged way of doingthis. It is the Word of God, through... Read more

As the crisis in the Episcopal Church appears to be nearing a climax (but haven’t we been saying this for years now?), one hears more and more virulent rhetoric on both sides. And the most common charge made by “reappraisers” and “reasserters” alike is that the other side has somehow betrayed what it means to be Anglican. These charges are made with great sincerity, and I think they are both correct–given the presuppositions with which each group is starting. On... Read more

Since every other Anglican blog has naturally been holding forth for the past few weeks about the Primates’ meeting in Tanzania, and since I’m trying to get back into blogging, here are my thoughts: I am encouraged by the fact that the Anglican Communion appears to be holding together and that it is moving toward some kind of structure of authority and accountability. But I can’t get away from the question raised by liberals on the one hand and Catholics... Read more

The two great parties in human affairs are only the party which sees life black against white, and the party which sees it white against black, the party which macerates and blackens itself with sacrifice because the background is full of the blaze of an universal mercy, and the party which crowns itself with flowers and lights itself with bridal torches because it stands against a black curtain of incalculable night. The revellers are old, and the monks are young.... Read more

The catchphrase on the Left these days (and among many who see themselves as moderate) is “theocracy.” Allegedly, conservative Christians are pushing for an explicitly Christian government ruled by Biblical law, in which those who offend Christian codes of belief or ethics will be persecuted. These claims are supported by copious citations from the more extreme writings of the small group of conservative Protestants known as “Reconstructionists,” who are in fact working toward an explicitly Christian society based on what... Read more

I particularly like the point that the invasion of Iraq went astray in part because of its exclusively secular approach. A lot of people misinterpreted a perfectly normal (for any Christian) remark by Bush about seeking divine guidance as some sort of claim of divine inspiration for the invasion. It’s probably true that conservative Christianity leads to a rather dualistic mindset and thus tends to favor the demonization of enemies (this is one of the places where “conservative” and “orthodox”... Read more

This report by the Council on Foreign Relations was published in the New York Times. It’s a relatively fair account of American evangelicalism, though the tone (as one would expect) is patronizing, and there are some silly mistakes (such as the characterization of fundamentalism as “ultra-Calvinist”). At least they don’t think that evangelicals are pushing for a theocracy, which seems to be a common belief on the left these days. This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot, especially... Read more

Christianity Today reports that evangelical leaders including Franklin Graham and Rick Warren are criticizing the Bush administration’s stance on North Korea. They call for open negotiations with North Korea rather than the current emphasis on containment. How come? I thought evangelicals were supposed to be mindless toadies of the Bush administration. And of course we know that any humanitarian concern religious conservatives may display is a sham, because we’re all just hungering for the end of the world. How is... Read more