Cardinal Pell to Debate Christopher Hitchens I think Pell will wipe the floor with him. Hitchens is skilled at invective, but when it comes to actual substance on matter theological and philosophical, his insane hatred of God impoverishes him. He can’t govern his contempt long enough to understand what he is attacking and so makes lots of stupid blunders in his arguments. All his opponent needs to do is stay calm and remain in possession of his facts and he... Read more

NPR warns against the filthy practices of disease-spreading Catholics. Body condoms for all! Yes, yes. I’m exaggerating. But really, it’s rather silly. Our Manufacturers of Culture have been telling us for years that Approved Victime Groups should be allowed to engage in all sorts of incredibly dangerous activities and that a thin latex barrier will keep them safe. When the Pope say, “No it won’t. So don’t engage in the dangerous activity” he’s labeled a murderer and even an architect... Read more

I bet none of these people were especially thrilled to have this make headlines. Read more

“Where does evolution leave God?” they don’t ask an intelligent and informed believer, but instead ask an embittered ex-nun with a grudge against the Abrahamic tradition in general and the Catholic Church in particular, and the intellectual equivalent of a bag lady screaming at the traffic? I can think of half a dozen people off the top of my head they could have picked who would have been better respondents to this question. What a pity Tom Kreitzberg doesn’t try... Read more

…from evil seems like a reasonable prayer in response to stuff like this. Read more

A friend writes: Utterly, utterly brilliant feigned interview. The funny thing is, this statement helps me fill in a portion of my doctoral work: that man needs to feed on fiction as well as fact. The main focus of my dissertation is the necessity of a fictive element in evil: falling in love with a construal of the moral universe about oneself as summit. Here’s where Chesterton explains what he means (“Fiction as Food”, The Spice of Life and other... Read more

by a fashion photographer who is also apparently a devout Christian. Read more

A reader writes: Please pray for my husband, Randy. He is in prison. He went before the parole board almost a month ago and we still have not hear an answer. He is 54 years old with 6 heart stints, diabetes, high blood pressure, liver disease and has had both shoulders (rotator cuffs) replaced. He has been in jail for 16 months on a parole violation. He has been a model prisoner. No write ups or violations. All 6 parole... Read more

A reader writes: Please pray for my husband, Randy. He is in prison. He went before the parole board almost a month ago and we still have not hear an answer. He is 54 years old with 6 heart stints, diabetes, high blood pressure, liver disease and has had both shoulders (rotator cuffs) replaced. He has been in jail for 16 months on a parole violation. He has been a model prisoner. No write ups or violations. All 6 parole... Read more

A reader writes: I wonder if you would be willing to recommend books that might be helpful for an evangelical friend of mine who is starting to ask me questions about the formation of the canon of the Bible. A little more on his situation: I’m a tutor at Oregon State University, and he started as one of my students in his sophomore year. (He was a physics student; he’s now entering grad school in engineering.) I helped him off... Read more