This is pretty dang funny. Read more

…who steals from theism in order to give his personal moral system the weight of transcendence that his philosophy denies can be there. The vast majority of atheists are inveterate moralists, even as they argue that the universe has no meaning, human life no purpose beyond what we subjectively fantasize, and so forth. They posit a universe of nothing but Is (time, space, matter and energy whirling mindlessly through their collisions and accidents) but are constantly haunted by commanding Oughts... Read more

I don’t get this. A reader responds to this post (documenting the fact that a significant aspect of our casus belli for war with Iraq–namely, the phony Iraq/Al-Quaeda link–was a fiction obtained through torture) with this mysterious complaint: Mark, this is a very troublesome post. You don’t approve of waterboarding. Ok. I understand what you’re saying but to be sarcastic as to our reasons for going to war? That really offends me. Saying that there was a link between Iraq... Read more

Suppose you want to defend something the Church plainly says is gravely and intrinsically evil, like abortion. How do you distract yourself and your audience from this fact so that you can plunge ahead and do something as stupid and contrary to both the good and common sense and still persuade yourself that you are a stand up kinda guy? There are lots of strategies for this, of course, but one of the most popular is this: If Mr Shea... Read more

Here’s a bit of coolness for the Catholic theology researcher in your life: Logos Bible Software for Catholics. I’ve used their stuff in the past and it was helpful. You can see all their sundryCatholic stuff in their Catholic Product Guide. The company is run, I think, by a bunch of Catholic-friendly Evangelicals, and this is exactly the sort of practical ecumenism that benefits thw whole body of Christ. My hat’s off to them for a nifty tool! Read more

Pelosi combines in herself the classic tendency of the Leftist Nanny Statist toward moral chaos and statist hyper-control. She’s all about destroying a sane sexual ethic with her devotion to the sacrament of abortion while simultaneously substituting a gospel of a world dominated by state control over every aspect of life. The Prophet Chesterton wrote about such incoherence back in the 20s: I remember when Mr. H. G. Wells had an alarming fit of Nominalist philosophy; and poured forth book... Read more

In which we ponder whether ET is really all that big a threat to the Christian revelation. Read more

…especially on Talk Radio. One yakker for the Rubber Hose Right decided to go get himself waterboarded to prove it’s not really torture. Note that highly politically invested locution. He did not want to find out whether it was torture or not. He “wanted to prove it wasn’t torture“. That’s because, contra so many people on the amazing shrinking Rubber Hose Right, there are indeed people who are heavily invested, not in facts, but in marshalling evidence for a fore-ordained... Read more

A reader writes: I wonder if you would post a prayer request for my friend Yevgen, a Ukrainian (Byzantine) Catholic seminarian. After radio silence during which he was visiting his family in Ukraine, I got an email requesting prayers, as his father is unwell and needs heart surgery, which is scheduled for today. Yesterday he (and his family?) were at the hospital donating blood, presumably for said surgery. I don’t have details of what’s going on, but would appreciate if... Read more

A reader writes: I wonder if you would post a prayer request for my friend Yevgen, a Ukrainian (Byzantine) Catholic seminarian. After radio silence during which he was visiting his family in Ukraine, I got an email requesting prayers, as his father is unwell and needs heart surgery, which is scheduled for today. Yesterday he (and his family?) were at the hospital donating blood, presumably for said surgery. I don’t have details of what’s going on, but would appreciate if... Read more