Michael McClymond We all have heard the media reports alleging that earth temperatures are rapidly increasing, that the increase in temperature is due to CO2 levels in the atmosphere, that the rising CO2 levels are due to the burning of fossil fuels, and that dire consequences will follow if humanity as a whole doesn’t immediately reduce fossil consumption.  Those who question any or all of the propositions just listed are sometimes referred to in the media as “climate change deniers”–in a none-too-subtle comparison with the... Read more

Amidst all the hoopla about Obama’s detente with Cuba, encouraged by Pope Francis, and more recently the Pope’s visit to Cuba, we heard all too little in the news about the Women in White. These are brave mothers of journalists and other political prisoners in horrendous prisons in Cuba.  Every Sunday since 2003 they have been leading quiet protests of prayer in Havana against these egregious abuses of human rights by the Castro brothers. The results?  They have been routinely... Read more

“The fact is that neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas are behind the eruption of violence. It also appears they have very minimal influence over the people for which they claim to be speaking. Meanwhile, they are trying their hardest to exploit the situation, dancing on the blood of those incited youth shot trying to stab Jews, while of course extracting any possible political gain. This also applies, despite the obvious differences, to Arab MKs, whom no one outside of... Read more

“Tall el-Hammam seemed to match every Sodom criterion demanded by the text,” he says.  “Theorizing, on the basis of the Sodom texts, that Sodom was the largest of the Kikkar (the Jordan ‘Disk’, or ‘well-watered plain’ in the biblical text) cities east of the Jordan, I concluded that if one wanted to find Sodom, then one should look for the largest city on the eastern Kikkar that existed during the Middle Bronze Age, the time of Abraham and Lot. When we... Read more

They are not only two kings but a father and son–Josiah (ca 648-609 BCE) and Jehoiakim (609–598 BCE). They could not have been more different. (more…) Read more

It’s by Bret Stephens in today’s Wall Street Journal. Stephens is the award-winning former editor of the Jerusalem Post.  He lived in Israel for years. Now he reveals the media’s hypocrisy in covering the conflict, and the bald facts about what really happens there. Here is a sample: Left out of most of these stories is some sense of what Palestinian leaders have to say. As in these nuggets from a speech Mr. Abbas gave last month: “Al Aqsa Mosque... Read more

There is an ugly new anti-Semitism, virulent in Europe and driving the BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanction) movement in this country. This past weekend it raised its head in our nation’s capital. Jeremiah Wright, who was president Obama’s pastor in Chicago, spoke at a Nation of Islam event titled “Justice or Else!” on the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March. (more…) Read more

Most Christians would say No to each of these questions. Jonathan Edwards, however, pointed to biblical passages such as the following: God inhabits the praises of his people (Ps 22.3) and When two or three of you are gathered in my name, there I will be in the midst of you (Matt 18.20).   (more…) Read more

Once again we read of Palestinian protests against Israel that erupt in violence.  Palestinians attack and kill Israeli civilians or charge Israeli police/soldiers with lethal weapons, and are killed when the police/soldiers defend themselves.  The world condemns Israel for “disproportionate” response. In a new article in Commentary Jonathan Tobin argues that little of this would be happening if the American administration were not in crypto-collusion with Palestinian leadership: “[A]s the toll of casualties rises, the reaction from the U.S. government . .... Read more

Roy Strong’s A Little History of the English Country Church is a gem.  It is a delightful history of Anglicanism using the story of what happened in the parish, with many beautiful pictures, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. There are many surprises and Aha! moments, such as . . . 1. The purpose of Cranmer’s original Prayer Books (1549 and 1552) was to inspire people to join in worship rather than simply watch the priest at the front, as... Read more