Pure myth! That is today’s typical view of a literal Adam and Eve. Yet, contrary to current skepticism, a real Adam and Eve remain credible—both in terms of Catholic doctrine and sound natural science. http://www.crisismagazine.com/2014/did-adam-and-eve-really-exist   Read more

Paul suggests in Romans 1 that the fundamental obligation we owe God is thanksgiving. (more…) Read more

Firasat, now 36, obtained political asylum in Spain in 2006 because of death threats against him in both Pakistan and Indonesia for leaving the Islamic faith and marrying a non-Muslim. But six years later, Spanish authorities initiated deportation procedures against Firasat, after he released a one-hour amateur film entitled, “The Innocent Prophet: The Life of Mohammed from a Different Point of View.” The movie, which was posted on YouTube, purports to raise awareness of the dangers that Islam poses to... Read more

Jacqueline C. Rivers Black children have suffered the most as a result of the decline of marriage in the black community. And today marriage faces new threats. Those who promote what they call marriage equality have unjustly appropriated the language and the mantle of the civil rights movement. But there can be no equivalence between blacks’ experience of slavery and oppression and the circumstances of homosexuals. Adapted from an address delivered at the Vatican during the Humanum Colloquium. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/11/14108/?utm_source=The+Witherspoon+Institute&utm_campaign=6794870783-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_15ce6af37b-6794870783-84107317 Read more

Among many speeches  following Pope Francis’s address to the Humanum colloquium on complementarity, that of Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, was the standout, bringing the audience of 300 in the synod hall to their feet. Using dazzling oratory, he offered a magisterial account of the development of marriage from the very start — a sexual act between fish in Scotland — right up to the present day, told by means of seven stories, and ending with a... Read more

Jonathan Edwards’s birthday was October 5. While a growing number of Edwards-philes were quietly celebrating, most Americans (if they knew of his birthdate at all) were groaning. (more…) Read more

An important Muslim scholar is calling for an Islamic revolution–in thought. I posted his essay yesterday. Ahmed Vanya, a fellow at the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, has issued what amounts to a manifesto, whose principal theses could be summarized as follows: (more…) Read more

Rusty Reno, Ephraim Radner, and Christopher Seitz think so. Reno is editor of First Things, and Radner and Seitz are orthodox Anglican scholars at Wyclif College in Toronto. They reason that the old agreement between culture and the church on marriage–that it is between a man and a woman with the primary purpose of raising healthy children–has broken down.  And that therefore the church risks sending a mixed message by doing marriages for the state. (more…) Read more

In a month when papal conversation about marriage has been all the rage, the Vatican is enlisting a new set of allies to support its commitment to marriage between a man and a woman: American evangelicals and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. http://time.com/3597245/vatican-evangelicals-mormons-gay-marriage/   Read more

I would’ve thought that the one place in Britain where you could agree to disagree amicably would be Oxford University. But I was wrong. For instance, I’ve discovered that you’re only allowed to debate abortion there if a) you’re a woman and b) you’re all for it. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11239437/Oxford-students-shut-down-abortion-debate.-Free-speech-is-under-assault-on-campus.html Read more