“The plurality of shrines inevitably reflected the local multiplicity of Canaanite Baal worship, implying a Yahweh of Dan and another Yahweh at Bethel.” http://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/2014/10/what-were-the-bamot-and-why-did-they-make-the-biblical-prophets-angry/   Read more

Samuel Gregg Certainly, natural law arguments, no matter how well articulated, don’t convince everyone. Engaging in this type of persuasion is likely to be frustrating at times. But, as anyone who has taught students basic principles of natural law knows, it is possible to immunize many individuals against the siren calls of contemporary liberalism. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/10/13939/?utm_source=The+Witherspoon+Institute&utm_campaign=da035a3363-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_15ce6af37b-da035a3363-84107317   Read more

Sometimes it is asserted that Jesus’ emphasis on the “weightier things of the Torah” (Matt 23.23) meant indifference to the rest of Torah. But this appeal to higher principles within the Torah was not uncommon in the rabbinic tradition. First-century Rabbi Yohanan b. Zakkai, for example, used Hos. 6.6, just as Jesus did, to argue that deeds of kindness are more important than Temple sacrifices.[1] (more…) Read more

Alan Dershowitz On Monday night I went to the Metropolitan Opera. I went for two reasons: to see and hear John Adams’ controversial opera, The Death of Klinghoffer; and to see and hear what those protesting the Met’s judgment in presenting the opera had to say. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4808/klinghoffer-opera Read more

Rep. Chris Smith Today, in China, rather than being given maternal care, pregnant women without birth-allowed permits are hunted down and forced to undergo an abortion. They are mocked, belittled, humiliated, and exploited. A mother has absolutely no right or legal standing to protect her unborn baby or herself from state-sponsored violence. There are no single moms in China—except those who somehow evade the family planning cadres and conceal their pregnancy. Beijing’s One-Child Policy bans single moms from obtaining government... Read more

George Weigel There is something very odd about a Holy See whose default positions include a ritualized deprecation of the Huntington thesis married to a will-to-believe about the U.N.’s capacity to be something more than an echo chamber. http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/10/clash-of-straw-men   Read more

When I first saw the story, I dismissed it as a hoax. The City of Houston had served subpoenas on local pastors who had participated in a petition drive against a city ordinance, known as HERO, which prohibits discrimination against LGBT persons. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2014/10/whats-happening-in-houston Read more

In my experience, evangelical schools are particularly deft at self-loathing. I say this as someone who has been in the academy for twenty years, as an undergraduate, graduate, and faculty member. http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/10/the-problem-of-self-loathing-at-evangelical-colleges   Read more

“The courts are one branch of government, and equal to the other two, but not superior to either and certainly not to both. Even if the other branches agree with the ruling, the people’s representatives have to pass enabling legislation to authorize same-sex marriage, and the President (or Governor in the case of the state) has to sign it. Otherwise it remains the court’s opinion. It is NOT the `law of the land’ as it is often heralded.” http://www.virtueonline.org/how-fight-supreme-courts-backing-same-sex-marriage Read more

In one short interview, the two speakers had ensured that: a Zionist conspiracy is in place; Western media are liars and cannot be trusted; ISIS is not really dangerous; the West is at war with Muslims, and that the killing must continue to adjust the world population. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4792/boxed-packaged-islam Read more