Matthew J. Franck A New Jersey judge’s contorted and nonsensical decision that the state is responsible for the federal government’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage highlights the irrationality that permeates the campaign for “marriage equality.” http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/10/11030/?utm_source=RTA+Franck+Liberal+Judges+Irrational&utm_campaign=winstorg&utm_medium=email Read more

No honest appraisal could fail to expose the nature of the Communist mind that had planned it in attentive detail: three thousand political executions, against a background of general carnage in which defenceless non-combatants, including large numbers of women & children considered to belong to the “class enemy,” became the intended occupants of mass graves. It is hard for me to write about my own experiences in that country, partly for the rage I still contain against smug, liberal journalists... Read more

On the eve of a new Supreme Court session, the firebrand justice discusses gay rights and media echo chambers, Seinfeld and the Devil, and how much he cares about his intellectual legacy (“I don’t”). http://nymag.com/news/features/antonin-scalia-2013-10/ Read more

New neurological research reveals that porn is as potently addictive as heroin or cocaine. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/10/10846/?utm_source=RTA+Bennet+Part+One&utm_campaign=winstorg&utm_medium=email Read more

This new form of human trafficking is nevertheless a threat to individual and societal wellbeing, just as displacement during slavery was harmful to African Americans, as Malcolm X and Alex Haley argued. It burdens the child just as anonymity hijacks the energy of donor-conceived offspring like me, Lindsay Greenawalt, Kathleen LaBounty, Olivia Pratten, Barry Stevens, Damian Adams, Joanna Rose, and Narelle Grech. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/10/10933/?utm_source=RTA+Newman+Going+the+Distance&utm_campaign=winstorg&utm_medium=email Read more

A new academic study based on the Canadian census suggests that a married mom and dad matter for children. Children of same-sex coupled households do not fare as well. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/10/10996/ Read more

Newark, N.J. Mayor and Senate hopeful Cory Booker is not known for proclaiming his love of Jesus or evangelizing to his fellow politicians and constituents. So as a 20-something evangelical, I find it curious that Mayor Booker is a featured key-note speaker at this weekend’s Catalyst Atlanta 2013, a Christian conference gathering together young evangelicals for worship, learning, and sharing their faith in Jesus Christ. http://juicyecumenism.com/2013/10/06/why-liberal-evangelicals-are-lying-to-millennials/ Read more

The myth is that Matthew Shepard was martyred by redneck homophobes. A stunning new book by a gay journalist debunks this. http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/three_lies_that_built_a_revolution Read more

A debate is taking hold within the evangelical world, and the Jewish future will be greatly affected by how it unfolds. http://mosaicmagazine.com/essay/2013/10/evangelicals-and-israel/?utm_source=Mosaic+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=72c10247d4-Mosaic_2013_10_7&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0b0517b2ab-72c10247d4-41159925 Read more

Biblical Hebrew has several words for ‘boat,’ so why was Noah told to build an ‘ark,’ that is, a box or container, rather than a boat? Utnapishtim, in the Babylonian version, not only had to build a ship seven stories high, he was to take a crew with him to navigate: ‘I handed the tiller to Puzur-Amurri the steersman, with the navigation and care of the whole boat’! But Noah is to place himself entirely in God’s hands, simply floating... Read more