Weekend Post: What Obama's Encounter with Velma Hart Revealed

Last updated on: September 26, 2010 at 1:19 am By Timothy Dalrymple

Peggy Noonan issued two tour-de-force columns this week, the first on the fundamental moral sentiments behind the Tea Party movement and the second on President Obama’s dramatic encounter at a recent town hall meeting with a disenchanted African-American supporter named Velma Hart. Noonan writes: All anyone in America who cares about politics was talking about this week was the searing encounter that captured, in a way that hasn’t been done before, the essence of the political moment we’re in. When... Read more

From the Vault: a Word and a Shelter

Last updated on: September 24, 2010 at 2:02 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

Since I am still wrestling with computer demons, here is a repost from an older blog of mine. Like yesterday’s post, this one is a little more devotional than the typical fare here, but I hope it is worthwhile nonetheless: We all understand the power of words. “Words can never hurt me,” we used to chant, but words can wound just as deeply as sticks and stones. Words like “I never loved you.” Like “This marriage is over.” Like “hate”... Read more

The Holy Ghost in the Machine

Last updated on: September 23, 2010 at 10:59 am By Timothy Dalrymple

Since my computer is on the fritz (I have a sweet date with a Mac genius in an hour or so), today’s post will be brief. And in the meantime let me invite new readers to sign up for my RSS feed, or else to add me on Facebook or Twitter, if you enjoy what you find on the blog. And of course bookmarks are nice. Since typing anything is an excruciating process on this netbook (at least for untrained... Read more

Are Conservative Christians Worshiping America?

Last updated on: September 22, 2010 at 10:49 am By Timothy Dalrymple

Jonathan Fitzgerald at Patrol declares that the Restoring Honor rally heralded the birth of a new national religion. David Sessions at the same magazine writes that “evangelicals…don’t really get” that they should be “far more worried about their own America-worship than they are about Glenn Beck’s theological errors.” Similar claims are easy to find at the Huffington Post or any number of other sites and blogs. Yet I am seeing terms thrown around rather brazenly, terms like Christianism, Americolatry, theocracy... Read more

The Argument from Ignorance – Why I am Against Abortion

Last updated on: September 21, 2010 at 1:01 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

I’m quite certain this post will upset some people. It’s hard to say anything about abortion without upsetting someone. All I can do is forthrightly state my views. In this case, I do not intend to make a lengthy case (that’s not what this blog is about); but I do intend to explain an argument that I have not been able to shake. I hope that this will at least explain why one person is pro-life. First, some preliminaries. For... Read more

Honesty in Politics – an Opportunity for Christian Leadership

Last updated on: September 20, 2010 at 10:28 am By Timothy Dalrymple

The American public is fed up with politics as usual. This presents an opportunity for Christian leadership. Christians can lead the way in a more honest form of political discourse. Read more

Weekend Post – Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?

Last updated on: September 19, 2010 at 1:04 am By Timothy Dalrymple

Was America founded as a Christian nation? The question is in the air. On the one hand, the Restoring Honor ralliers and the “black robe brigade,” along with organizations or ministries such as Wallbuilders answer in the affirmative, recalling a hallowed founding period when America began with God. On the other hand are all who are politically disinclined to associate with the aforementioned groups, and (they would say) those who are inclined to appreciate historical nuance. Too often, those on... Read more

Is the Tea Party 'Childish'?

Last updated on: September 17, 2010 at 4:11 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

At last the Tea Party has shaken not only the presently prevailing (but not long for power?) Democratic regime but even the firmament of national Republican celebrities in Washington. The Republican establishment is right to feel a lingering sting from Tuesday; the Tea Party has delivered a slap in the face. The message is clear: they are conservatives gladly and Republicans grudgingly, and nearly as deeply disappointed in the GOP as they are frustrated with the Democratic Party. While the... Read more

Introducing Philosophical Fragments

Last updated on: September 16, 2010 at 5:06 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

This blog takes its title from Philosophical Fragments, a brief and brilliant work published in 1844 by the Danish religious thinker, Søren Kierkegaard. It seemed particularly apt since what I hope to offer in this blog are (1) philosophical distinctions that are germane to contemporary discussions on faith, politics and culture, in (2) a daily, fragmentary form. My writing tends to expand, and the only way I can commit myself to a blog is by making it abundantly clear from... Read more

Monday, September 7, 2010

Last updated on: September 7, 2010 at 10:06 am By Timothy Dalrymple

EVENTFUL New York Times - President Obama to Call for Infrastructure Stimulus Spending Wall Street Journal - General Petraeus Condemns Planned Qu'ran Burning Rasmussen Reports - Republicans With Largest-Ever Lead in Generic Congressional Ballot National Catholic Register - Abortionists Kept Aborted Babies in Jars Politico - Top 10 What-Ifs of the Midterm Elections THOUGHTFUL Hot Air - Iran Paying Taliban $1000 Per American Soldier Killed? Roger Kimball - College Tuition Bubble About to Pop? Hugh Hewitt - Interests of Younger and Older Teachers Clash Richard Cohen - Obama's Shrinking Presidency Steve Forbes - Bad Medicine Begets Bad Economy Peter Orszag - Extend the Bush Tax Cuts for Two Years FAITHFUL Albert Mohler - Stephen Hawking Defies Divine Creation Timothy Dalrymple - Have We Squandered Our Cultural Inheritance? Daily Mail - God No Longer Male Ravi Zacharias - Has Christianity Failed You? David Brooks - The Gospel of Wealth Read more