Upcoming Movie: The Blind Side

Last updated on: August 27, 2009 at 10:57 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

Having finished a recent month-long conversation on Faith@Work, and since the Public Square recently discussed abortion, we at the Evangelical Portal at Patheos have been spending a few weeks talking about adoption and other forms of care for the orphan. I’m particularly proud of the interview of Jedd Medefind, President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, who was incredibly articulate in his explanation of the plight of the orphan around the world, of the need for adoption, foster-care and orphan-care,... Read more

Morning Report, August 27th: KennedyCare, the UN Wants to Teach Your Kids About Sex, Fair-Weather Deficit Hawks, Lucky Sanford, and National Financial Ruin

Last updated on: August 27, 2009 at 12:03 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

One Christian’s perspective on the day’s news: 1. Senator Kennedy is being mourned today at his home in Hyannis Port and then in Boston. Later he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery beside his slain brothers. The newspapers are full today with tributes and assessments (the Boston Globe’s obit is especially good). Some conservatives complain about hagiography (a local media personality around here, Howie Carr, is always entertaining.) Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping to use public sentiment surrounding the death... Read more

A Mother's Love for Her Adopted Daughter

Last updated on: August 26, 2009 at 9:03 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

At the Evangelical Portal at Patheos, we continue to reflect on adoption and other ways of caring for orphans nationally and internationally. As anyone who knows me well knows, my sister is adopted from Korea, and we are very close. We’ve grown closer over the years, after we got past the petty competitions that arise between siblings when they are still under the parental roof. Things improved once we got some space. They also improved after she went through some... Read more

"A Demographic Problem"

Last updated on: August 26, 2009 at 5:53 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

I want to share this with folks and ask what they think. First, watch the video: Then, consider: do you find anything in this video offensive or wrong? If it were speaking of Jews, for instance, would you consider it anti-Semitic? Is this an example of religious bigotry, or of Christians who want the gospel of Christ to spread around the world, and are finding in Islam a barrier to that profession of faith? I’m very curious to hear how... Read more

Morning Report, August 26th: The Last Lion, the Christian Mafia, the Living Lockerbie Bomber, and the Lost Work Ethic

Last updated on: August 26, 2009 at 11:47 am By Timothy Dalrymple

One Christian’s perspective on the day’s news. 1. Senator Edward Kennedy passed away last night from brain cancer. The senior Senator from Massachusetts was regarded by friends and foes alike as one of the kindest and hardest working Senators in the Senate. President Obama released a statement saying: “An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United... Read more

Morning Report, August 25th

Last updated on: August 25, 2009 at 12:33 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

One Christian’s perspective on today’s news: 1. Michael Scherer from Time commits the unforgivable sin of suggesting (and explaining more fully in Time) that protesters are not wrong to be concerned about federal funding of abortion. The responses he gets from commenters are pretty funny. I put in a few counter-responses myself. 2. Ed Morrisey culls together some of the best resources on the actual number of Americans who do not have insurance involuntarily. In other words, when one subtracts... Read more

Morning Report, August 24

Last updated on: August 24, 2009 at 3:03 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

One Christian’s perspective on today’s news: 1. Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God, penned an Op-Ed in the New York Times today, “A Grand Bargain Over Evolution.” Worth reading. The argument, essentially, is that believers should accept that natural evolutionary means are quite capable of explaining the development of such things as moral intuitions–while atheistic scientists should accept that it makes sense to speak of purposes and moral values as transcendent, existing things (not merely “hallucinated,” in the... Read more

Morning Report, August 21: Obamapproval, More Reverend Obama, the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, ACLU champions of civil rights, heartbreak Ridge, Time Travel, and Stupid Middle Americans?

Last updated on: August 21, 2009 at 11:42 am By Timothy Dalrymple

1. Obama’s approval rating, in Zogby, is now down to 45%, compared to a 50% disapproval rate. In a poll that has tended to be on the high side for Obama, only 49% trust Obama to make the right decisions for the country’s future–down from 60% a few months ago. In general, it looks like Obama’s numbers have dropped roughly 15% since April, and 20-25% since the Inauguration. Let there be no pussyfooting here: this is a steep drop. I... Read more

Morning Report, August 20: Public Splition, Reverend Obama, Rabbi Obama, WWJD, In Government We Trust, LaRouchitler, Abortion Mandate, Ted Kennedy, Hold the Mayo (Clinic), and Avatar

Last updated on: August 20, 2009 at 1:39 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

1. Democrats are now considering splitting the health care reform into two or more bills–which, as I’ve said previously, is what they should have done from the start. The question is: can you get the water back into the glass? More specifically, however, Reid proposes to set the budgetary elements into one bill, which can be passed through the budget reconciliation process, which does not require 60 votes, but only 50–and the other bill would have the more popular elements... Read more

On Adoption and Orphans

Last updated on: August 19, 2009 at 1:33 pm By Timothy Dalrymple

The long-promised material on adoption and orphan-care ministries will begin to appear today at the Evangelical Portal at Patheos. In fact, we will have one of the “tabs” designated to the subject, giving us a nice way to collect and organize the essays and profiles we will see. So check out the Evangelical Portal later today. Read more