"Here Is New York," 1948: "All dwellers in cities must live with the stubborn fact of annihilation; in New York the fact is somewhat more concentrated because of the concentration of the city itself, and because, of all targets, New York has a certain clear priority. In the mind of whatever perverted dreamer who might loose the lightning, New York must hold a steady, irresistible charm." Read more
You may recognize that maneuver. It’s the same duplicitous, weaselly trick I’ve constantly employed here as an explanation for why “love your neighbor as yourself” trumps a half-dozen context-deprived clobber verses. I don’t regard it as duplicitous or weaselly myself, anymore than Paul did, but that’s how it always gets characterized by Team Authoritah — as a dodge, an evasion, a way of “playing fast-and-loose” with the Bible. Paul was quite familiar with that criticism because he was well acquainted with that team. Read more
The faculty lounge is a place where teachers and professors can relax and talk amongst themselves without worrying about who might be listening in. I think that also describes the role that Books & Culture has played in American evangelicalism. Read more
Even Capuchin monkeys demand equal pay for equal work (and Capuchins, remember, have taken a vow of poverty). Plus other links involving the ongoing war on the poor, including: Fast food workers who can't afford fast food, care workers pay shows what we really think of the elderly, banks still stealing houses with a shrug -- and no legal repercussions, unknown ingredients, chemical accidents and what we don't know because of who isn't allowed in the room. Read more
Religion News Service gets a double-lie and a double-slander into one headline. Goats burn less gasoline than lawn mowers, and they're quieter. Dutch Christian schools spend 15,000 euros fighting imaginary Satanists under the bed. Hey, look, George Zimmerman still has a gun. Would freeping the online election for a small town's animal shelter cat calendar be unethical? Ask Angel. Kendra Waddle Irons on the problem of Eve. Read more
Vampire stories tell us, for example, that any of us can have great power if only we are willing to prey on others. Feed off the blood of others and great power will be yours. This is demonstrably true. It's how the pyramids were built. And Standard Oil. The stories also tell us that there's a downside to this predatory choice. You become a creature of the night, unable to stand in the light of day. And crosses will confound you. Read more
DeLong's apology notes that he hadn't just misread Sullivan -- he had misread the public as a whole. Contra H.L. Mencken, he had actually underestimated the American public's capacity for goodness and intelligence. Skepticism is necessary. Cynicism leads us astray. Be wise as serpents, but innocent as doves. Read more
I don't know that aiding these refugees really amounts to an alternative to military intervention in that it addresses a different set of problems -- problems that military intervention does not and cannot address, and that military intervention would likely make worse. But aiding refugees would certainly be an alternative to doing nothing -- and it stands as a clear alternative to the notion that "doing nothing" and military action are the only possible options. Aiding refugees -- and accepting more refugees here in America -- might not directly address the goal of ending the conflict, but military intervention is unlikely to advance that goal either. Read more
Mention someone like Gene Sharp and you'll often encounter a hostile reaction dismissing him (and you, for mentioning him) as a feckless, irrelevant hippie. This is often expressed in a mocking tone, "So, what? You want us to go over there with daisies singing 'Kumbaya'?" That mocking caricature confirms the problem: A lack of imagination that has ossified into a determined ignorance -- an ignorance that clings tightly to remaining ignorant. It confirms that we are unable to find other solutions and other approaches because we have given up looking for them. Read more
No, Mister Rogers didn't flip the bird and Saint Paul didn't say that either. Thanks -- and an assignment -- for the CFPB. They are coming for your birth control. Cow-tipping is not a thing that happens. Useful torture is not a thing that happens. A police and prison horror story. World Vision still has excellent taste in bloggers. Read more
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