When Alex Trebek asks you about the capital of Australia, you'd better say "Canberra" or you're going to lose. When Richard Dawson or his successors ask that question on Family Feud, you'd better be prepared to answer "Sydney" or "Melbourne" or "Vienna," because those hundred people surveyed may have never seen a map. Read more
This legislation matters first of all because it would protect the rights of pregnant workers. But it also matters because it tests the integrity of the pro-life movement. So far, that movement is failing that test. Read more
Leftovers from the week that was, including: Some handy definitions from Bruce; more Stupid Things Adults Say to Children; poll shows hierarchy ignores the sensus fidelium; more New Hampshire legislature follies; the Malaysian gravy train; the weird and wonderful Tom Mullica; and the candidate who has what it takes to be governor of Illinois. Read more
No. 23. In the year 2000, Dick Cheney did paid work for both Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush. How many other people can say that? Read more
I think this all flows out of the authors' misunderstanding of the idea of "worldliness." For them, to be "worldly" is to be evil. And thus to be good is to avoid "the world" -- to shun it lest it's contaminating contagion of "worldliness" infect them with its evil. Read more
It's the Friday music game -- I'll show you mine, you show me yours. This week more songs with names in the title: Belshazzar, Ben, Bennie, Bernice, Bess, Betty, Bill, Billie, Billy, Billy Joe, Blake, Bobby, Brenda, Bryn, Bud and Buzz. Read more
Fifteen years ago I believed that white evangelicals' antipathy to environmentalism was due to a lack of familiarity with the facts and the evidence, or to an innocent failure to grasp the essential idea of stewardship in Christian theology. Ten years ago I thought maybe it was due to our failure to present those facts and that theology in a winsome, persuasive manner. Now I just think, feh. Read more
Here are a dozen more pieces of good news -- a dozen more reasons to celebrate, including: 50 years of progress on child mortality; everybody is filing amicus briefs in support of marriage equality; big comebacks for VAWA, housing and the Thin White Duke; Sleazemeisters Gone Bankrupt; Muslims defend free speech; a functional cure for an HIV+ child; and an IFO makes an appearance this week. Read more
The story of Noah is particularly tempting for a certain kind of illiteralist reader. The book of Genesis doesn't just tell us that Noah built an ark, it gives us specs for the project. For the sort of person who reads the Bible with an utter lack of concern for meaning, that passage presents an irresistible temptation. Read more
We're not all doing this on purpose. I suspect that the misuse of "it's" is far more common than the misuse of "its," not because of any confusing over the distinction, but because it's so habitual. It's just too easy to add that apostrophe whether it's in its proper place or not. Read more
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