Smart people saying smart things

Last updated on: December 17, 2011 at 7:01 pm By Fred Clark

Theodore Roosevelt, New Nationalism speech, Aug. 31, 1910 Our government, National and State, must be freed from the sinister influence or control of special interests. Exactly as the special interests of cotton and slavery threatened our political integrity before the Civil War, so now the great special business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit. We must drive the special interests out of politics. That is one of our tasks today.... Read more

Richard Land offers qualified opposition to beating people to death

Last updated on: December 9, 2011 at 2:15 pm By Fred Clark

In response to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech on human rights Tuesday, Richard Land, ethics czar for the Southern Baptist Vatican, said: I certainly don’t believe homosexuals or anyone else should be flogged or put to death for their sexual sins. However … Wait. Stop. Before you go on, Richard Land, are you sure you want to do that? Here’s what you just said: I certainly don’t believe homosexuals or anyone else should be flogged or put to death.... Read more

‘Won’t you help to sing …’

Last updated on: December 9, 2011 at 12:12 pm By Fred Clark

Old-school Anglicans and Episcopalians don’t sing Christmas carols yet. They save those for the actual 12 days of Christmas, and despite the decorations and hype of early December, it’s still only Advent. (Black Friday is not yet an official part of the Christian liturgical calendar.) But I like starting early with the Christmas carols because it’s good to be reminded during Advent of what it is we’re waiting for. This is what the best Christmas carols do, such as for... Read more

Religious jokes

Last updated on: December 9, 2011 at 9:12 am By Fred Clark

I just got a copy of Fr. James Martin’s book Between Heaven and Mirth for an upcoming Patheos Book Club discussion. (You may know Fr. Martin from his role as chaplain of the Colbert Nation.) This provides an excuse for a fine “Share Your Favorite Religious Joke” open thread at Deborah Arca’s Take and Read blog, which has dozens of good ones, groaners and classic old chestnuts. Any discussion of religious jokes, I think, has to include Emo Philips’ classic... Read more

Ludwig von Mises smacks down latest religious-right talking point

Last updated on: December 8, 2011 at 9:41 pm By Fred Clark

Right-wing hero Ludwig von Mises approaches the Jesus of the Bible the same way that Chuck Colson does — which is to say that he’s primarily interested in whether or not it will rile up the peasants or keep them sedate. But where Colson invokes Jesus as a helpful moralist who can keep the peasants in line, von Mises sees Jesus as a dangerous class warrior seething with resentment toward his betters. They’re both full of it. Colson hears a... Read more

Sweet Fanny Adams

Last updated on: December 8, 2011 at 2:41 pm By Fred Clark

I’m saddened by the passing of Harry Morgan, a great old character actor. I’m too young for Dragnet, but I’ve probably seen every episode of M*A*S*H at least twice. The remarkable thing about Morgan’s character, Col. Sherman T. Potter, was that you always knew he was swearing, but you never actually heard him swear. Col. Potter was an old soldier, but you can’t cuss like an old soldier on prime-time network television. So the writers of M*A*S*H provided Potter a... Read more

Books one doesn’t want to be seen reading

Last updated on: December 8, 2011 at 10:45 am By Fred Clark

The girls got an early Christmas present yesterday — tickets to a big concert at the Spectrum II CoreStates Center First Union Center Wachovia Center big arena where the Sixers and Flyers play. For the chauffeur (me), that meant several hours in coffee shops and diners, which was good because I had a lot of offline reading to catch up on. The problem was that one of the books I’ve been reading is Bob Larson’s In the Name of Satan:... Read more

Confused Rhode Island Christianists sing secular song to defend Pagan symbol

Last updated on: December 7, 2011 at 2:34 pm By Fred Clark

I have long argued that perpetual offendedness leads to stupidity. This stupidity is not innate. It is willful, voluntary and chosen. But it’s also extreme. Those who have become addicted to indignation wind up divorced from reality, interacting with it only sporadically when in search of some new pretext onto which they can project the pre-existing umbrage that has become their character, their identity and their reason for being. And when one only rarely interacts with reality — and even... Read more

One day, two good speeches

Last updated on: December 6, 2011 at 11:34 pm By Fred Clark

This was a very good speech. President Barack Obama, Osawatomie, Kan., Dec. 6, 2011 This is the defining issue of our time. This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement. Now, in the midst of this... Read more

An open letter to Rachel Held Evans

Last updated on: December 6, 2011 at 9:09 pm By Fred Clark

Dear Rachel Held Evans, I have noted with righteous worry and sanctified dismay your disrespect for one of our cherished Christian institutions. I refer, of course, to your recent criticisms of the Pious Online Open Letter. I had hoped that you would come to see the error of your ways so that I would not be forced to write this, but I see from this post, and then this one, that you have not repented. And so it grieves me... Read more