“I was sick and you took care of me …” World AIDS Day, US | World AIDS Day, UK | World AIDS Day, UN | AVERT From (2015)Quilt.org: An HIV+ pregnant woman can give birth to an HIV-free baby 98 percent of mother-to-child HIV transmission incidents are preventable. Yet, more than 1,000 babies are born every day with HIV. And half of children born with HIV will die before their second birthday without treatment. So what will it take to... Read more
The ‘homogeneous unit principle’ in action “Kentucky Church Bans Interracial Couples” A small church in Pike County, Kentucky has voted to ban interracial couples from most church activities “to promote greater unity among the church body.” Melvin Thompson, former pastor of Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church, proposed the ban after Stella Harville brought her fiance, Ticha Chikuni, to services in June. Harville, who goes by the name Suzie, played the piano while Chikuni sang. Before stepping down as pastor in August,... Read more
Father Gabriele Amorth, former chief exorcist for the Vatican, has never read any of the Harry Potter books. We know this to be true because of what he says about them: “In Harry Potter the Devil acts in a crafty and covert manner, under the guise of extraordinary powers, magic spells and curses.” He’s not saying that this is how the Devil is portrayed as acting in the Harry Potter stories — wherein Volde-you-know-who certainly does “act in a crafty... Read more
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born 176 years ago today. So of course I’ll take that as an excuse to re-read one of my favorite passages in American literature, from Chapter 31 of Huckleberry Finn, wherein Huck aims to misbehave. I’m sticking with the original language here, which is offensive and vile, and the only language Huck would have known, even if he had gone to the Sunday school or listened to Miss Watson. I about made up my mind to... Read more
The Consumerist reports on an annual holiday tradition from PNC Financial: According to the folks at PNC Financial, who have spent decades tracking the ups and downs of the gifts rattled off in the seemingly endless tune, the total cost of realizing the full “12 Days of Christmas” has crossed the $100,000 mark for the first time, coming in at a total of $101,119.84. … The single most expensive item on the list is the seven swans a-swimming at $6,300,... Read more
Richard Land has published an open letter trying to convince Newt Gingrich to give a “Checkers speech” on his checkered marital history. The Southern Baptist ethics czar urges Gingrich to: … pick a pro-family venue and give a speech (not an interview) addressing your martial history once and for all. It should be clear that this speech will be “it” and will not be repeated, only referenced. As you prepare that speech, you should picture in your mind a 40-something... Read more
The previous post is mostly a joke, and a joke mostly directed at myself. Re-reading a bit of Brother Lawrence in 25 Books Every Christian Should Read was another reminder that prayers of gratitude or intercession aren’t often my first thoughts or the first words on my lips — particularly when I’m driving. (I do wonder, though, how Brother Lawrence would’ve gone about practicing the presence of God on U.S. 202 during rush hour.) But apart from the joking absurdity... Read more
Tony Jones posted a provocative poll on the subject of prayer. The question was “Why do you pray?” and the poll allowed for only two possible answers: 1) Prayer changes me; and 2) Prayer changes God. (Results here.) I’d like to get at this question from a different angle by sharing with you my own practice of prayer macros. Like the keyboard shortcuts after which I’ve named them, these are convenient, time-saving devices that allow me to invoke some commonly... Read more
Tribulation Force, pp. 437-440 Buck Williams answers the telephone. Here is what Buck will learn from this phone call: Bruce Barnes is in the hospital in a coma. I’ve told you that much ahead of time to save you from doing what I did when I first read this section — going back to re-read Jerry Jenkins’ account of this phone call to marvel at how strange the tone of the caller is for someone relaying such news: In the... Read more
Cosma Shalizi: “Dives, Lazarus and Alice“ The larger point is that while what is technologically efficient depends on facts of nature, what is economically efficient is a function of our social arrangements, of who owns how much of what. Economic efficiency may be a good tool, but it is perverse to serve your own tools, and monstrous to be ruled by them. David Hill: “$5 Chess Game, Best-of-Three, Zuccotti Park“ Zugzwang is a term used in chess to refer to... Read more
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