“A vast array of young men fell on the battlefields; today we are here to honor their graves,” Pope Benedict XVI, “The Responsibility of Christians for Peace.” Veteran’s Day is a day which we set aside to reflect upon and honor the heroic self-sacrifice of those who served our nation and the world with military service. Catholics know and realize the difficulty of being involved in the military, yet they know and realize that those who engage such service with... Read more
The Case for Utopia The world would be better off if people tried to become better. And people would become better if they stopped trying to become better off. For when everybody tries to become better off, nobody is better off. But when everybody tries to become better, everybody is better off. Everybody would be rich if nobody tried to become richer. And nobody would be poor if everybody tried to be the poorest. And everybody would be what he... Read more
I saw Lions for Lambs last night. Very good. It’s neither pro-war nor anti-war. Rather, it connects the dots between two college graduates who volunteer for the Army, the media’s role in selling the Iraq war to the people, the political maneuvering of an election-minded G.O.P. senator, and the social awakening of a privileged college student. I won’t give away the story, so go see it yourself. Read more
Interesting news from Nigeria: they have started a program to put Catholic chaplains at police barracks throughout the land. As reported by Nathaniel Jonah Abuja on AllAfrica.com, “The catholic chaplaincy initiative, which involves the setting up of religious worship centres in police barracks across the 36 states of the federation, is designed to sharpen the character traits of men of the force, especially since most of them are always too busy in the line of duty to have time for religious activities.” I will... Read more
Charles Colson, the man who thought he should whatever it takes to secure Richard Nixon’s reelection, now thinks that the authorities should do whatever it takes to gain information from terror suspects: “It is well understood in Christian tradition that while we are supposed to obey the law, there may be times when there is a higher obligation (see Aquinas, Augustine, and Martin Luther King). To rescue a drowning person, a Christian would be justified in disobeying a “no trespassing”... Read more
Death. Carnage. War. Famine. Crimes Against Humanity. From Iraq to Uzbekistan to Burma, there are stories to be told, human beings who are suffering. But we, as a pampered people, would rather the media tell tales of Britney Spears, juicy celebrity gossip, sex scandals (real or invested), narcissistic self-help guides, bland human interest stories, and missing white girls. We think we can isolate ourselves from evil in the world and our responsibility to a common humanity, not just by shoring up borders and exacerbating... Read more
November 9th is an eerily significant date in modern German history: November 9, 1918 – Proclamation of the Weimar Republic November 9, 1923 – Adolf Hitler attempts to overthrow the German government November 9, 1938 – Kristallnacht and the beginning of the Holocaust Noveberm 9, 1989 – The Berlin Wall comes down and the borders of Berlin are opened Read more
Mixed reports on a Bible ban for 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Read more
Michael Yon, the popular soldier offering independent journalism in Iraq, took this picture of Muslims helping a Catholic place a cross back atop St. James’ John’s church in Baghdad. Some have compared it to the photo of our flag being put up at Iwo Jima. As you can guess by the title, I’m not particularly impressed. Supposedly this symbolizes a new love between Christians and Muslims. I’ll take the reality. We already have 100,000+ refugees from Iraq. Many of these refugees are Christian. ... Read more
The Homeless Research Institute released the alarming results of a study on veterans who are homeless. According to the research, 495,400 homeless veterans slept on the streets during the year 2006. That’s roughly 25% of the total number of homeless persons in the United States. And yet, veterans make up only 11% of the U.S. adult population. Somehow, I think the “Support our Troops” attitude is a bit inauthentic in this country. I’m told they fight for our freedom. Then... Read more
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