What is to be done about the police and the police culture? Some say ‘spend less money on them’. Some say what we used to call ‘integrate’. Some say ‘teach them to use nonviolent coercion, like mental health aides’. But […]
Culture
Anti-White Racist Remarks are Tolerated Because of White Privilege
In which I argue that it is precisely because of ‘white privilege’ that we tolerate a double standard of ‘racist’ remarks about white people from others; because we aren’t ‘hurt’ as much. Sometimes outspoken women and men, including college professors, […]
I Got Into a Traffic Accident in a Black Area, and Nobody Played the ‘Race Card’
A story in which my own experience in a black neighborhood convinced me that the hope for reconciliation is not dead It was late February, and I was on my way to a men’s retreat in Malibu, California. And I […]
Guest Post: “A Tale of Two Sitcoms”
Looking for a break from wondering what the world will be like when the lockdown is over? Two multiple-award-winning TV series from the dawn of this millennium might give you the diversion you need. Monk [2002-2009] starring Tony Shalhoub as […]
Book Notice: “Losing the Good Portion,” by Leon Podles
There have been claims throughout the history of Christianity that portions of the Church were excessively feminized. Though author Leon Podles is a Catholic himself, most of the space in his book, Losing the Good Portion: Why Men are Alienated […]
The Gerontocratic Democracy of Old Africa, and Gerontocracy in Our Own Time
Young people have always probably chafed against their elders. But in Africa, a gerontocratic system was instituted, which at least frustrated the development of a hereditary elite. And we are not without elements of gerontocracy in our own society. I […]
On the Urbanist Classic, “Crabgrass Frontier,” by Kenneth T. Jackson
One of the classic books on the history of suburbia is Kenneth Jackson’s Crabgrass Frontier. It came out in 1985, two years before my personal favorite, Bourgeois Utopias, by Robert Fishman. This book notice discusses Crabgrass Frontier in view of […]
Does the Working Class Think It Can’t ‘Afford’ to Raise Their Children in a Christian Environment Any More?
In recent years we have heard how Christianity, and even Pentecostalism, seem to be losing their grip on the working classes, at least in white American communities. Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, Charles Murray, who wrote Coming Apart, and […]
Coronavirus and the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755
Many of us are trying to figure out what God is trying to do by allowing this Coronavirus plague to circulate around the world so dramatically. As I thought about this, I was reminded of a passage in Luke’s Gospel […]
Some Thoughts About ‘Identities’
In the classical Christian church we hear much about our identity in Christ. We also have a host of other identities or roles: parent or child in a family; worker in or owner of an organization; a particular church, denomination, […]