As one who lives by the beach in California, I’m prone to think of housing values as being almost exclusively the land underneath the house, and the improvements as almost irrelevant. Several times a year a widow dies, and her […]
Culture
Face, Respect, the Sin of Gossip, and ‘Freedom From Speech’
The debate about ‘freedom from speech’ has accelerated. Greg Lukianoff, author of the Freedom from Speech broadside, has cooperated with Jonathan Haidt, an author I have quoted on Blue Kennel to write an article for The Atlantic criticizing the concept of […]
Christians May be Decreasing in Number in America, But Not Because of any ‘War’
Jay Michaelson, in The Daily Beast, proclaimed on Christmas Day that there is a decrease in the numbers and influence of Christians in America, but that the “war” on Christianity is a myth. I’m not sure the war on Christianity […]
More on the Whole ‘Judeo-Christian’ Meme
In my post four years ago, “9/11, Ten Years Later” I talked a little bit about the concept of ‘Judeo-Christian’. I’d like to expand on it. As my source says, the meme ‘Judeo-Christian’ originated in the United States after World War […]
What Really Happened to Poetry and Classical Music?
In recent years one would get the impression that both poetry and classical music have declined in popularity except in rather esoteric “hip” circles; at least the newer kinds of poetry and classical music being written are not, for the […]
Camel Driver to Taxi Drivers
The Prophet Muhammad started out as a camel driver, and apparently varieties of the name are now the most common first name for taxi drivers in New York City.
Does Jesus Oppose the Death Penalty?
For some reason it is hard for people, including even most evangelicals, to imagine Jesus supporting a death penalty for any sort of crime. On the other hand, if He claimed to be God the Son, “I and the Father […]
The Irrational Jacket
There has been a spate of articles recently about the strength of air conditioning in offices and the fact that women are often freezing in temperatures that men are barely comfortable in. Even before you take into account the differing wardrobes, […]
Heterosexual Cohabitation and The Church – After Obergefell
The historic church, evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox, has taken a dim view of ‘cohabitation,’ which used to be called ‘shacking up’ or ‘living in sin.’ The faithful churches in fact generally try to deny the Sacrament to those in cohabitation. […]
Why I Am Not a ‘Caucasian’
The term “Caucasian” for so-called white people, in reality people of Old World ancestry who are not Negroid or East Asian in appearance, comes from bizarre 19th century racial theories. It in fact was coined by the German Christoph Meiners […]