In the last couple of years there have been a number of stories about an increase in the death rate of working class whites that has not been paralleled among their African American and Latino counterparts. At the same time, […]
Religion
James K. A. Smith and the Pentecostal World View
Is there such a thing as a ‘Pentecostal philosophy’? James K. A. Smith says there is. They don’t necessarily talk about it in ways we are accustomed to, but he says they have one. And here are its major elements […]
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. […]
If We’re ‘Better Behaved’ Just Because We’re Affluent, God is Not Impressed
It is often believed that poorer people are worse behaved and therefore undesirable neighbors; and certainly enough, certain pathological behaviors are more common in the poor communities. This is used as an argument for zoning and government land use control […]
Comment on WSJ – Walter Russell Mead – On the Future of Middle East Christians
Walter Russell Mead really hits the nail on the head, here. He explains that the four older empires, Ottoman, Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian, were, whatever their weaknesses, “multiethnic and multi confessional states.” After the fall of these empires, all these […]
“Shared Intentionality” and its Implications
The ‘developmental and comparative psychologist’ Michael Tomasello, an American who now works at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, has come up with a concept called “shared intentionality” as a mark that separates humans from chimpanzees and bonobos [asserted in […]
If I Were Muslim: Why Do Muslims Hate Jews Nowadays?
Our friend Hillel Fradkin has sent out a fascinating article on the relationship between Islam and German nationalism. In two world wars both types of German nationalists, both the relatively mild sort of the Second Reich and the pathological ones […]
Hasn’t it Always Been Babylon?
Rod Dreher, one of our favorites on this site, has written a column called “From Israel to Babylon” of which the sources are largely drawn from the Southern Baptists. The younger Southern Baptists expect to be a religious minority, which, […]
Amusement and Awe: John Muir and Walt Disney
In a recent issue of Orange Coast magazine, Bob Sipchen of the Sierra Club contrasts John Muir, the naturalist, and Walt Disney: Walt Disney, who also shares a place in California’s Hall of Fame, appreciated the natural world Muir loved, […]
The Shoe Is On The Other Foot?
A United Church of Christ is, it seems, suing the state of North Carolina because its ‘religious liberty’ is being denied because it cannot pronounce a same sex couple married under state law. The UCC should have the right, I […]