by Novelist Anne Rice, who had famously converted to Catholicism, has issued the following statement: “I refuse to be anti-gay … to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control … to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism … to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I [...]
Read the full postMonthly Archive for July, 2010
by I subscribe to Education Week’s online daily report, and two articles in yesterday’s issue provided an intriguing juxtaposition. The lead story, “Civil Rights Groups Call for New Federal Education Agenda,” reported that “seven leading civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the National Urban League, called on U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today to [...]
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by Pioneer Day, in case you didn’t know, is today, July 24; it commemorates the day in 1847 (give or take a day or two) when Brigham Young declared “This is the place,” and the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. I imagine Pioneer Day is still celebrated in Utah, and it was a festive [...]
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by I enjoyed Steve’s post on the culture wars, although I’m sorry (and a little impressed — now there’s a conscientious and serious thinker!) he’s losing sleep over the issue. I also found the comments incredibly interesting, although to my gentle mind somewhat disturbing. (I must also add, in response to Robert, that based on my [...]
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by Are atheists obliged to explain the universe’s existence or else retreat to agnosticism?
Read the full postThis October, pro-life and pro-choice scholars will gather at Princeton for a conference designed to facilitate a public discourse of “open hearts, open minds, and fair-minded words.”
Read the full postYesterday I did a lunch workshop here at U. San Diego, talking about the school prayer decisions as contributing to the “culture wars.” This is a phenomenon that worries me a lot. I look out and see an increasingly polarized culture– polarized more or less along the lines that James Davison Hunter described some years [...]
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by Apologies that I am restricting myself to cultural and not scholarly posts for the moment. Between a hard and fast casebook deadline, conference presentations (in the summer?), and article deadlines, I’ve never been busier. So, on the cultural front, thought folks might find this accurate headline from the Yeshiva World News of interest: Christian President [...]
Read the full postCheck out this commentary, “Wish You Weren’t Here,” from the July 7, 2010 Daily Show.
Read the full postThe Sunday service on July 4 at my church was excellent. One of our younger pastors preached on the theme of “hope.” He managed to tie together some thoughts about hope rooted in our national history in the U.S. (there was a stirring reading from the Gettysburg Address) with his recent experiences on a missions [...]
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