Once there was a high school boy who was taunted mercilessly at school by another boy who was several years older. This younger boy was too big and too strong to be physically bullied, but the older boy would harass him constantly, and would always predict his own dominance in any future settings where there …
Just Another Aisle in America
The British columnist Peter Hitchens recently commented on the phenomenon of “crunchy conservatism,” for which, he said, he “had a lot of time.” And so do I. I just finished reading Rod Dreher’s book Crunchy Cons, which was quite good. The subtitle is a bit more descriptive and helpful–“The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return …
Dead and Gone
C.S. Lewis commented once that the present is, historically speaking, a “period.” This may seem too obvious to point out, but there will come a time when what is currently happening will no longer be happening. Several centuries into the future, various schoolchildren will be sweating out the details of our century as they frantically …
No Voice
“Islamists control nearly every major American Muslim organization, as well as a large and perhaps growing majority of mosques, weekly newspapers, and communal organizations. As a result, they dominate the discourse. In contrast to countries like Turkey and Egypt, where a lively debate takes place between moderates and Islamists, the former hardly have a voice …
Morals Are Not Always Proper
“Modern Christians should not mistake their post-Victorian sense of propriety for moral purity” (Gene Edward Veith, Reading Between the Lines, p. 38).
Winning Through Intimidation
“During the decade since 1989, militant Islamic efforts to silence those who critique Islam or Muslims have had impressive results . . . More impressive than these acts of terror, however, has been the way Islamists have changed the discussion of Islam around the world. In Muslim-majority countries, it has become virtually impossible to comment …
Holy, not Evil
“Sexuality is for the private intimacy of marriage, not for public eyes. Striptease shows are obscene, not because nudity is wrong but because nudity is private. To pay a woman to take her clothes off in front of crowds of ogling men is to violate her in a very brutal way. Public sex is obscene, …
Yo Mama Wants Obama
As Christians consider the implications of the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the public square, they have to take great care to get outside the cafeteria mentality that currently afflicts us. Christian engagement with the world does not mean that “Christ is Lord” is a mantra that will help us decide whether to eat this …
A Bowl of Sawdust Paste
In this last Dawkins installment, I want to do two things. The first is to briefly summarize his last chapter and respond to it. The second task is to develop something I mentioned in an earlier post — viz. that Dawkins is more than half ashamed of what he is doing — and for good …
In the Zone
The ninth chapter of Dawkins’ book is entitled “Childhood, Abuse, and the Escape from Religion.” The chapter is almost impudent in its intellectual dishonesty, and more than impudent in its proposal. Dawkins begins by telling a heart-wrenching story from 19th century Italy, in which a young Jewish boy (Edgardo Mortata) had been secretly baptized by …