This morning I was flipping through the 150th Anniversary edition of The Atlantic Monthly, and was cracked up by this image from Michael Beirut.
No Incumbents
Our Moscow City Council election is about a week and a half away. For those involved, the simplest rule of thumb is to vote for no incumbents, which would include Lamar, Ament, and Pall. They have been been hip-deep in the antics of the last several years, and there are a few reminders of that …
So Then, Dumbledore Is Gay, They Say
I don’t think there is any way to take the news that Dumbledore turns out to be homosexual as anything other than a stellar business. I haven’t heard such good news since that business about Gore and the Nobel Prize. This announcement made a bunch of issues just float right up to the surface, where …
Brief Polytheism
“Muhammad also compromised with the Meccan merchants during a particularly intense time of persecution. Formerly he had fearlessly condemned polytheism. Then, under pressure, he accepted the Meccan belief that Allah had a wife, Al-lat, and two daughters, Al Uzzo and Manat (Surah 53:20-23). Later Muhammad repudiated these so called Satanic verses and claimed that all …
The Siren Call of Weirdness
“A cult mentality is ‘obviously’ exhibited by anyone who does not want to live in the prescribed atomistic and detached way — one who does not want to be just another loose ball bearing rattling around in modernity’s machine. The contemporary standards will beckon with a siren call — any kind of weirdness is accepted …
Improving Strength
“But there is a generation of men who, being wronged, improve their strength by patiently bearing it, yet in making their moan to God in the exercise of faith, in committing their cause to Him” (Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 293).
Dar-al-Harb
“Muslims in fact divide the world into two sectors: Dar-al-Islam (the House of Islam) and Dar-al-Harb (The House of War). The only countries considered to be at peace are those where Islamic law (the Sharia) is enforced. Islam does not recognize the right of any other religion or worldview to exist” (Peter Hammond, Slavery, Terrorism …
Refined Beastiality
“An attachment to high cultural achievement is thus a necessary but not sufficient condition of civilization . . . The first requirement of civilization is that men should be willing to repress their basest instincts and appetites: failure to do which makes them, on account of their intelligence, far worse than mere beasts” (Theodore Dalrymple, …
A Good Thing
Busy couple weeks. Our ministerial conference was last week, and the meeting of Anselm Presbytery is this coming week. But during the ministerial conference, I was delighted to find Tim and David Bayly in attendance. Thursday night they came to our place for dinner, and on the way home I took them by to see …
Triangular Desire
Metaphysical Desire We come now to a fascinating engine of conflict, both in real life and in great fiction. As you will see, Girard argues that poor fiction sidesteps this reality, while great fiction confronts and exposes it wonderfully. We are beginning a genuine study of ourselves and, while we’re at it, a rewarding study …