Not From the Theory Down

“As a doctor working in a slum area with many immigrant residents, I see multiculturalism from the ground up rather than from the theory down. And it is clear from what I see almost every day that not all cultural values are compatible or can be reconciled by the enunciation of platitudes. The idea that …

Demented and Twaddlesome

In his statement endorsing Rudy Giuliani, Pat Robertson said this: “To me, the overriding issue before the American people is the defense of our population from the blood lust of Islamic terrorists.” This evil blood lust of theirs must be distinguished from the domestic and homegrown blood lust of ours, which is constitutionally protected, and …

Baptism and Covenant Life

INTRODUCTION: Baptism in water can be a complicated subject—and yet the author of Hebrews treats it as one of the Christian “basics.” This should make us wary because the evangelical Christian world doesn’t have this sorted out yet, and yet it should also make us eager to sort it out—to grow up into maturity as …

What a Marvelous Thought

The Moscow City Council election is now over, and the results are in. Congratulations to Tom Lamar, the top vote getter, as well as to the other victors — Steed, Krauss, and Carscallen. Lamar is a genuine liberal, but he showed a lot of class in this election. In the aftermath of the bigotry kerfluffle, …

Machen and Wilkins

Darryl’s next chapter, on the rise of a democratized Protestant faith in America is quite good, and very helpful. Toward the end of the chapter, his doubts about democracy start come to the fore. “Rather than learning about democracy from Christianity, more often than not American Protestants have felt compelled to defend democracy under a …

Bigotry on Stilts

One of the drills that we go through here in our local controversies is this: our adversaries quote some outrageous thing from us, we say in reply that that’s “out of context,” and they say, “Yeah, right. You guys always complain that ‘it’s out of context.’ You just don’t like getting caught.” And so that …