One of my recent points, and one that drew some ire fire, was my contention that liberalism is inherently and tyrannically coercive, and that liberals, by advocating the programs of liberalism, are thereby advocating coercion. Not being an anarchist, I believe that some forms of coercion are good and necessary, but because I also believe …
Getting Lost in the Deep Weed
I have written before on the sinfulness of recreational marijuana use. In an appendix to Future Men, entitled “Liberty and Marijuana,” I argued that the one use for alcohol that is prohibited in Scripture is a condition remarkably similar to the effects of marijuana — and to the extent that there is a distinction between …
7 Thoughts On Becoming a Better Hater
My resolution for the new year to become a better hater. But I suppose this requires at least some explanation before itemizing the ways I propose for improving on our hatreds. “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Prov. …
The West Is Dead. Long Live the West.
The other day I read Robert Capon complaining about a kitchen knife that was as dull as dialectical materialism. Marx got his version of that from Hegel, modified it so as to make the commies responsible for the deaths of tens of millions, thus making the consequences of dialectical materialism anything but dull. Hegel — …
Although the Drummer Boy is Optional
Chesterton says somewhere that the modern world has insisted on exiling the Savior, but has done so from the midst of the story of the Gadarene demoniac. The upshot of this means that our naked public square has been purged of any reference to Jesus, but we are now left with the devils and with …
Lord of the Secular
In order to understand the meaning of our life together in public, we have to come to grips with a series of distinctions. This is something that Americans used to understand very well, so much so that it is still deep in our DNA. But decades of progressivist propaganda — ladled over the tops of …
Five Questions About Two Kingdoms
In my various discussions of the modern forms of “two kingdom” theology, I have frequently summed up my concerns with the question of how many kings there are. This has made my point, to a point, but it still needs to be pushed into the corners. Here is my summary of what I take to …
Delenda Est
I recently received a thoughtful question from a reader that I decided should be best addressed in a separate post. The question was generated by my exchange with Thabiti some months back, and there is no real point in trying to resurrect an old comment thread. So here we are. The question goes like this. …
A Five Gallon Bucket of Lamesauce
In my previous post, I said that the great idol of modernity is the state. One perceptive reader on Facebook suggested that rather we should think of the great idol as being that of the individual self — freedom and liberty for me, me, me. I don’t know how to link to a Facebook thread, …
Trueman, Toilets, and Transformation
Carl Trueman writes with verve and sass, which is of course a good thing, so it is a pity when he whiffs one. Don’t get me wrong — the swing was picture perfect, but the ball somehow still wound up in the catcher’s mitt. The occasion was a jab that D.G. Hart was taking at …