One of the many themes not dealt with adequately if at all, by contemporary fiction is a realistic portrayal on the effect of religion upon sincere believers. Often modern portrayals are hostile and even when not, they are often mythic (think of Flannery O’Connor) or sentimentalized. A happy . . . . Continue Reading »
Mara Hvistendahl, author of Unnatural Selection , has been making the rounds in the media drawing out some of the shocking and under-appreciated consequences of sex-selective abortion around the world (we’ve talked about her here and here ), but all the while assuring readers that the . . . . Continue Reading »
What a scam the medical marijuana movement turned out to be. Sold originally as a way to allow the relatively few to obtain cannabis that can clearly ameliorate symptoms—such as loss of appetite in AIDS and cancer and relief from nerve pain caused by diabetes—it ended up being . . . . Continue Reading »
The world’s most powerful weapon against AIDS, says Rick Warren, is the church : One of the great lessons of this fight is that the single fastest way to mobilize at the grassroots level around the world is through local congregations. Nothing comes close to the size and scope of this pool of . . . . Continue Reading »
The fact that we we have to have legislation prohibiting the killing of a human with a beating heart is depressing. The fact that it may not pass muster with the judiciary branch is downright disturbing. Nevertheless, the Ohio House of Representatives deserves praise for their efforts : The Ohio . . . . Continue Reading »
Today was a day for patriotism, and Tocqueville describes two kinds. One is the natural love humans develop for the place and polity they were raised in, for its folkways and so forth. The second is a more reflective patriotism that, aided by enlightenment rationality, “grows with the exercise . . . . Continue Reading »
I don’t know what to think about Rick Perry running for President. I sure don’t have anything against him running, but several points as to Perry’s political strengths, 1. Perry gets a lot of credit because Texas under his governorship has had population increase . . . . Continue Reading »
A peer reviewed paper admits that surface temps haven’t warmed in the last decade. From “Reconciling anthropogenic climate change with observed temperature 1998–2008,” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:Given the widely noted increase in the . . . . Continue Reading »
1. Here are BIG THINK comments on the Declaration and all that. 2. There are some good comments below on the statesmanship of Eisenhower’s farewell speech that includes the stuff about the military-industrial complex. 3. My objections are to the perspective that develops when that stuff and . . . . Continue Reading »
Mark Oppenheimer, the “Beliefs” columnist for the NYT, had a big cover story in yesterday’s magazine that approvingly discussess the views of sex columnist Dan Savage re the propriety of consensual adultery. Here is the link . For those interested in my views, over at Secondhand . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
