Religion

Seems to Me that Mrs. P Ought to Take Her Husband Aside and Explain to Him What a Fool He Is.

By Justin Katz | January 6, 2007 |

Via (“beautifully put”) Andrew Stuttaford, from the Pub Philosopher (emphasis added): Having a history degree, she also knows that the world could not have been made in 4004 BC and she has studied enough science to know that much of what is written in the Bible cannot possibly be true. … We are drawn to…

Brown University Let’s the Evangelicals Back In

By Marc Comtois | November 28, 2006 |

After telling the Reformed University Fellowship that they wouldn’t be allowed on campus just, well, “because,” Brown University has had a change of heart. But they still haven’t been forthcoming as to why the RUF was banned in the first place. Yesterday, Ethan Wingfield, president of the Reformed University Fellowship, said he was pleased at…

Brown University: Not a Bastion of Free Speech

By Marc Comtois | November 21, 2006 |

Yesterday, I read in the ProJo about how Brown University had rather suspiciously banned an on-campus student evangelical group. Leaders of the group say they were given different reasons for the action. At first, they were told it was because their local sponsor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, had withdrawn its support, which it hadn’t. Then they…

Conservatives Back Ideology with Cash

By Marc Comtois | November 20, 2006 |

{N.B. Cross-posted at Spinning Clio–MAC} Historian Ralph Luker points to a new book by Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks called Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism. According to this story: When it comes to helping the needy, Brooks writes: “For too long, liberals have been claiming they are the most virtuous…

A Paradox of Anti-Theocracy

By Justin Katz | November 15, 2006 |

A piece by Bernard F. Sullivan in Tuesday’s Providence Journal brings to light an interesting paradox. On the one hand, it’s difficult to fathom that a man with such apparent deficiency in categorical comprehension could have ever been a regional editor for a major newspaper. On the other, his expressed concept of government enables insight…

As if the Wrath of God Were a Real Phenomenon

By Justin Katz | November 5, 2006 |

It’s always an edifying experience when I remember to check in with Paul Cella: Now, it may be that some did predict divine vengeance [after the ostensible omission of God from the Constitution]. But divine vengeance, as it happens, is in fact a calamity somewhat mysterious in nature. I think even if I were a…

Cooperating with the Contemptuous

By Justin Katz | October 23, 2006 |

PROEM I submitted my response to URI student Gabriel Lugo’s hostile musings on American religion to the student paper of his school, The Good 5¢ Cigar, and Lugo (enlisting the help of a cowriter) replied a couple of weeks ago. Herewith, my further response. Cigar readers will have to forgive me; as a humbled father…

Celebrating Pope John Paul II

By Donald B. Hawthorne | October 16, 2006 |

Pope John Paul II was elected Pope on this day in 1978. This posting contains links to many articles about him: John Paul II, Requiescat in pacem Two additional postings about Pope John Paul II: Follow Me: John Paul II Roused Us From a Lethargic Faith A Poignant Reflection on John Paul II

When the Snakes Do the Talking

By Justin Katz | October 3, 2006 | Comments Off on When the Snakes Do the Talking

They sure teach the kids to string their thoughts together at the University of Rhode Island. Consider Gabriel Lugo’s letter to the URI student paper, The Good 5¢ Cigar, apologizing for mistakenly “paint[ing] the author’s person with the same irrational beliefs” as some fundamentalist Christians whom that other student had, in a limited way, defended.…

Equal Opportunity Offense, Selective Sensitivity

By Carroll Andrew Morse | September 27, 2006 |

If you still need proof that the West is being frightened into applying inconsistent standards to free expression involving religion, depending upon what religion is involved, I don’t think it can get any clearer than this report from Reuters…Four cancelled performances of a Mozart opera have re-ignited an anxious and heated debate in Europe over…