The Google Library
Google is presently in court, seeking a favorable decision on what could be one of the most important cases in history. The world’s largest Internet company wants to create an online library of multiplied millions of volumes, featuring excerpts from or whole volumes of the greatest books ever written. This is a very good thing. […]
Only What Works
I have been a reader of The New Republic for years now, which fact has on occasion raised the eyebrows of friends. Once, at a Christian conference, I had a copy of TNR in my backpack, sticking out in a back pocket. During a break one of the conferees walked over, bent down, and whispered […]
The Option
We now know what the President wants in the way of health care reform. He has said plainly, firmly, and, apparently, finally what he will and will not accept in a bill from Congress. At the moment there is only one option on the table for health care reform, that of President Obama. Fair enough. […]
Stupid Christians in the News
Serious Christians are wincing this week at the reports of stupid acts by fellow believers. First, the Bolivian pastor who hijacked an airplane to Mexico because it was September 9, 2009 (9/9/09), which he interpreted as an inversion of “666” and, therefore, a good reason to jeopardize the lives of over a hundred people and […]
Not Fair, Not Balanced, Not Wise
President Obama has rejuvenated conversation about health care reform by his speech to Congress on Wednesday night. On its own merits, the speech, and the program the President set forth, offer plenty to critique. It seems fairly clear that some kind of bill is going to pass, sooner or later. Those who are concerned about […]
Warning to Business
President Obama gave Wall Stree a little what-for yesterday, warning business leaders that he’s not going to put up with any of their shennanigans if they test him on questionable business practices. Mr. Obama considers himself the Ethicist-in-Chief of American business, and I suppose he just wanted everyone to remember that he’s watching them. I […]
Disintegrating or Renewing?
Recent debates and changes in the political arena have caused a number of Americans to wonder aloud if the country is beginning to disintegrate. Not dissolve or disappear, but lose its essential federal and republican integrity. As more and more power is drawn to the Oval Office and White House advisors are selected without Congressional […]
Hate Speech
Suddenly, racists are everywhere in America. According to President Carter, who apparently knows a lot, scores of thousands of racists assembled last weekend in Washington and elsewhere to vent their diabolic rage against the President on the grounds of his race. In today’s enlightened America, we just can’t seem to get past this stumbling stone. […]
The Treasures of the Church
A brief report in The Economist (September 12th) raises a question about who should preserve the treasures of the Church. What treasures? Not monetary, to be sure; cultural, primarily, but also, foundational. Should Christians over the world be troubled by the fact that so many of the cultural and spiritual contributions of our forebears are […]
Leave the Praise to Others
In the main, I appreciate Fox News Network. I only watch in the evenings, and I don’t watch everyone. I think the 6:00 and 7:00 news programs are what they claim, fair and balanced, which is more than I can say for the network news programs I used to watch. I do not watch other […]
Natural (?) Disasters (?)
My Sunday afternoon reading in Church history brought to light two episodes which seem to me to have distinctly contemporary implications. We often hear, following some “natural disaster” or other, people musing about why God allows such things. Interesting to note that God rarely gets the credit for beautiful weather, but let an earthquake or […]
Beginning of the End?
There are indications that the Western world’s infatuation with materialism may be waning. For as long as most of us can remember, the “good life” has been considered to consist in success, ease, and abundance. Advertizing, credit card companies, and governments have helped to fuel this vision, and the public schools are the official fabricator […]
System, or Practice?
After an essay woodshedding the Republicans and cheering the Democrats on to pass health care reform without the stubborn opposition, the editors of The New Republic (October 7) sign off with this: “If Max Baucus’s months of work achieved nothing else, he has unmasked the true nature of the contemporary GOP and, in the process, […]
How Ya Dune?
Few natural structures in the creation are as elegant and wondrous as sand dunes. These crescents of sculpted loess accumulate as the wind picks up bits of dust and sand and shapes and carries them until the pull of gravity or the crest of an existing sand dune interrupts their transport and receives them as […]
Talkin’ Politics
Last night’s discussion at The Gospel and This World Group surfaced some important points about our involvement in talking about the political issues of the day. I thought I might try to summarize the conversation and challenge us all to think about becoming more consistently involved in political speech as a fundamental duty of our […]
