Pastoring, that is, his new church in Colorado Springs: Christianity is all about second acts, and disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard is the latest conservative Christian to exploit that role to the hilt. Haggard announced Wednesday that he is starting a new church in the same town -- Colorado Springs -- that he left in …
Illegal Immigration Hits Palm Beach
Literally, in this case: Security cameras alerted staff of the Sloan’s Curve Condominium at 2000 S. Ocean Blvd. to the presence of several undocumented immigrants who had entered the property early Wednesday morning. Palm Beach police apprehended 18 people — 13 suspected Chinese nationals and five Haitians — following a call around 4:15 a.m. from …
A Nation Behind Bars
While going through a few things, I stumbled upon this graph showing the growth in the Federal prison population from 1950 to 2005. That's just to 2005. And it doesn't include the state and local prisoners either. Irrespective of the causes--breakdown of society, too many laws, whatever--the incarceration rate in this country is (or at …
If You Want to Win an Election, You've Got to Show Up First
One of the downsides to getting older is that your contemporaries die off with increasing frequency (unless you're one of the earlier ones out yourself!)Â You start spending more time in the obituaries (if you're quick enough to catch them on the net.)Â It's a sorry and morbid practice, but it's part of life while …
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National Cathedral Might as Well Dump the Books
National Cathedral's uninspiring financial situation is leading to desperate measures: Then news came this week that the cathedral, visited by every U.S. president since Theodore Roosevelt laid its foundation stone in 1907, was considering selling off part of its rare books collection, probably worth millions. Cathedral officials said the potential sale of the books is …
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Book Review: The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Vol. 2: The Patristic Age
I've always been a strong advocate of patristic studies. That's not an easy advocacy in Evangelical Christianity, but it's one that needs to be made. It's not always easy in Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy either, because the Fathers of the Church--or more precisely those who wrote and, as we learn here, preached, during the Roman …
Month of Sundays: Devotions for Men, and an Announcement
From time to time I'll promote a book of mine. For many of you, some of these books are, as my Russian math professor used to say, "just too much." But this one is on the light side: A Month of Sundays. A 31-day devotional book for men, it seeks to break out of the …
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Trustworthy People Are Scarce: A Christian View
Helen Fealy at the Shiny Sheet observes the following: Who knew I had so much in common with the iconic Dr. Freud, the Father of Mental Heath and the pioneer of sexuality and gender behaviors. I share his opinion on humankind and ethics. To prove his point, we have Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer, …
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Earthquake Liquefaction: Climate Change Isn't the Only Science with Different Opinions
While most are riveted on BP's mile deep gusher in the Gulf, my attention was drawn to another type of scientific and technological challenge with possible catastrophic consequences: earthquake engineering. My colleagues in the geotechnical engineering field have drawn my attention to a monograph entitled Technical Review and Comments: 2008 EERI Monograph "Soil Liquefaction During …
An Episcopal Church Gets Its Roof Repaired. But Who Will Fix the Confirmation Class?
Well, at least at Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach: Construction is under way to replace part of the roof at the historic Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea. The roof covers the administrative offices and the choir room overlooking the courtyard and gardens. Advanced Roofing is the contractor. David Semadeni, a junior warden and a member of the …
Positive Infinity 