In case you were bothered by this post, perhaps you will prefer this story: A Japanese company (Toyota ) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practised long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Japanese won by a …
Fixing the Unfixable
The many disparaging remarks by Anglicans/Episcopalians on both sides about Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' "sabbatical" are largely unjustified. Williams has made his share of mistakes, but the chasm between the orthodox and revisionists in the Anglican Communion is probably unbridgeable. It is reminiscent of a remark made about the Revolutions of 1848 that equally …
Quotable about America
Something about the U.S. that's worth repeating: "I am convinced that the future of America is rosier than people claim - I've been hearing about its imminent decline ever since I started reading. Take the following puzzle. Whenever you hear or read a snotty European presenting his stereotypes about Americans, he will often describe them …
Overcoming Obstacles: A Reminder For Us All
Back in 2000 there was a funeral for Nadezhda Shatova, a Ukrainian Pentecostal living in California. As noted below, on the surface there wasn't anything extraordinary about it. But one of her relatives shared the testimony about their lives--and the persecutions they suffered in the old Soviet Union--and this account was put into the piece …
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Internationalism is a Two-Way Street
TEC House of Bishops' recent rejection of the Anglican Primates' request for a "primitial vicar" to help those parishes which could not stomach the church's left-wing agenda is an illustration of how it's easier to tell others to be internationalists than to be one yourself. Liberals--and not just Episcopal ones either--have been telling the rest …
The Book of Mormon Does Not Teach Mormonism
As Election 2008 continues unabated, the issue of Mitt Romney's religion continues to surface, both on the right (where Evangelicals don't like the idea of a Mormon President) and the left (who don't like the idea of religious people period.) We expect to see considerable discussion about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day …
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The Last People In Uniform?
The flap over General Pace's remarks about homosexuals in the military makes us think of our own closing remarks in our 2004 piece Gay Marriage? What Marriage? Such moves (Christians withdrawing from the mainstream of society as a result of enshrining gay marriage into law) would have the long term effect of strengthening the Christian …
Some issues just won’t go away
While thinking about the volleys of insults last week (both Ann Coulter's and Bill Maher's about the Vice President) we keep being haunted by the following: Above: A St. Andrew's School sophmore points out the obvious Confederate flag on the wall of a dorm room while his classmates (one American and one Bahamian) have a …
The Meaning of Scooter Libby’s Conviction
Although liberals are doubtless dancing in the streets over the conviction of Scooter Libby, the truth is that our plethora of laws insures that, if those in authority want to put us away, they can do so one way or the other, even when there's no crime to start with. Just grind down someone long …
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Amazing Grace and the Army of Joshua
The film Amazing Grace--or at least the life of William Wilberforce--highlights something that most people have forgotten: many of the "social justice movements" had their roots in the evangelical Christianity that emerged towards the end of the "Age of Reason," and specifically Wesleyan Methodism. (The French proved that the "reasonable" didn't need any help from …
Positive Infinity 