Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
The rather silly decision by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to leave the Christmas trees out of the library brings me to a rather strange question: why are Christmas trees specifically Christian? One of the problems of living long in a fast changing world is that one remembers things that everyone else forgets. …
Continue reading "Why Are Christmas Trees Specifically Christian?"
I've been saying this for a long time, but from the land of Starbucks this, in a book review: Wellman expected to discover that the Northwest's progressive social ethos and politics would be fertile ground for liberal Protestant churches. Instead he found the contrary. While it has strong liberal congregations, Wellman discovered that in general …
Continue reading "For a Church to Attract and Retain, It Must Have Distinctive Meaning"
This, from the incomparable Spengler: America outspends China on defense by a margin of more than six to one, the Pentagon estimates. [1] In another strategic dimension, though, China already holds a six-to-one advantage over the United States. Thirty-six million Chinese children study piano today, compared to only 6 million in the United States.[2] The …
Continue reading "China’s six-to-one advantage over the US: Piano Lessons"
Fellow Palm Beacher George Conger's detailed analysis of the recognition process is as good of an opportunity as any to make some comments on this complicated process. In principle, I think it's a great idea. North American Anglicans deserve better than the warmed-over humanism they've been getting out of TEC and ACoC for the last …
Continue reading "The New North American Anglican Province: It’s Easier on Paper Than in Reality"
George Barna's latest poll on how the economic crash is affecting churches is spot on, as anyone involved in church finance will attest: During the past three months, one of the ways that adults have adjusted to their financial hardships has been by reducing their charitable giving. In total, one out of every five households …
Continue reading "George Barna: Change They Really Didn’t Believe In"
From the 1662 Book of Common Prayer: ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, …
Continue reading "The Collect for the First Sunday in Advent"
As did my mother and her brother: I'm not sure of the date but it probably was taken in the late 1920's. Their father worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, so this photo was a natural. Although most people think of the Great Depression having its start with the 1929 crash, because of depressed commodity …
Continue reading "In the Last Depression, The Hobos Rode the Rails"
A friend in Indonesia recently sent me a paper by Olena Antonaccio and Charles Tittle from North Carolina State University entitled "A Cross-National Test of Bonger's Theory of Criminality and Economic Conditions." In 1905 the Dutch Marxist Willam Adrian Bonger had hypothesised that capitalism, by its de-moralisation (i.e., reduce the moral feelings that people had …
This week's podcast--appropriately enough, since today is Thanksgiving in the U.S.--is Of One Accord, the title track from the Kairosingers' album. The title doesn't sound like a Thanksgiving song, but it is. This album came from Port Arthur, Texas, which was hit hard by Hurricane Ike. One organisation that made a big difference in Southeast …
Continue reading "A Thanksgiving Song–And a Special Reason for Me to be Thankful"
The Fix's Chris Cillizza evidently doesn't have a lot to do with his time, since he is trying to figure out who are the "stars" is what's left of the Republican Party. So let's look at his list from the criterion that has worked since 1988: who are the Ivy Leaguers in the group? I …
Continue reading "Applying the Ivy League Test to the Republican Stars (Such as They Are)"
Positive Infinity 