Should we? It's a good question in Pentecostal churches where Hispanic congregations are growing and voting: Gonzalez and other Hispanic pastors across the country seized on the debate to come together as a political force gaining momentum. Hispanic Pentecostals, some experts say, can become an important swing vote in the 2008 elections in key demographic …
South Korea: The Occasional Cloud Won’t Hurt
I was amused when Sunny Lee made the following statement about South Korea's most Christian president, Lee Myung-bak: South Korea's Sunshine policy towards the North has been in a virtual coma for the two months since the inauguration of conservative Lee Myung-bak asof the South. Lee wants to act tough and teach Pyongyang a lesson …
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Can Islam be Changed?
Evidently Spengler doesn't think so: How, then, should one make sense of the joint statement signed April 30 between the Vatican and a group of visiting Iranian clerics, attesting to the benefits of reason? According the May 1 L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI and the Iranians agreed that "Faith and reason do not contradict each …
Expelled, the Movie, Enjoined. Imagine It!
The news that Yoko Ono et. al. have filed suit to enjoin Ben Stein's movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (documented here and here) is a battle fought on two levels. First: Ben Stein is obviously attacking the ideological content of the song, and by extension not only those who agree with it but also those …
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The Strange Position of Carl Hiaasen
It's hard to know where to begin in responding to Carl Hiaasen's latest rant in the Miami Herald White politicos have their own pulpit gasbags, but let me begin by making a few observations: Jeremiah Wright has certainly prospered financially off of his ministry activities, as his US$10,000,000 house will attest. (And he's done it …
Opening Sentence for Ascensiontide
From the opening sentences from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the one for the Ascension season: Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God...Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to …
They May Bomb and Gouge, But At Least They’re Sober
Ping, the well-known manufacturer of golf equipment, has earned a place in Golf Digest's "Bomb and Gouge" (Mike Johnson and Mike Stachura) blog for an unusual reason: Just prior to last week's Safeway International, Stacy Prammanasudh and her equipment sponsor, Ping, parted ways and Prammanasudh played the event with just one Ping club in her …
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Book Review: Sex God
Rob Bell has become a major voice in "post-modern" Evangelicalism with books such as Velvet Elvis and the NOOMA series of videos. He likes to travel on the edge, and so when he came out with a book entitled Sex God, it's tempting to think that he's gone over it. But before I explore the …
Another Step Downward for Dollar Hegemony
The Gulf states' trend towards floating their own currencies relative to the U.S. dollar is a major step downward for the U.S.: On Thursday (May 1), the finance minister of Kuwait, Mustafa al-Shiwali, suggested that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries were considering an idea to abandon their long-standing US dollar pegs. This is a minor …
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I Feel I Want to Fly
Today is Ascension Day, when we celebrate Our Lord's bodily rise to heaven after his resurrection from the dead. For this one wants something ethereal and light, and this week's podcast is certainly that: I Feel I Want to Fly, from the British group Cloud and their album Free to Fly. This album is a …
Positive Infinity 