Catholics Withdrawing Charitable Minsitries Becasue of Equal Protection Laws for Homosexuals

As reported in the NY Times:
Catholic Charities To Withdraw Services Over Same-Sex Marriage
The fight over a proposed same-sex marriage law here heated up this week as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said that if the law passed, the church would cut its social service programs that help residents with adoption, homelessness and health care. [...]

The European Heritage of Zionism

I’ve been episodically reading David Engel’s Zionism in Pearson’s “Short Histories of Big Ideas” series.  It seems like a good, fair, and readable introduction to the topic.
He distinguishes Zionism from “activist messianism.”  The latter, a religious movement,  grew in the 16th and 17th centuries and resulted in migration to Palestine in the 18th and 19th [...]

Hugh Hewitt: A Simply Christian, Evangelical, Catholic, Presbyterian (say that 5 times fast)

I finished my Sunday evening by watching C-Spans special on the Supreme Court and then flipped over to C-Span 2 to watch their feature of all-everything Hugh Hewitt (link). I used to listen to him while driving through southern California rush hour and was somewhat fond of him. After hearing him take questions for close [...]

Constitution Day 2009 Speech: “The Presidency in the Constitution”

Our school has a Constitution Day celebration every Sept. 17.  I’ve given a brief speech for our 2007, 2008, and 2009 ceremonies.  I thought that I would post them here, too.  This was the one that I gave today:
Our past three presidents have inspired both intense devotion from their admirers and intense condemnation from their [...]

A Poll That Matters: What Doctors Think of Obama’s Health Care Plan

I want our elected officials to do what is best of our country, even if such decesiions are seemingly unpopular. A politician can’t always vote with a finger in the wind, however I looked at some polls today and found the following noteworthy:

Public opposition to Health Care is at all-time high as of 9/15 (link).
Obama’s [...]

ACORN, Obama, unlawful acts- should be under strict investigations

Kudos to James O’ Keefe and Hannah Giles for exposing what lies, unlawful, and treachery lies beneath the covers of ACORN.   BUT, will the left media pay much attention to this?  Will Obama speak out against this?  Apparently, this is “just some smear campaign”.  Wow, denial (or secrecy of corruption) is the quite the virtue [...]

Our leaders

Malcolm Muggeridge wrote about British Prime Ministers and what he said applies entirely to our elected leaders:
We like to persuade ourselves that our leaders betray the trust imposed in them and distort the aspirations of those who elect them. Actually they represent us all too exactly…No one is miscast. Each leaves the country appreciably poorer [...]

Book Review: “Black and Tan” by Douglas Wilson

While looking at Doug Wilson’s blog one day, I happened to notice that he wrote a book on slavery and culture wars.  Black and Tan: Essays and Excursions on Slavery, Culture War, and Scripture in America seemed to be a great book to pair with America’s God, since both books discuss 19th-century American Christianity.
The story [...]

Homeschooled Girl Forced into Public School because of Rigidity in Her Faith

Here is the story below as it came to me in my weekly Church Leaders Intelligence Briefing:
Homeschooled Child Ordered Into Public School Because of “Rigid Faith”
Amanda Kurowski is a 10-year-old homeschooled girl who performs well academically and is socially well-adjusted. But her strong Christian beliefs were reason enough for a New Hampshire court to order [...]

What will Hu Jintao’s trip to Italy mean for Chinese Catholics?

Francesco Sisci, author of the piece on Catholicism in China that I blogged about last month, wrote in the Asia Times Online (the article was published on July 1):
Next week, Hu Jintao starts an official visit to Italy, the first for a Chinese president in 10 years. As with his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, Hu will [...]

Christ’s Triumph over Earthly Powers

Scholars have begun to think about the way that Jesus and Paul called the Roman Empire into question.  I think that it was this Christian Century article from 2005 that turned me on to the trend.  Peter Leithart’s article in First Things also explored the idea of Paul’s assertion of Christ’s triumph over earthly powers:
Paul [...]

N. Korean Quandary

I happen to be half Korean for those who don’t know. My mother came from South Korea when she was a young adult. Though I don’t speak Korean, I have an interest in its affairs. I have also served as an English Pastor at two Korean Churches in my past and have a certain kinship [...]

Calvin and Cheney

My friend Rick from Endued sent me an article from Christianity Today that addressed the unitary executive theory advanced by Dick Cheney and others in the Bush Administration, and tried to put it in the perspective of Calvin’s political theory.  Here’s how the author, David Neff, defined the unitary theory:
But one young staffer in the [...]

America’s God, Chapter 6: “Theistic Common Sense”

In Chapter 6 of America’s God, Noll continues in his exploration of how American Christianity became so connected with two streams of thought that were often associated with heresy or liberal theology in Europe: republican political thought and common sense moral philosophy.
Protestants, and especially Reformed (Calvinist) Protestants, had usually embraced an Augustinian view of man: [...]

The marriage of Christianity and republican political theory in America

Noll’s fifth chapter analyzes the American combination of Christianity and republican political ideas, which was a rare combination in the 18th and 19th centuries.  You can see my notes on his previous chapter, where he explained more about this, here.
Noll argues that the most powerful influence in combining Christian beliefs and republican political principles was [...]

Christian orthodoxy and republican ideas: the American puzzle

Noll’s fifth fourth chapter in America’s God describes the unusual agreement between traditional Christians and republican political ideas in late 18-century America.  First, we have to define republican ideology.  Here’s how Noll does it:
American republican language returned constantly to two main themes: fear of abuses from illegitimate power and a nearly messianic belief in the [...]

A Trip to the Donut Shop Inspires this Post

I just took my kids to the local donut shop. It was their first experience. Next two us was a pair of elderly men who were kind enough to wave at our children and come up to me and express some kind sentiments.
While we were eating our donuts (Apple Fritter, Raised Old Fashioned Chocolate, Chocolate [...]

State vs. family

In a prescient statement, Frederick Engels wrote:
With the transfer of the means of production into common ownership, the single family ceases to be the economic unit of society. Private housekeeping is transformed into a social industry. The care and education of the children becomes a public affair; society looks after all children alike, whether they [...]

Pro-Choice=Abortion=baby torture

For those who oppose torture & are pro-choice, I ask you, how can you declare equality & justice for terrorists & lawbreakers (especially repeat offenders), & luxurious amenities in jails (like cable tv, workout gyms, etc) yet you are ok with the slaughter of innocent human babies who have committed no wrong, though you would [...]

Obama, Sotomayor, & the liberal double standard

The unfortunate double standard used by democrats is shameful.  They will constantly use this against the conservatives.  I will admit there are probably some in the conservative group who are prejudice but doesn’t mean ALL are.  That is just a lie they want you to believe.
Now that the republicans face a nomination, in which they [...]

Rising numbers of ProLifers

Newest gallup poll in May 2009 shows an increase of pro-lifers in America @ 51% of Americans calling themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42% “pro-choice. I just wonder if these same people who consider themselves pro-life also deem it so important that they vote accordingly?  Or is it one of those, “well, [...]

Ben Gifford for U.S. Congress in 2010

Ben Gifford, a former classmate at South Torrance High School who had a canon of an arm at catcher and older brother of fallen soldier Micah Gifford, is preparing to run for U.S. Congress in California for 2010. You can access his Facebook page here.
Here is his bio:
Marine, Father, American, Christian, Iraq and Afghanistan vet.
 
Brother [...]

Which Is Worse: Waterboarding or Abortion?

I am not necessarily condoning waterboarding in asking this question. It is just a curious thing to me that the people who are most opposed to waterboarding (regardless of intent, etc) are seemingly the same folks who cherish abortion (even partial-birth abortion) as a “human right”.
Let me get this straight, some wish to come to [...]

The End of Empires

Tying together the economic crisis, imperial presidency, fiscal insanity in our government, and far-flung military commitments, Andrew Bacevich makes a compelling case that our system is worn out.  If you’ve talked with me at any point since late September, I’ve probably mentioned something about this interview to you.  Check it out and see if you found [...]

the conservative black vote

I know this a little late but I had it drafted during the elections but just forgot about it but still wanted to post anyway b/c this problem didn’t stop just b/c this election is over.
Why were black conservatives who voted for McCain being ostracized for their conservative beliefs?   People want to claim that only [...]

The Presidential pen collection

Ok, was it just me or did anyone else notice the plethora of pens that Obama used to sign the spending bill?? I mean really, how many pens does a guy need to sign those documents? Are there special powers to each pen? Are they all different colors? Did one not [...]

Obama: Most Ethical Administration Ever?

Obama has nominated David Ogden as Deputy Attorney General, a champion of the porn industry. Once again, I am baffled at the nominations of team Obama: 2 failed Commerce Secretary nominations (Richardson subject to Ethics probe, Judd withdrew in dismay of “Stimulus” bill), an Attorney General who helped pardon a fugitive in Marc Rich and [...]

Economics 101 by Dr. Ron Paul + My Loss of Faith in Our Civil Servants

I was delighted to see MSNBC bring Ron Paul on and genuinely show an interest in what he had to say. This video is a few weeks old, but ever relevant.
By the way, I was outraged last night at the passing of the “Stimulus Bill”. The Democrats lengthened it to over 1000 pages and many [...]

Gov’t Trying to Serve up Stimulus Bill Quicker than a Big Mac

The Democrats and President Barack Obama are trying to pass the stimulus bill very quickly, thus breaking many promises of transparency, a 5 day waiting period for public familiarity, etc (http://www.thenextright.com/rob-bluey/democrats-abandon-transparency-on-stimulus-vote).
This is not the new kind of politics that Obama promised. It’s the same ol stuff and I am tired of it. How can they [...]

Obama Booed at National Prayer Breakfast…not really

Great post from BaylyBlog http://www.baylyblog.com/2009/02/president-obamas-remarks-at-national-prayer-breakfast.html