Joseph Knippenberg

I have over the years become something of a connoisseur (if I’m permitted to use such a French word for such an American thing) of presidential Thanksgiving proclamations .  My reason for an interest in a thing so potentially banal (and trust me, some of the proclamations are beyond . . . . Continue Reading »

Four years ago, I wrote about the case of Abdul Rahman , an Afghan convert to Christianity who was charged with apostasy (punishable by execution under Islamic law).  Thanks to worldwide pressure on the Karzai government, he was released and offered asylum in Italy. As I noted in my earlier . . . . Continue Reading »

One of the more interesting educational efforts going on in the world today is taking place in Sulaimani, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.  A number of dedicated educators have established a university , at the core of which is a very strong liberal arts program.  The language of . . . . Continue Reading »

Not much, apparently. The Pew Research Center has posted the results of its latest survey of our knowledge of current events.  The results are not heartening.  On average, Americans got 42 percent of the answers right (5 of 12); college graduates did a little better (6.8 of 12—still . . . . Continue Reading »

E.J. Dionne, Jr. and William A. Galston—two very smart liberal public intellectuals—have produced a most interesting analysis of religion and the 2010 elections , based in part on the network exit polls and in part on a post-election survey they helped design. Some of what they have to . . . . Continue Reading »

Here is a remarkably poorly argued and tendentious (not to say profoundly misleading) column by Marci Hamilton , making the case against religious hiring rights.  A sample: Social service providers, like other employers, are subject to the federal civil rights anti-discrimination laws. . . . . Continue Reading »

Remember that phrase from the Clinton Administration?  I do.  I also remember lots of arguments with “more sophisticated” colleagues (including some affiliated with prominent evangelical colleges, but I’m not naming names) who suggested that we should look past President . . . . Continue Reading »

When I read the headline of this article on RealClear Politics , I thought the authors were making a familiar conservative case—that Barack Obama’s learning curve in the Oval Office is impossibly steep, that he was (and remains) underqualified for the job.  I think I know the . . . . Continue Reading »

Politico asks and answers the question: “Was abortion a wave-stopper for Democrats in 2010?” As many of the anti-abortion Democrats elected over the last four years were going down in defeat, the party made abortion a central concern in a handful of battleground Senate races — and . . . . Continue Reading »

You’ve probably heard this argument before, but that’s no reason not to repeat it: the more traditional and orthodox the believers, the more children they’re likely to have. Conversely, the closer to the atheistic end of the spectrum people are, the fewer children they’re . . . . Continue Reading »