So they left the Coptic Church to become Muslims in order to attain an easy divorce, then tried to deconvert and re-enter the Coptic Church, because they never truly believed in Islam, but still believed in Coptic Christianity, which forbade them to divorce, which they did anyway, as Muslims, which they don’t want to be anymore, because they want to go back to the Coptic Church, whose teachings they could take or leave, which they did, leave I mean, but now they’re free to return to what they left, such as it is.

“It’s a big step for religious freedom in Egypt, but religious freedom will only be fully reached once Muslims can convert to Christianity,” said Ramsis el-Naggar, a lawyer who worked on behalf of the 12 converts.

Hopefully, those Muslims who one day will be free to convert to Christianity will not then seek to reconvert to Islam in order to seek a divorce, only to deconvert and reconvert to Christianity in order—oh whatever…

And so there’s no reason to let it get in the way of your education. Here are some summer programs that our student-readers might want to apply for.

The WITHERSPOON INSTITUTE is pleased announce the creation of the Schreyer Summer Seminars and is accepting applications to its six summer seminars for advanced high school students, undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.

The FIRST PRINCIPLES SEMINAR: MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE NATURAL LAW TRADITION is an intensive two-week program for advanced undergraduate and graduate students under the direction of Thomas D’Andrea (University of Cambridge) and Christopher Tollefsen (University of South Carolina), with guest lecturers Hadley Arkes (Amherst College), Robert George (Princeton University) and Daniel Robinson (Oxford University). It will be held on the campus of Princeton University, July 28 – August 8, 2008.

The THOMISTIC SEMINAR: ELIZABETH ANSCOMBE: ETHICS, VALUE AND PRACTICE is a week-long program for graduate students in philosophy under the direction of John Haldane (University of St. Andrews) with presentations by Gavin Lawrence (UCLA), Michael Pakaluk (Clark University), Thomas Pink (Kings College, London) and David Soloman (Notre Dame). The Thomistic Seminar will take place at the Princeton Theological Seminary from August 17 – 23, 2008.

The WITHERSPOON INSTITUTE FAMILY SEMINAR 2008: GENDER, THE FAMILY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES is a three-day program for graduate students in the social sciences (sociology, economics, psychology, political science, and related disciplines) under the direction of W. Bradford Wilcox (University of Virginia). Paula England (Stanford), Sara McLanahan (Princeton), Rob Palkovitz (Delaware), Steven Rhoads (Virginia), and Robin Wilson (Washington and Lee) will also help to lead the seminar. A number of guest lecterurs will also address participants, including Kay Hymowitz (Manhattan Institute). It will take place on the campus of Princeton University, June 11 – 14, 2008.

The GOD, POLITICS AND THE JEWISH TRADITION SEMINAR is two-week program for advanced undergraduate and graduate students interested in the relevance of Judaism’s political and theological dimensions to public life, led by Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University) and David Novak (University of Toronto). Additional faculty presenters at the seminar will include Lenn Goodman (Vanderbilt University), Leon Kass (University of Chicago), Alan Mittleman (Jewish Theological Seminary), David Myers (UCLA), Suzanne Stone (Yeshiva University), and Michael Walzer (Institute for Advanced Study). The seminar will take place on the campus of Princeton University, July 27 – August 7, 2008.

The MORAL FOUNDATIONS OF LAW SEMINAR is a intensive, week-long program for law school students interested in the interaction among moral thought, legal theory and moral legislation. The seminar is directed by Gerard Bradley (Notre Dame Law) in collaboration with Robert George (Princeton University), John Finnis (Oxford University), and the Honorable Edith Clement (5th Circuit Court of Appeals), among others. The seminar will take place at the Princeton Theological Seminary, August 10 – 16, 2008.

The MORAL LIFE AND THE CLASSICAL TRADITION SEMINAR is a week-long program for advanced high school students interested in the origins of Western moral thought and its influence on Christian ethics. The seminars for young men and women are completely separate. The seminar is led by Michael Sugrue (Ave Maria University) in collaboration with Seana Sugrue (Ave Maria University) and Paul Macdonald (Bucknell University), and will be held on the campus of Princeton University, June 15 – 21, 2008.

For more information about the summer seminars of the WITHERSPOON INSTITUTE, please visit http://www.winst.org/seminars/index.php#Summer_Seminars, or contact Patrick Hough (phough@winst.org).

By way of Gene Veith at Cranach.

Steven Spielberg will not continue as an artistic adviser to the upcoming Summer Olympics in China—a one-eighty Spielberg attributes to a pang of conscience over China’s continued support of the Sudanese government.

And you can thank Mia Farrow, it would seem, for panging him. It was she who last year warned the director of Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler’s List, and Munich that he risked becoming “the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games.” (Yeouch!)

Farrow intends to continue panging the consciences of advertisers—most definitely an uphill battle, as you cannot throw even a Japanese Ninja star without hitting something displaying a Made in China label, leaving American congloms hungry for a bigger slice of reciprocal trade.

While we should no doubt keep the Darfur-China connection in mind, we should also remember that Christians (and members of other faiths) continue to suffer at the hands of the authorities in China itself. Or have cheap manufacturing costs made even that of no consequence? (This as I shamelessly eye a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 . . . No! I will resist! There’s at least one more good year left in that Commodore 64! Who needs Vista or Leopard—DOS rules!)

The Washington Post has a solid editorial praising Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for being willing to adjust his policy to the needs of our generals in Iraq. The generals require troops to remain in the country longer than Gates originally desired, and Gates thinks they should stay so that we don’t forfeit the gains of the past six months. The Post agrees, and also wonders why the Democratic presidential candidates have not altered their policy proposals to reflect the current situation. The Post has run a variation on this editorial before, but it’s good to see again.

The Anglican bishop of Hereford has been fined £47,345 and ordered to undergo “equal opportunities training” for failing to hire an active homosexual who applied for a position working with young people in the diocese.

Perhaps, following the advice of his archbishop, he should have asked for his case to be tried according to sharia law. The contradiction between the two sides of multiculturalism—the “Let the Muslims be Muslims” side and “Force everyone to accept gays” side—can’t get much clearer than it’s managing in England, can it?