Victoria Beeching is a celebrity in the world of evangelical Christian music. The singer made big news last week when she announced that “I am gay and God loves me just the way I am.” A little while before her announcement, she had endorsed same-sex marriage. Evidently, she’s on a mission to change the views of Christians and the teachings of Christianity on matters of sexual morality and marriage. Continue Reading »
In an airborne press conference on the way back from Korea yesterday, Pope Francis addressed the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Iraq. In response to a question about the American bombing of ISIS targets, the Holy Father made three important points. One, unfortunately, was not helpful. Continue Reading »
Recent global events have highlighted the ongoing challenge of ethnic and tribal divisions. Americans have also been reminded by events in Ferguson that divisions along race and ethnic lines are just down the street. These ongoing divisions forcefully highlight the need for greater efforts at ecumenism. Continue Reading »
Despite the lower mortality rates and longer life spans of the postmodern condition, the reality of death still looms large. Globalization and the new networks of social media keep death before the mind of a global public on a daily basis. The Gothic in literature and the arts pours forth at a . . . . Continue Reading »
I have created a website, iraqrescue.org, at which I have posted “A Plea on Behalf of the Victims of ISIS/ISIL Barbarism in Iraq.” I will paste in the text of the statement below this note. I would be grateful if friends would read the plea and, if you agree, go to the website and add . . . . Continue Reading »
Pierre Ryckmans died in August. He was a Belgian trained in law who lived in Taiwan, where he studied Chinese language, culture, and literature, and then made an academic career in Australia. Continue Reading »
I am grateful to Greg for his thoughtful supplement to my post on porn because this is certainly the single biggest pastoral problem in the church. I say ‘supplement’ because I do not see his observations as at all antithetical to my own. Indeed, the Pascalian notion of distraction . . . . Continue Reading »
The pope’s apology to Pentecostals during his visit to the church pastored by Giovanni Traettino speaks to the importance of memory. As Augustine recounts in his Confessions, the memory is a vast storehouse of many chambers filled with countless images. Continue Reading »