President Obama’s criticism of the Supreme Court, and Justice Alitos reaction, have received a surprising amount of attentiongiven that Obama had thousands of words, widely broadcast, and Alito had a headshake and two words, unheard, possibly “that’s wrong.” . . . . Continue Reading »
My latest podcast delves into “nature rights,” which, I believe, could reasonably be depicted as neo nature religion. It isn’t just the constitution of Ecuador, as I have discussed before. Some US municipalities have passed ordinances giving “Nature” the . . . . Continue Reading »
Science explains why my wife and I get along so well: she’s exponentially more attractive than me. From the Journal of Family Psychology : Physical appearance plays a crucial role in shaping new relationships, but does it continue to affect established relationships, such as marriage? In the . . . . Continue Reading »
From Pastor Gregory Alms:That line is one of my favorites in Luther’s great hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. I always get a lump in my throat as I sing it. I stand a bit taller and thrust out my chest just a bit in defiance of enemies, spiritual and otherwise.But it is a curious moment. For . . . . Continue Reading »
From an address by Archbishop Charles Chaput at the Fifth Symposium Rome: Priests and Laity on Mission: Having said all this, we still face a problem. And here it is: God has never been more absent from the Western mind than he is today. Additionally, we live in an age when almost every scientific . . . . Continue Reading »
At NRO, Kathryn Jean Lopez posts an exchange between Unitarian minister Maryiln Sewell and atheist Christopher Hitchens: Maryiln Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from . . . . Continue Reading »
Scientists have recently discovered a way to grow pork in a petri dish a technique to turn pig stem cells into strips of meat that could one day offer a green alternative to raising livestock. Although in-vitro pork won’t be reaching supermarket shelves anytime soon, it’s not too . . . . Continue Reading »
Generally speaking, I’m a tolerant, live-and-let-live, kind of guy. But there are four types of people that drive me nuts: libertarians, hippies, bad dancers, and folks who pull goofy stunts in public for attention. So you can imagine my dismay when on midnight April 12, 2008, the eve of . . . . Continue Reading »
How does Obama’s first year State of the Union Address compare to other recent Presidents? Below are word clouds, based on the number of times a word was mentioned in the speech, for the first-year SOTUs of Reagan through Obama. Barack Obama (January 27, 2010) George W. Bush (January 29, . . . . Continue Reading »