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Eugenics v Autism

In April, 2009, a draft report from NVAC raised the question of whether the apparent cause of autism coming from vaccinations was not due to the presence of mercury but instead might be due to the presence of, and an interaction with, the aborted fetus (human) DNA in the vaccine. Teresa Deisher . . . . Continue Reading »

Aquinas on Conscience

I was planning to followup my critique of Kant with a parallel commentary on utilitarianism, but was waylaid by picking up some unread material sitting in my bookcase: an anthology of Aquinas’ thought On Law, Morality, and Politics, Hackett Press, Second Edition.  (I’ll quote from . . . . Continue Reading »

Kant Can’t (explain human dignity)

N.B. please note the change in by-line for this posting.It has always been a most curious matter. As an advocate of traditional Christian practices of respect for human dignity, I have always called the attention of my ethics students to Immanuel Kant’s argument for this dignity. Traditionally . . . . Continue Reading »

Putting Secularism Out of its Misery

Every person who has experienced the power of faith and religious conviction bridles at  the continuing intellectual hegemony of secularism in our culture. Scholars, religious leaders, or cultural trendsetters who can articulate the case for the continuing vitality of religion are prized. A . . . . Continue Reading »

Leviathan and the Jews

Sometimes it takes days, weeks, or even months for insight into the significance of an obscure text to gestate. And then sometimes it merely takes a serendipitous intersection of disparate sources. In The Star of Redemption, Franz Rosenzweig presented “Christianity” as a worldly . . . . Continue Reading »

A Kingdom of Priests; A Kingdom of Spirit

Rabbinical Judaism begins with three simple directives:  ”Be moderate in judgement, and raise up many students, and make a fence around the Torah.” The most difficult thing for a Christian to understand about Judaism is its concern with legal process, guided by a profound . . . . Continue Reading »

Jesus the political pundit

I was trying to locate some of the 0ld warnings about mixing religion and politics. So I searched for “God not Republican”.  I was informed, however, that that “Campaign [is] Unavailable.” The “alert has expired.” Fuggedaboutit. Drop it. The crisis is . . . . Continue Reading »

Now for something completely different

The only only problem is: according to this data, the correlation is inverse. The more pornography, the less rape. “...since the mainstreaming of porn into American lives in the early 70s, ...the incidence of rape per capita has declined by an astonishing 85%.” The data apparently ties . . . . Continue Reading »

Fear all art

A bumpersticker in a parking lot at one of my work places reads: “Fear No Art.”I did not expect to be drawn into a discussion of art. As I acknowledged in my first posting, other than an amateur enjoyment of classical music and opera, my artistic knowledge is woefully undeveloped. . . . . Continue Reading »

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