The American Principles Project (APP) released an important new report yesterday that marshals data showing a majority of Americans support policies held by social conservatives. The report argues that a unified platform of social and economic conservatism is a winning electoral strategy”though conservatives need to greatly improve their messaging on economic policy and start messaging on social policy… . Continue Reading»
I recently argued that the doctrine of “continuing revelation” held by Latter-Day Saints tends to be read through a progressive lens. In response, many asked whether this view really has significant influence and is worth talking about. This question perplexes me, since anyone at all attentive to the “bloggernacle,” that is, the LDS internet, or to press coverage of LDS affairs, either in the Salt Lake Tribune or in national organs, cannot help but notice the persistent progressive narrative surrounding questions of homosexuality and the status or role of women… . Continue Reading»
Maybe Clark Kent misses them, but I don’t: phone booths. They were a bane in my left-handed life, one of those countless petty irritations left-handed people encounter in a right-handed world. Lots of little things still exist telling me I am left-handed, but only phone booths went out of their way to try and kill me… . Continue Reading»
The Council of the District of Columbia is considering a bill, sponsored by its most aggressively activist gay member, to legalize surrogate child-bearing in your nation’s capital. Infertility is a heart-rending problem. But solving that problem is not what’s at issue here … Continue Reading»
There are big banners hanging over the streets of our local business district, announcing a “Spooktacular” celebration on Halloween. I wonder whether the local Evangelicals”there are three congregations of them in the town”will boycott the participating stores. There is much evangelical opposition to Halloween these days… . Continue Reading»
Meandering through a social media timeline, I stumbled upon one of those “listicles” that comprise so much of our empty internet clicking. This one was about how the adorableness of children should inspire everyone to be a parent, and the images were pretty cute, but my favorite bit was textual … Continue Reading»
Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action. This case involves a challenge to Michigan’s Proposal 2, a 2006 ballot measure designed to put an end to affirmative action preferences in programs and policies of public institutions in the state… . Continue Reading»
I believe in hell. Not only the hell within, for there are those “private devils that hang like vampires on the soul,” to use the language of Thomas Merton”and not only the metaphorical hell around evident in war, violence, and destructive evil on a global scale”but also the hell to come… . Continue Reading»
Some of you know the story of Jean Vanier, the founder of the L’Arche community. Vanier was born in Canada in 1928. His father was Canada’s governor general. Vanier was a sailor in his youth, at the close of World War II. He was a philosopher, a theologian, and a poet… . Continue Reading»
A new battle is brewing over the future of Evangelical theology. Roger Olsen, Evangelical theologian at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary, protests in a recent article that some Evangelicals (especially me in a recent article in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society) misunderstand “liberal theology.” We think, he says, that liberal theology “is a good label for any deviation from orthodoxy.” So we wrongly label, he says, “any deviation from or attempt to re-form orthodox Christian tradition as ‘liberal.’” Instead, he argues, liberal theology is that which makes modernity rather than Scripture its norm… . Continue Reading»
