Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is now receiving the kind of notoriety he never sought or achieved during his political career. He has been indicted for lying to federal authorities about cash withdrawals that were allegedly used as hush money in an attempt to hide sexual misconduct in his past. I’m not concerned… Read More »
In 2007 the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study (RLS) found that 78.4 percent of adults in the United States identified themselves as Christians. In the 2023/2024 RLS, that number dropped to 62 percent. By any measure that’s a significant decline! But what does it really mean about the state of the Christian faith in… Read More »
I just heard Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaking at a National Press Club luncheon. Although she is an atheist, her comparison between Islam on the one hand, and Christianity and Judaism on the other is uncompromising and uncommonly frank. Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born to a Muslim family in Somalia. She experienced the traditional Islamic practice… Read More »
I must admit to almost being floored by what Rudy Giuliani said at a recent Republican fund raiser: I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America. He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up… Read More »
When I look at the message on attorney Larry L. Archie’s Greensboro, NC billboard, I have to wonder what was in the good lawyer’s mind. Is he making some deep philosophical point that I’m missing? Or does he mean exactly what his words seem to say? The message of the billboard seems to be that… Read More »
The killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, by a white police officer in Ferguson, MO has aroused a lot of emotions. When a grand jury refused to indict officer Darren Wilson for the killing, some of those emotions spilled over into rioting and violence. I find myself conflicted about the entire situation. On… Read More »
Using DNA testing to trace the forebears of Michelle Obama, New York Times reporter Rachel L. Swarns has been able to identify the First Lady’s white ancestors. Swarns used historical records to determine the most probable contributors to Mrs. Obama’s white heritage. Once that family was identified, DNA testing was used to confirm the relationship.… Read More »
Reactions to the recent Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision that affirmed the right of closely held corporations to refuse to offer abortion and birth control services to their employees because of the religious convictions of the owners, were very revealing. Unsurprisingly conservatives hailed the decision as a victory for religious freedom. On the left, however,… Read More »
This post is not about the politics of immigration policy. But it is about some of the protests that have taken place over the past several weeks against the huge influx of children who have crossed our borders seeking asylum. The pictures we have seen on TV are, to my mind, absolutely appalling. Men and… Read More »
I just read an online article that defended Donald Sterling’s right to continue as the owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers basketball team after his racist rant against African Americans was made public. The author presented it as a free speech issue. “[T]he last time I checked this is still a ‘free country’, where… Read More »