Even if Rifqa never goes back to live with her parents, she, as a Christian, needs to honor them. She needs to treat them with love and respect. That’s just a fact.

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You do not represent me, a low income widow with a racially diverse family. You do not represent my daughters, two of whom have had children out of wedlock while still in their teens. We love our babies and would never hurt them. Please don’t pretend to speak for all women.

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What does one do with a country like Haiti, where years of occupation, corruption, and many different types of aid from outside hasn’t worked?
Lots of “it’s your fault” type stuff all over the internet: a lot of it uses the left wing’s meme of “Blame America” (and the right shouts back “Blame France”). Not mentioned, […]

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Spoiler Alert: It’s the Bible!

If you didn’t guess that from the previews already, it’s not much of a spoiler.   Denzel Washington is Eli, a traveler in post-apocalyptic North America.  From the first scene the spectacular action shots are reminiscent of some Zack Snyder directed graphic novel come to film.  But instead of this film doesn’t […]

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The Massachusetts Senate race is getting the headlines on Drudge. Hmm…makes me wonder what’s going on, when a state most famous for it’s welfare and compassion might vote for a Republican. Yes, I’m old enough to remember Romney and Senator Brooke, but they are the exception to the rule.
The funniest line in the race this […]

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The advertising campaigns on our local cable TV is “Malaysia, truly Asia”, suggesting that you can visit there and see all of Asia in a microcosm: The beaches of SEAsia, the foods of India, and the bargains of China, all in one.
Well, last week’s attacks on seven churches just lost them the visits of a […]

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Some may claim that this headline is a little strong.  But if one goes back and studies history, one finds that Hitler also deemphasized the religious aspects of Christmas in deference to a generalized “winter holiday”.
This was only […]

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Any religious expression, it seems.  A commentator can’t say anything remotely religious without getting lambasted by the Left.  (And, no doubt, with exclamations like "Jesus Christ!" thrown in for good measure.)  While commenting on the Tiger Woods situation, former Fox News anchor Brit Hume dared dig deeper into the story and commented on one of […]

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Most Americans would agree that freedom of conscience ranks among our most cherished liberties.  As such, the state should protect this particular right by almost any means necessary and reasonable (especially for citizens).
In California, an initiative has been undertaken to get a ballot before voters to determine the propriety of Christmas music in California public […]

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Those Medieval painters were a bit less puritanical than we moderns: A common motif in paintings was the Madonna Les Latte: the Virgin Mother breastfeeding the baby Jesus.
Back in those days, if a woman didn’t breast feed her baby, it died. Yes, upper class women often would find a “wet nurse” to provide nutrition,  and […]

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I am aghast the the US Senate rushing through a health bill that no one has read, and voting on it over a Christmas weekend when most people have a life to live and don’t follow the news.
But that is no excuse for this shoddy reporting by the NY Times: “Catholic groups Support Senate on […]

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We had many Christmas music albums growing up.  Every time the Firestone or Goodyear companies put one out, or another compilation hit the stores, my dad (a self-described "Christmas-aholic") would get it.  The first one home each evening would put a stack of LPs on the record player spindle and get it started.
We knew each […]

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I’m not sure what to make of the article in Slate that equates religiosity with niceness, and points out that the atheistic Danes and the Swedes are happier and nicer and have fewer negative social problem than the US which boasts of it’s religiosity.
In his new book, Society Without God, Phil Zuckerman looks at […]

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One of the shortcomings I remember the most about the Christian elementary school I attended was how a number of the less-than dedicated educators would punish all of the students for the misbehavior of a single pupil.  To this day, I remain convinced this had more to do with lazy teachers preferring not to mess […]

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The murders at Fort Hood have been blamed on jihadi terrorism, a fantasy disease called post traumatic syndrome by proxy, and “going Postal”.
Presumably “Road Rage” will be the next diagnosis for the Psychiatrist who went on his own personal terrorist strike.
But until now, I was not aware that many of his victims were themselves members […]

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All Catholic Filipinos have a devotion to “Mama  Mary”. It’s a cultural thing.
Americans tend to be individualistic in their approch to religion, so tend to parse Bible verses.  But the Philippines, until recently, was still a country of peasants, where religion was taught to children by stories and fiestas.
So Jesus was “Kuya Jesus”, older brother […]

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Quick. Name the most dangerous terrorist organization in the US, organizations that are responsible for  47 of the53 most destructive terrorist attacks in the US.
Muslims? No.
Right wing Militias? No.
The Christian fundamentalist types? No.
It’s the Animal rights extremists.
Via SecondhandsmokeBlog, quoting from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision U.S. v Christianson:
… between 2000 and 2005, 43 […]

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Salt and Pepper: Religion and Public Education
The Cheatham County Tennessee School District is being sued by four students who are protesting the District’s position that allows, and apparently encourages, religious activities in the district’s schools. According to an article in the Tennessean:
The lawsuit alleges: a planned prayer took place at graduation last spring; the Gideons […]

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The CDC announced an increase in STD’s and an administration spokesman insisted that it’s all Bush’s fault, because some schools preach abstinence:
“Chlamydia and gonorrhea are stable at unacceptably high levels and syphilis is resurgent after almost being eliminated,” said John Douglas, director of the division of sexually transmitted diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease […]

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When I ran across a recent article at “Air America” online titled: Abortion Restrictions In House Bill Show Power Of Organized Religion In Politics I broke into a sweat! (Well not literally!) However, how could it be that I, a self-professed proponent of Conservatism, could agree with ANYTHING that the “wacko Libs” at Air […]

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The White House has announced plans to expand its Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.  In an address to the National Prayer Breakfast, President Barack Obama said the office would reach out to nonprofit organizations and “help them determine how to make a bigger impact…and learn their obligations under the law.”  From a number of things said […]

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Who among us has not had their faith challenged? What are we to tell the person who, for whatever reason, has lost faith in God? Teacher of the Year: The Mystery and Legacy of Edwin Barlow examines how a young boy destined for the clergy became a soldier in WWII. After killing numerous […]

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Would Jesus pack heat?
An easy question you say, since Jesus told his followers to “turn the other cheek”, and this quote is often quoted by those opposing all war or violence of any sort…mainly by those living in safe suburbs and working in tenured academic jobs.
Yet this article states that some pastors in the Detroit […]

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I was startled to find this important editorial in the NYTimes:

A Final Verdict on the Presidential Salute

After a couple of paragraphs explaining the writer’s expertise in saluting, and another couple of paragraphs on the history of presidential salutes, we come to the conclusion:
(President Obama’s) salute, it struck me, was impeccable in every way.
Huh?
It’s true that […]

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It is as if the entire Washington press corps has forgotten everything any of them knew in 2001 and early 2002 and have no perspective on what is going on in Afghanistan now.
In late September of 2002 newspapers were flooded with glorious tales about the Northern Alliance – and the NA deserved every bit of […]

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The early 21st century stands as a period of profound moral confusion.  On the one hand, mothers and doctors are permitted to crack open the skulls and suck out the brains of nearly-born babies with government sanction under the banner of partial birth abortion.  Should these very same people hike into the woods and crack […]

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Ah, Halloween is here, and the TV channels are full of stories of witches and ghosts and goblins of all sorts.
Most of it is harmless fun: art and literature helps mankind be able to confront the evils around them in a way that strengthens their ability to hope that confronting the more real evils around […]

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Ah, a British paper just pooh poohed the British victory at the Battle of Agincourt, saying that Prince Hal was not outnumbered 4 to 1, merely outnumbered 2 to 1.
Actually, the author misses the point, which is that the elite knights of France got slowed down by the mud and were massacred by ordinary British […]

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Between all the stories of terror, selfishness, and violence, we sometimes need to read about a person who just tries to help in a small way.
So in today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution, there is a story about a retired woman, Margaret Freeman,  who helps children thrown away by their parents.
Those who are still alive, she helps […]

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The latest kerfuffle on the Health Care bill is that the Obama church has leashed the Am Cath types against the Catholic bishops.
For those of you who are not Catholic, much of the church bureaucracy is full of those who claim Vatican II to justify changing the Catholic church into a Episcopalian wanna be church.
Luckily, […]

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