R. Albert Mohler Jr.'s Blog, page 391

The Briefing 10-01-13

1) Obamacare one of the most significant and morally complicated pieces of legislation in history

Birth Control and a Boss’s Religious Views, New York Times (Editorial)

2) World leaders cannot be understood without understanding their worldview

Who Is Ali Khamenei? Foreign Affairs (Akbar Ganji)

3) Ivy League’s incredible power to influence culture’s worldview

Back to School, The Weekly Standard (David Gelernter)

4) Virginia is ground-zero for legislative effort to nationalize same-sex marr iage

Lawyers Olson and Boies want Virginia as same-sex marriage test case, The Washington Post (Robert Barnes)

5) First time in world history: 2050 will see more adults age 60 plus than kids age 15 and under

Global Study: World Not Ready for Aging Population, Associated Press (Kristen Gelineau)

The Cultural Revolution on the College Campus—Why it Matters to You

Several  years ago, sociologist Peter Berger argued that secularization has been most pervasive in two social locations—Western Europe and the American college and university campus. The campuses of elite educational institutions are among the most thoroughly secularized places on our planet. This should concern anyone with an interest in higher education, of course. But it really matters to every American—or at least it should.

A wonderful and concise explanation of why this is so was provided in the pages of The Weekly Standard this week by David Gelernter, a professor of computer science at Yale University. In the course of making a proposal for the “reclamation” of higher education, Professor Gelernter wrote this very important paragraph:

Since the cultural revolution culminating in the 1970s, the left has run nearly all of the nation’s most influential, prestigious universities. Their alumni, in turn, run American culture—the broadcast networks, newspapers, the legal and many other professions, Hollywood, book publishing, and, most important, the massive, insensate, crush-everything-in-your-path mega-glacier known as the U.S. federal bureaucracy—and even more important than that, the education establishment charged with indoctrinating our children from kindergarten up.

That’s why it matters to you. And that’s how the future direction of the culture is set by the current culture of the elite colleges and universities. Many parents are unaware of how this happens. Their children may or may not attend one of the most prestigious colleges in the nation. But in almost any other institution they will study under professors who want to be associated with (or eventually hired by) one of those elite institutions. Exceptions to this pattern are rare, and the influence of these elite schools extends throughout the culture at large.

David Gelernter is in a position to know. After all, he is a professor at Yale. As he makes clear, what happens at Yale doesn’t stay at Yale.

David Genernter, “Back to School: A Reclamation Project for Higher Ed.,” The Weekly Standard, September 30, 2013. http://www.weeklystandard.com/article...

I am always glad to hear from readers. Write me at mail@albertmohler.com. Follow regular updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AlbertMohler.

The Cultural Revolution on the College Campus — Why it Matters to You

Several  years ago, sociologist Peter Berger argued that secularization has been most pervasive in two social locations — Western Europe and the American college and university campus. The campuses of elite educational institutions are among the most thoroughly secularized places on our planet. This should concern anyone with an interest in higher education, of course, but it really matters to every American — or at least it should.

A wonderful and concise explanation of why this is so was provided in the pages of The Weekly Standard this week by David Gelernter, a professor of computer science at Yale University. In the course of making a proposal for the “reclamation” of higher education, Professor Gelernter wrote this very important paragraph:

“Since the cultural revolution culminating in the 1970s, the left has run nearly all of the nation’s most influential, prestigious universities. Their alumni, in turn, run American culture — the broadcast networks, newspapers, the legal and many other professions, Hollywood, book publishing, and, most important, the massive, insensate, crush-everything-in-your-path mega-glacier known as the U.S. federal bureaucracy — and even more important than that, the education establishment charged with indoctrinating our children from kindergarten up.”

That’s why it matters to you, and that’s how the future direction of the culture is set by the current culture of the elite colleges and universities. Many parents are unaware of how this happens. Their children may or may not attend one of the most prestigious colleges in the nation, but they will study under professors in almost any other institution who want to be associated with (or eventually hired by) one of those elite institutions. Exceptions to this pattern are rare, and the influence of these elite school extends throughout the culture at large.

David Gelernter is in a position to know. After all, he is a professor at Yale. As he makes clear, what happens at Yale doesn’t stay at Yale.

David Genernter, “Back to School: A Reclamation Project for Higher Ed.,” The Weekly Standard, September 30, 2013. http://www.weeklystandard.com/article...

The Aspirant Nation: A Conversation with Conrad Black

Conrad Black has been a member of the British House of Lords since 2001. He is the author of critically acclaimed biographies of Maurice Duplessis, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon. Lord Black is the former head of the world’s third-largest newspaper empire, which published The Daily Telegraph and the Chicago Sun Times, among many others. He is a columnist at Canada's National Post, a publication which he founded, as well as a columnist at the National Review Online. His latest work is “Flight of the Eagle: The Grand Strategies That Brought America from Colonial Dependence to World Leadership.”

The Briefing 09-30-13

1) The pseudo-event: Government functioning by threatening not to function

Government Heads Toward Shutdown, Wall Street Journal (Janet Hook and Kristina Peterson)

House pushes U.S. to the edge of a shutdown, Washington Post (Lori Montgomery, Paul Kane and Rosalind S. Helderman)

2) New Jersey judge rules denial of same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Is your state next?

New Jersey Judge Rules State Must Allow Gay Marriage, New York Times (Kate Zernike and Marc Santora)

Toward Marriage Equality in New Jersey, New York Times (Editorial)

3) Exxon Mobil extends benefits to same-sex spouses of employees

Exxon to Extend Health Care to Married Same-Sex Couples, New York Times (Tara Siegel Bernard)

4) Right to free speech doesn’t prevent your employer from firing you

Professor’s tweet was crass, but his right, USA Today (Ken Paulson)

Journalism prof placed on leave after anti-NRA tweet, Associated Press (Roxana Hegeman)

5) School suspends boys for playing with toy guns – in their own yard

Has zero tolerance gone too far?, WAVY (Andy Fox)

The Briefing 09-27-13

1) Real crisis isn’t looming fed shutdown – real crisis is unwillingness to deal with economic problems

House G.O.P. Leaders List Conditions for Raising Debt Ceiling, New York Times (Jonathan Weisman and Ashley Parker)

Boehner Weighs GOP Options on Spending Bill as Shutdown Looms, Wall Street Journal (Kristina Peterson and Janet Hook)

As government shutdown looms, Americans brace for possible disruption, disappointment, Washington Post (Lisa Rein)

2) New research reveals “nones” really are secular after all

College students divided on God, spirituality, USA Today (Bob Smietana)

3) Pakistan earthquake death toll over 300

Pakistan quake death toll rises to 356, CNN (Sophia Saifi)

4) To attend is to celebrate: George H.W. Bush official witness at same-sex wedding

George H.W. Bush is witness at same-sex marriage in Maine, Washington Post (Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger)

5) Brain scans show that porn and drugs have similar brain-altering effects

Brain scans of porn addicts: what’s wrong with this picture?, Guardian (Norman Doidge)

Hijacking the Brain — How Pornography Works, AlbertMohler.com

Pornography and the male brain: What’s really going on?, The Albert Mohler Program

 

The Briefing 09-26-13

1) Leader’s must be clear. President Obama has not been. 

President Obama at the United Nations, New York Times (Editorial)

For Obama, an Evolving Doctrine on Foreign Policy, New York Times (David Sanger)

2) Obama increasingly restrained by liberals

Resurgent Liberals Put Heat on Obama, Wall Street Journal (Neil King Jr.)

3) Hypocrisy in Congress: Congressional members exempting themselves from Obamacare

The Hypocrisy Of Congress’s Gold-Plated Health Care, Wall Street Journal (William Bennett and Christopher Beach)

4) Government ran out of money yesterday. Did they stop spending? 

Happy Deficit Day, Uncle Sam, Wall Street Journal (James R. Harrigan and Antony Davies)

5) People in San Francisco love 3 things: political activism, environmentalism, and dogs

San Francisco Debates a Proposal to Limit Where Dogs Can Roam, New York Times (Rick Lyman)

America’s Coming Demographic Disaster, Thinking in Public (Jonathan V. Last and Dr. Mohler)

6) Dutch euthanasia deaths doubled in ten years

Number of Dutch killed by euthanasia rises by 13 percent, The Telegraph (Bruno Waterfield)

The right to die will put us on a very slippery slope, Financial Times (Christopher Caldwell)

7) Marijuana is “next great American industry”

Marijuana the “next great American industry,” Denver Post (John Ingold)

8) Average prostitute enters sex industry between ages of 12-14

Special Courts for Human Trafficking and Prostitution Are Planned in New York, New York Times (William K. Rashbaum

9) Abstinence before marriage incomprehensible to larger culture

Losing Her Religion, New York Times (Carlene Bauer)

The Briefing 09-25-13

1) Obama may get a low grade in Syria, but he deserves a much higher grade in Iran

America, Russia and Syria, The Economist

2) As an atheist, what do you say to the grieving? Not much. 

Grieving as an atheist: a surprising dilemma, The Guardian (Tiffany White)

3) 30 million visits/month: The tragic rise of “live” internet pornography

Intimacy on the Web, With a Crowd, New York Times (Matt Richtel)

4) Penthouse declares bankruptcy

Penthouse Publisher FriendFinder Files for Bankruptcy Protection, Wall Street Journal (Marie Beaudette)

5) When society looks like Maxim magazine, no one needs to buy subscriptions

What Happened to the Maxim Man? New York Times (Matt Haber)

6) Worldview revealing News Brief in New York Times 

Man Gets 25 Years in Plot Against Lobbying Group, New York Times (Associated Press)

 

The Briefing 09-24-13

1) Female theology professor at major Christian college comes out as transgender man 

Transgender theology professor asked to leave California Christian college after coming out, Religion News Service (Sarah Pulliam Bailey)

Discrimination or doctrine at California Christian college?, World Magazine

2) For the first time, more Americans 50 and older are divorced than widowed

Divorce After 50 Grows More Common, New York Times (Sam Roberts)

3) Family meals have overwhelmingly positive impact on kids. But what if it’s over in 8 minutes? 

Does It Count as a Family Dinner If It’s Over in Eight Minutes? Wall Street Journal (Diana Kapp)

 

Genesis 4:1-16