Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 106
January 4, 2017
90,000 Christians died for their faith last year
Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, according to a European study. In 2016, 90,000 Christians were killed because of their faith. This, however, was an improvement over 2015, when 105,000 Christians were martyred. Illustration: The Arabic equivalent of “N” for “Nazarene,” the symbol used by Islamists to mark Christians and their [Read More...]
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The Democrats’ religion problem
Michael Wear is a pro-life evangelical Christian who was a staffer for Barack Obama, helping him reach faith groups in 2012. He is now criticizing his fellow Democrats for writing off Christians. Emma Green, writing in the Atlantic, interviews him about his new book on the subject and about why the Democratic party as a [Read More...]
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The “current year” argument
Some people invoke the current year as a sufficient argument. As in, “I can’t believe that it’s 2017 and we are still debating abortion.” Or, “It’s 2017! How can you believe the Bible?” Nicholas Pell points out that merely giving the date does not prove anything. It does express the progressive worldview, that things are [Read More...]
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January 3, 2017
Martin Scorsese on vocation
Renowned film director Martin Scorsese talks about vocation in a recent interview. He didn’t make it through seminary but started to realize that you don’t have to be a priest to have a vocation. I have noticed more and more Catholics who have started understanding vocation in Lutheran terms. Scorsese also discusses his new film Silence, based [Read More...]
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“Positive propaganda as the main theme”
Russia does it with RT. Arabs do it with Al Jazeera. Now, as of New Year’s Day, China has launched the China Global Television Network. I am impressed with how honest the still-Communist regime is in explaining its purpose: to promote “positive propaganda as the main theme.” Watch for CGTN on your cable or [Read More...]
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Top 10 Cranach posts of 2016
I know you are sick of holidays and want to get back to normality, but I can’t resist New Years retrospectives. Other blogs are looking back at their top posts of last year, based on the number of page views, so I did too. The most popular posts are from years ago, but somehow they got [Read More...]
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January 2, 2017
The Eighth Day
The Gospel reading for yesterday, commemorating the Circumcision and Name of Jesus, was Luke 2:21, the shortest text in the Lectionary. (See our recent post on the subject.) In the course of an excellent sermon that explored the depths of this one verse of the Bible, our pastor cited the significance of “the eighth day.” [Read More...]
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Top 5 heresies of 2016
499 years after the Reformation, 1691 years after the Council of Nicaea, theological disputes and charges of heresy are still going strong. Emily McFarlan Miller of the Religious News Service looks back on the Top 5 Heresies of 2016. Could you list some more? Are some brewing that will come to a head in 2017? [Read More...]
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Dave Barry’s 2016 Year in Review
One of my New Year’s Eve rituals is to read Dave Barry’s annual Year in Review. The month-by-month breakdown helps me remember and sort of relive the year that is ending. But it’s filtered through off-the-wall hilarity and on-target satire of all sides. If you didn’t read it over the weekend, it’s not too late. I’ll get [Read More...]
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December 31, 2016
Happy New Year!
Thank you to all of my readers for being part of this blog last year. Many blessings for 2017! Here is what you can do: Use the comments for this post to give your New Year’s resolutions. Then you can come back next year and check them to see how you did. Well, I can [Read More...]
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