Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 111

Ceremonial Deism

The Supreme Court ruled in 1984 that Nativity scenes in publicly-owned spaces are legal.  As long as they don’t mean anything.  Hillsdale Sophomore Nic Rowan writing in the Federalist sees this as an example of “ceremonial deism.” After the jump, read his argument and my thoughts on the matter. From Nic Rowan, Supreme Court: You Can [Read More...]

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Our attention span drops to below that of a goldfish

Americans have a very high literacy rate.  The problem is, though people can read, many of them don’t read.  At least not anything longer than a tweet or a blog post.  One-quarter of Americans haven’t read a single book all year.  That can be said of  one-third of American men. One problem, reports Eric Metaxas, [Read More...]

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Gift idea: Christianity Today’s 2017 book awards

Christianity Today has announced its 2017 book awards.  The list of winners in all of the different categories might give you some good ideas for Christmas presents. I like book editor Matt Reynolds’ introduction to the list.   He surveys how, thanks to the new printing press, Luther’s Reformation in 1517 was tied to the reading [Read More...]

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Gift ideas: Reading Romans with Luther

Let’s start a series of posts on ideas for Christmas presents!  Here is a good one:  Reading Romans with Luther.  It’s by R. J. Grunewald, a sometime commenter here at the Cranach blog. Luther’s greatest theological works are his commentaries on Scripture, such was his concern to adhere closely to the text of God’s Word. [Read More...]

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Problems with the EXXON CEO as Secretary of State

Donald Trump chose Rex Tillerson, the C.E.O. of ExxonMobil, to be Secretary of State.  As someone who wants Trump’s presidency to succeed, I have three concerns about this nomination: (1)  The appearance of amateurism.  What qualifications or experience does Tillerson have for this particular job?  Making international business deals is nothing like managing the Foreign [Read More...]

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Update on Ohio’s anti-abortion bills

The Ohio state legislature has passed two abortion bills that Gov. John Kasich has now acted on.  He refused to sign the “heartbeat bill,” which would have banned abortion after the developing child’s heart begins to beat.  That can be as early as six weeks, which is before many women even realize they are pregnant. [Read More...]

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Hotels without Gideon Bibles

The Gideons do great work in distributing Bibles.  For many decades, virtually every hotel room had a Gideon Bible on the nightstand or in a drawer.  But today, less than half do. A survey has found that only 46% of American hotel rooms include religious material.  Ten years ago, nearly three-quarters did. Of course, what [Read More...]

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Democrats lost because they raised religious liberty fears

The reason the Democrats lost, argues David Bernstein in the Washington Post, is that their words, actions, and policies made large numbers of Christians afraid that their religious liberty is in jeopardy.  So even though they had major qualms about Donald Trump, they voted for him in large enough numbers to give him the victory. Bernstein’s point, I [Read More...]

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Macy’s drops Planned Parenthood

Macy’s department store no longer funds or matches contributions to Planned Parenthood.  Neither do AT&T, Coca-Cola, Ford, and Xerox.  For a list of big corporations that still do fund the abortion provider, click the link after the jump. We’ll see if the biggest funder of Planned Parenthood has a similar change of heart:  namely, the [Read More...]

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“Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray”

More prophecies of the coming of Christ for our Advent contemplation:  Isaiah 35, yesterday’s Old Testament reading.  I give the chapter after the jump.  It’s about how God “will come and save you,” and what this will mean for “the redeemed,” those “ransomed by the Lord.”  This includes those who are weak, infirm, and “anxious.” [Read More...]

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