Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 12

The Russian Spy Who Infiltrated U.S. Political and Religious conservatives

The FBI has arrested a 29-year-old Russian woman named Maria Butina, accusing her of being an unregistered agent of the Russian government who targeted American conservatives, including Christian activists. Butina presented herself as working to establish the right to bear arms in Russia, thus giving her an entrance into the National Rifle Association, where she […]

Benevolence vs. Fundamentalism

We blogged about Dan Hitchens’ article on politicians who parade their Catholic identity while also repudiating Catholic beliefs.   In that piece, the nephew of the late “new atheist” Christopher Hitchens quotes two figures from the past whose predictions are remarkably prescient. From Dan Hitchens, The Trouble with Catholic Politicians: John Henry Newman believed that “a […]

Dumb Things Pro-Abortionists Say

Abortion cannot really be defended by appeals to morality or logic.  So pro-abortion arguments are mostly based on emotion, unsupported “rights” talk,  euphemism, and statements that just don’t make any sense. For example, a friend reported hearing several versions of this:  “Any administration that takes children away from their parents at the border won’t hesitate to […]

To Mock Christianity Is to Mock Women, Blacks, and Immigrants

Christianity is widely mocked and belittled by our cultural elite, which seem to enjoy citing statistics that purport to show that Christianity is in decline in America.  But actually only white Christianity is showing declines in affiliation.  Fewer young white people may be going to church, but that is not the case with young blacks, […]

The Replication Crisis in Science

According to the scientific method, experimental results need to be replicable.  That is, for a study to be scientifically valid, different researchers performing the same experiment should get the same results.  But it turns out, a surprisingly large amount of published scientific research can’t be reproduced, which casts doubt on their findings.  This is called […]

What Can We Think of Trump’s Summit with Putin?

After shredding NATO and the Western alliance, President Trump staged what looked to be a lovefest with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. In their talks, President Trump had nothing but good things to say about Russia, not mentioning Putin’s practice of invading neighboring countries, assassinating his enemies (including on foreign soil, as he has done in the […]

In 20 Years, the Minority Rules

In a couple of decades, half of the population of the United States will be concentrated in just 8 states.  The rest will be scattered throughout the other 42.  This will have serious political and constitutional consequences. So observes Philip Bump, in the Washington Post, in an article entitled  In about 20 years, half the population […]

Embracing Religious Identity while Rejecting the Religion’s Teachings

Today politicians in the U.S. and Europe are proudly trumpeting their Catholic identity, even as they crusade against their church’s teachings on abortion and sexuality. Dan Hitchens–the son of the conservative Anglican Peter Hitchens, the brother of the late “New Atheist” Christopher Hitchens–discusses this paradox. From Dan Hitchens, The Trouble with Catholic Politicians, Catholic Herald: The […]

Towards the Restoration of Journalism

When we retired a few years ago, we moved back to Oklahoma, where our roots are, living in a small, rural town like the one I grew up in.  Though greatly in decline, the town has a bi-weekly newspaper.  I found one columnist particularly useful in orienting me to local issues and state politics. This […]

Facebook and Religion

Trevor Sutton, a pastor and the co-author with me of Authentic Christianity, has been studying the effects of social media.  Back in April, we blogged about an article that he wrote on How Social Media Is Designed Around Sin.  He has a follow-up to that article at Sightings in which he explores the impact of Facebook on […]