Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 174
March 21, 2016
Terrence Malick as pro-life filmmaker
One of today’s most acclaimed, sophisticated, and artistic filmmakers is Terrence Malick, a practicing Roman Catholic Christian. Critics complain about not being able to understand his latest film, Knight of Cups. But William Randolph Brafford explains that the movie is all about “the culture of life”; specifically, openness to having children. From Terrence Malick’s Openness [Read More...]
More lists of Lutheran writers
At her writers’ blog Meet, Write, and Salutary, my daughter Mary Moerbe wants to compile lists of other kinds of Lutheran writers, in addition to that list of fiction authors that I blogged about. She also is looking for people who can proof-read and edit manuscripts. From Mary Moerbe, Expanding Authors – Meet, Write, and [Read More...]
March 18, 2016
Why are Catholics going for Trump?
Evangelicals, despite what has been said, are not particularly going for Trump. But Catholics are. Specifically, working-class Catholics, whose attitudes about political and social issues are dramatically out of synch with the official position of their church. For example, working-class Catholics tend to oppose government aid to the poor. And yet they support gay marriage [Read More...]
Making Mexico pay for the wall
So let’s assume that Donald Trump gets the Republican presidential nomination, which is probable, and that he is elected President, which is possible. How would he carry out his promises? Consider his vow to build a wall between the United States and Mexico to keep out illegal immigrants, and, furthermore, to make Mexico pay for [Read More...]
How ancient churches sounded
Church buildings are acoustic spaces, in which music is performed. Researchers are studying the acoustics of ancient and medieval churches. They are finding that certain design elements were intended to adjust sounds, “trying to tune the space.” Moreover, the acoustic data they are uncovering enables the researchers to reproduce the effects electronically. Once a digital [Read More...]
March 17, 2016
An object lesson for St. Patrick’s Day
Today is St. Patrick’s Day, a time to commemorate the former slave who escaped his masters, only to come back later to bring Christianity to the whole nation of Ireland. By extension, it is a time to honor all missionaries. St. Patrick, who lived in the 400s A.D., the time of the early church, was [Read More...]
An Irish girl tells the story of St. Patrick
A series on children from the 1960’s telling Bible stories and the like, with modern animation. From YouTube: Give Up Yer Aul Sins: Story of St. Patrick This series, including the original Oscar-nominated short, from Brown Bag Films is based upon the 1960s recordings of young children telling Bible stories in a classroom to their [Read More...]
Provocateurs, protests, and mass arrests
It’s the oldest trick in the radical handbook: Provoke your political opponents to violence as a way to discredit them. Protesters associated with George Soros’s MoveOn.org have been showing up at Donald Trump rallies, taunting Trump supporters until some of them start throwing punches. Then the news reports violence at Trump rallies, and the media [Read More...]
The new Supreme Court nominee
President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to take the late Antonin Scalia’s slot on the Supreme Court. Garland is a well-regarded Appeals Court judge, clearly well-qualified and with a reputation for moderation. Republicans in Congress are refusing to even consider him, insisting that any appointment should wait until after the presidential election. But couldn’t we expect [Read More...]
March 16, 2016
Hostility to religion
In 2012, the First Liberty Institute documented over 600 overt cases in America of “legal, social, or cultural” attacks on religion and infringements of religious liberty. This year’s report has 1,285. This doesn’t count, of course, the climate of hostility to religion in certain social groups. Jesus told his followers to expect hostility, so this shouldn’t come [Read More...]
