Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 182
February 18, 2016
Forbidding the use of “husband,” “wife,” “dad,” “mom”
A professor at the University of Florida is forbidding her students to use words like “husband,” “wife,” “dad,” and “mom” as being insufficiently inclusive. From Peter Hasson, Students Banned From Saying Mom or Dad | The Daily Caller: In the syllabus for her “Creativity In Context” class — a required course for any student pursuing a [Read More...]
February 17, 2016
Lutheran tribute to the 21 Coptic Martyrs
A year ago this week, ISIS beheaded 21 Coptic Christians in Libya. I’m pleased that the president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod issued this video tribute to these martyrs of the Christian faith. (Note the new icon that commemorates the martyrdom.) But aren’t the Copts heretics? Read my discussion after the jump. Some Baptists [Read More...]
Libertarian Socialism
Another take on the strange and contradictory political ideologies we are seeing today, such as we posted on yesterday. In a recent book,William Gairdner speaks of “libertarian socialism.” It’s a political philosophy that basically will let the government be as powerful as it wants, as long as it allows sexual freedom. See Gairdner’s interview at Federalist Radio, [Read More...]
PC police go after Martin Luther King
The University of Oregon has a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr., in its student union, along with a quotation from his “I have a dream” speech: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, [Read More...]
February 16, 2016
Unintended consequences of megachurches
The larger the group, the less the individual involvement. That’s a long-established finding of social science. So what does that mean for very large churches? New research has shown that those who attend megachurches are less involved in their congregation than those who attend smaller churches. That may be obvious, but the researcher then raises [Read More...]
Millennials like socialism, but don’t want a government-run economy
Millennials–young adults 30 and younger–like socialism. 85% of that cohort in Iowa and New Hampshire voted for socialist Bernie Sanders, and a majority (53%) in one poll favor socialism over capitalism. At the same time, 64% of this age group do not want the government running the economy, preferring instead the workings of the “free [Read More...]
New Mozart/Salieri composition discovered
A score of a new composition by Mozart has been discovered, the music to an opera libretto. And he wrote it in collaboration with Antonio Salieri, whom the play Amadeus accused of murdering Mozart! I can’t find a recording of what the piece of music sounds like. Let us know if you come across one. [Read More...]
February 15, 2016
Presidents Day
Today is Presidents Day. Would you say that this holiday has lost something? Has the presidency lost its grandeur, even its respect? Presidents Day was a mash-up of the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but that plural (not possessive) honors them all. Most of our presidents, beyond those great two, were far from [Read More...]
A fine video on “What Is Lent?”
More good stuff from Concordia Publishing House. Thanks to Bruce Kintz, via Face Book.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dies
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, arguably the most conservative member of the court, died Saturday at the age of 79. Justice Scalia was a major influence in conservative jurisprudence. With his death, President Obama would have the opportunity to extend his legacy with a Supreme Court appointment, one that would surely tip the balance towards the left. [Read More...]
