Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 270
February 6, 2015
Is Christianity morally equivalent to radical Islam?
At the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama asserted the moral equivalence of Christianity and radical Islam. Read what he said after the jump and consider: Though Christianity too has violence in its history, what is wrong with what he says? From Critics pounce after Obama talks Crusades, slavery at prayer breakfast – The Washington Post: [Read More...]
A tale of two reading lists
Annie Holmquist compares a middle school reading list from 1908 to one from today. It isn’t just that the latter is dumbed down in comparison, though it is. She goes on to analyze the content of what is taught in these two sets of books and the kinds of education they exemplify. From Jason W. [Read More...]
Righteous eating
“Orthodoxy” means “right belief.” Now there is a new word, “orthorexia,” meaning “right eating.” The National Eating Disorders Association defines it as “fixation on righteous eating.” From Orthorexia Nervosa | National Eating Disorders Association: Those who have an “unhealthy obsession” with otherwise healthy eating may be suffering from “orthorexia nervosa,” a term which literally means [Read More...]
February 5, 2015
Writings of Jews in the Babylonian exile
Archaeologists have discovered and translated a trove of tablets from Iraq that were written by Jews exiled in Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. From Simcha Jacobovici, 2,500 Year Old Jewish Tablets Discovered in Iraq: Now for the first time, one hundred and ten, 2,500 year old Babylonian tablets have been discovered in Iraq which provide a glimpse of Jewish [Read More...]
Anti-science liberals
Democrats are reviving the notion that “conservatives are anti-science!” But what about the anti-science stance of liberals when it comes to abortion, genetically-modified foods, fracking, and environmental apocalypse? And did you know that far more Democrats than Republicans believe in astrology, flying saucers, fortune telling, and New Age medicine? David Harsanyi and Ian Tuttle both [Read More...]
T.S. Eliot as inventor of the Hipster
Literary scholar Karen Swallow Prior is kind enough to credit me for mentoring her through graduate school. I’m proud to see that she has become a “public intellectual,” writing regularly for both Christianity Today and The Atlantic. You have got to read her essay about how the whole mindset of the hipster is captured in [Read More...]
February 4, 2015
Vaccination and choice
An outbreak of measles that started in Disneyland is being blamed on parents who do not believe in vaccinating their children. These folks, who come from both sides of the political spectrum, fear a link–first raised by scientists but then retracted– between vaccination and autism, or they believe vaccination is unnatural like genetic engineering, or [Read More...]
The case for a North American century
Many have been saying that America is in decline, that our political, cultural, and economic contributions are slipping. China, some say, is the up-and-coming nation. Others say that the age of the dominant world power is over. But an op-ed piece by former General David Petraeus and Brookings Institute researcher Michael O’Hanlon say that the [Read More...]
Hear Alexander Graham Bell
In this age of smart phones, we should honor the smartness of Alexander Graham Bell, who not only invented the telephone but made many other contributions to audio technology by figuring out how to translate sound waves into electronic signals. Now researchers have discovered and restored the first and only recording of Bell’s voice, dated [Read More...]
February 3, 2015
Iceland builds temple to the Norse gods
In the once firmly Lutheran nation of Iceland, some residents are erecting a temple to the Norse gods. From Iceland to Build First Temple to Norse Gods since the Viking Age, UK Guardian: Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction starting this month on [Read More...]
