Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 32
March 2, 2018
Trump Imposes Tariffs
President Trump announced that he will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum, sending the stock market plummeting. Next week, steel imported from other countries will be assessed a tax of 25%. Foreign-produced aluminum will be assessed 10%. Here are some details from Dow closes more than 400 points lower after Trump says steel and aluminum […]
March 1, 2018
The Pope’s Efforts to Reverse Birth Control Ban
It appears that Pope Francis is trying to reverse the Catholic Church’s unpopular and widely-ignored ban against artificial birth control. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae (“Of Human Life”), Pope Paul VI’s encyclical forbidding contraception. Two years ago, Pope Francis released another encyclical that dealt also dealt with sexuality entitled Amoris Laetitia (“The […]
Trump vs. NRA
President Trump defied the National Rifle Association and opponents of gun control, urging Republican congressmen to pass stricter gun laws in light of the Parkland school shooting. The president chastised his fellow Republican politicians for being in thrall to the NRA. “They have great power over you people,” he said, referring to NRA officials. “They have […]
February 28, 2018
A Wolf, a Sheep, and Food that Digests Us
“A wolf in sheep’s clothing” is someone who seems nice on the outside, like a gentle sheep, but on the inside and actually is a ravening wolf. Then there is the “sheep in wolf’s clothing,” which appears on the surface to be harsh and scary but on the inside is actually gentle and good. (Coleridge […]
The Vegemite President
I came across a British site that tossed off a word that I didn’t know. It spoke of Donald Trump as being a “marmite” president. Nothing was explained, and the assumption seemed to be that everyone would know what it meant. So I dug around and discovered not only a new word but a helpful […]
February 27, 2018
Catholic, Lutheran, & Reformed Approaches to the Poor
I’ve been reading a ground-breaking new book in the field of the sociology of religion (more on that later), which put me onto the work of Yale social scientist Sigrun Kahl. She has studied the attitudes towards the poor in the Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed traditions. She then shows the connection between those theological positions […]
Everybody Is Exhausted
Horrible crimes, embarrassing scandals, internecine political warfare, one crazy thing after another. . . .Does all of this leave you feeling emotionally exhausted? Have the news, internet trolls, and FaceBook fretting left you a burnt out case? Apparently, lots of Americans are feeling this way. Stress and anxiety are reportedly way up. USA Today has published […]
February 26, 2018
We’re On Our Way to Australia
Today we leave for Australia, where we will be through the month of March, coming back a few days after Easter. Our daughter, who lives in Adelaide with her husband the seminary professor, is having another baby! We’ll be there to help with the other “grandies” (as they call grandchildren over there), attend the baptism, […]
The Attack on Christianity from the Right
Most of us are familiar with the attacks of Christianity from the Left. There are also attacks on Christianity from the Right. You might be familiar with Ayn Rand’s libertarian critique, that Christianity undermines both individual freedom and free economics by undermining what she calls “the virtue of selfishness.” But the opposition to Christianity among […]
February 23, 2018
When Christians Change Churches, Where Do They Go?
One out of six American Christians changed religious affiliation over a four year period. Where did they go? Other churches. But which churches? And what are the patterns? A study has surveyed 9,500 individuals between 2010 and 2014, tracing their religious journeys. Ryan P. Burge reports on the findings in Christianity Today in an article […]
