Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 324
June 13, 2014
Denmark requires all churches to do gay weddings
Denmark passed a law requiring all churches to perform same-sex weddings. Not just the state Lutheran church, all churches. The news story on the subject has another interesting detail: The government “church minister” who supervises the state church and who pushed the law against Christian opposition is an agnostic. Can you see this happening here, [Read More...]
A supercomputer didn’t really pass the Turing Test
The media reported that a supercomputer passed the Turing Test, a measure of artificial intelligence in which a computer can pass as a human being. But it turns out that this is just one of the many examples tracked on this blog (as some of you commenters have pointed out) of incompetent reporting on science [Read More...]
Populist conservatives vs. big business
The left stereotypes conservatives as the tools of big business, but, as I keep saying on this blog, there are many different kinds of conservatives, and a good many of them–especially the populists associated with the Tea Party– oppose powerful corporations for some of the same reasons leftists do. Thus, the Washington Post reports that [Read More...]
Iraq and the war between Sunnis and Shi’ites
It looks like we are approaching the helicopter-on-the-roof phase in Iraq, as Americans are being evacuated as the rebel army moves closer and closer to Baghdad. (To add insult to injury, the rebels are apparently making use of American equipment that was left behind.) But the situation there is not just about us. The rebel [Read More...]
June 12, 2014
Why was Judas in charge of the money?
Judas, according to John 12:6, was a thief, and Jesus knew everything he was up to (John 6:70). So why did Jesus put him in charge of the money? Jon Bloom offers an interesting meditation on this topic. From Jon Bloom, Why Was Judas Carrying the Moneybag? | Desiring God: Jesus put a thief in [Read More...]
Why N. T. Wright opposes gay marriage
The controversial but very influential British theologian N. T. Wright is a liberal fellow on most issues. But he does not believe in same sex marriage, which parliament just approved. See his take on the issue after the jump. Quoted from Matthew Schmitz, N. T. Wright on Gay Marriage | First Thoughts | First Things: [Read More...]
The other professor in the race for Cantor’s seat
The defeat of the House Majority Leader Eric Cantor–reportedly the first time someone holding that office has been ousted in a party primary–has Washington, D.C., in a state of shock. (Cantor, who had been projected as a future successor to House Speaker John Boehner, has announced that he is resigning his post.) His unheralded opponent, [Read More...]
Islamic militants are retaking Iraq
Islamic radicals are scoring victory after victory over the Iraqi government left in place by departing American forces. Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, is in rebel hands, as is Mosul, the nation’s second largest city. Now the insurgents are 70 miles away from Baghdad. From Iraq militants move nearer Baghdad (Agence-France-Press): Militants seized the [Read More...]
June 11, 2014
Imagination & the Christian life
Mathew Block concludes his interview by asking me about what Christians can do to cultivate the imaginative life, as I have been describing it. CL: What can people in the church do practically to foster this imaginative way of life and this imaginative way of interacting with the world? I’ve just written a book with [Read More...]
Treating faith as a virus of the mind
Some atheists are getting meaner and more threatening. Trevor Logan tells about a new book, endorsed by the usual celebrity atheists, entitled A Manual for Creating Atheists, calling its author, Peter Boghossian, the “atheist version of a Westboro Baptist Church pastor.” Boghossian calls for treating religion as a public health menace, “a virus of the [Read More...]
