Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 336

“Les Misérables” as a good book

I have finally finished Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.  I saw the movie and had earlier seen the play, but I realized that I had never read the novel, so I took on that project.  I downloaded the free Kindle edition  and started reading.  It took me months and months.  The paperback edition is some 1500 [Read More...]

Secession movements

What with the European Union, globalization, the United Nations, and being a “citizen of the world,” the trend was supposed to be for the elimination of narrow nationalisms in favor of cosmopolitanism and ever-larger unions.  But now nationalism is back, and little countries are trying to break away from big countries.  After the jump, links [Read More...]

Battling Christianity’s “excessive” growth in China

Officials in still-Communist China have been  demolishing churches as a way to combat what one has called the “excessive” growth of Christianity.  In one city, thousands of Christians have surrounded their church building, occupying it around the clock to keep away the bulldozers.   From China denies church ‘demolition campaign’ but says Christianity’s growth ‘excessive’ [Read More...]

“With fear and great joy”

When the Angel of the empty tomb appeared to the Roman guards, those courageous battle-hardened soldiers were so afraid that they passed out.  When the same Angel appeared to the women who came to care for the body of Jesus, they were also afraid, but they left “with fear and great joy.”  What was the [Read More...]

Making it harder to get a divorce

A number of states have been or are considering protecting marriage–as well as promoting the social and economic benefits that it brings–by making it more difficult to get a divorce.  Judging from an article on the subject in the Washington Post, the left will be packaging these efforts as part of the “Republican war on [Read More...]

From transparency laws to enemy lists

Contemporary politics requires raising lots of money.  But that is also a formula for corruption, with elected officials potentially giving pay-back to those who gave them money for their campaigns.  How can that be avoided? One solution, found to be constitutionally dubious,  was to strictly limit the amount of money individuals can give to a [Read More...]

The Eighth Day

There is a Creation.  And there is also a New Creation. God created the universe in 6 days and on the 7th, He rested.  His other stupendous work was when the Second Person of the Trinity became incarnate and took the evils and sufferings of His creation into Himself, dying to atone for them, and [Read More...]

The best and worst jobs

CareerCast.com has released its annual Jobs Rated report, which ranks 200 jobs according to various metrics, including work environment, pay, and stress level.   Physicians are #78, the good pay being negated by the high stress levels and difficult work environment.  Pastors come in at #101.  The top two jobs?  Mathematicians and University Professors.  The worst [Read More...]

Tripwire to World War III

Many Americans are wondering, what difference does Russia’s incursion into the Ukraine make for us?  Well, a number of observers are saying that Vladimir Putin might next go after the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), bordering countries that used to be part of the USSR and that also have large Russian minorities with grievances. [Read More...]

You were there

You know that old spiritual that asks, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?. . .when they nailed Him to the tree?. . .when they laid Him in the tomb?. . . .when God raised Him from the tomb?”  Well, the answer to that question is YES. According to the Bible, if you were [Read More...]