Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 343
March 28, 2014
Lutheran tattoos
Members of the Cross in Mt. Dora, Florida, a congregation of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, are getting tattoos of their church’s logo: From Mount Dora Lutherans get tattoos – Orlando Sentinel: A local pastor who casually told his members that the church would find a way to pay for a tattoo of its logo [Read More...]
How important is Church?
Not very, according to a new Barna study, at least for 51% of Americans. What, if anything, helps Americans grow in their faith? When Barna Group asked, people offered a variety of answers—prayer, family or friends, reading the Bible, having children—but church did not even crack the top-10 list. From Americans Divided on the Importance [Read More...]
Defining dissent as violence
First you define the expression of ideas that you disagree with as a form of “violence.” Which means you are justified in using actual violence against those ideas in the name of self defense. From Pete Spiliakos, When Dissent is Equated with Violence | First Thoughts | Blogs | First Things: UC Santa Barbara Professor [Read More...]
JRR Tolkien’s Beowulf is coming!
J. R. R. Tolkien made a translation of Beowulf, which is going to be published May 22! Tolkien, whose academic specialty at Oxford was Old English literature, wrote the best discussion of Beowulf–one that opened up the epic as a glorious work of literature and not just as a historical relic–with his essay “Beowulf: The [Read More...]
March 27, 2014
The Annunciation and “Lord of the Rings”
More belated Annunciation thoughts. From Isaac Augustine Morales, The Annunciation and the One Ring | Dominicana Blog: In a seemingly insignificant detail in one of the appendices of his masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien notes that the destruction of the One Ring and the defeat of Sauron took place on [Read More...]
World Vision takes back plan to hire married gays
The evangelical disaster relief organization World Vision created a stir with its announcement that it would hire homosexuals as long as they are married. This would preserve the Christian principle of “no sex outside of marriage.” But World Vision then reversed that decision, going back to its former policy requiring abstinence except for men and [Read More...]
Unions for college football players
The National Labor Relations Board, acting on a case brought by Northwestern University athletes, has ruled that college football players qualify as employees and so have the right to unionize. From Northwestern University football players can unionize, federal agency says | Fox News: In a ruling that could revolutionize college athletics, a federal agency ruled [Read More...]
Wiping out your social media debts
Thanks to Anthony Sacramone for alerting me to this Portlandia bit, Declare Social-Media Bankruptcy | Strange Herring:
March 26, 2014
Annunciation as a pro-life holiday
Yesterday was the celebration of the Annunciation, the ancient church holiday nine months before Christmas that marks the angel’s appearance to Mary and the conception of our Lord. That’s when the Incarnation began, with important implications for the pro-life cause. From Ted Olsen, More Important Than Christmas? | Christianity Today: Most evangelical Protestants are today [Read More...]
The difference one person can make
Some say history is made by vast social and economic forces. Others say that even vast forces are launched by the actions of individual human beings . Yesterday’s newspaper, in two separate articles, showed the difference made by two individuals, one whose actions led to the deaths of millions; the other whose actions led to [Read More...]
