Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 413

News & updates

Somebody hacked into the Twitter account of the Associated Press, no less, and put out word that there were explosions in the White House that injured the president.  That sent the stock market into a tailspin, but it recovered when the story turned out to be a hoax. Charges have been dropped for the Elvis [...]

Church vs. children’s sports

There was a time (I’m sounding old) when community activities were never planned on Sunday mornings.  There was never such a thing as a soccer or little league practice scheduled for the time when most families were in church.  That has changed.  Now children’s sporting events are routinely scheduled on Sunday mornings.  In fact, new [...]

Repercussions of the Boston bombings

I suspect that the Boston Marathon bombings may complicate the two big issues facing Congress right now.  On gun control, I daresay that when the citizens of Boston and its environs were told to stay inside and not to open their doors to anyone other than a uniformed police officer because a terrorist is roaming [...]

The German state church

Mathew Block, in the course of correcting a media error, explains that the Protestant state church of Germany is NOT Lutheran, but a federation of Protestant churches with a number of different theologies, including particularly the “Prussian Union,” which drove confessional Lutherans to Australia and America: Two days ago, the Catholic Herald posted a story [...]

Luther memes

I stumbled upon He Rice Tanned (read it fast), a collection of sometimes humorous Luther memes.  Samples after the jump.  (If you know of others, or other Christian-related, or other good ones of any kind, let us know in the comments.)        

The moralistic approach to filmmaking

Movies that are explicitly Christian are often moralistic and preachy, with characters that are stereotyped and idealized.  As such, they often don’t display the gritty conflict between sin and grace that Christianity is all about.  Christian movies aren’t the only films with these kinds of faults, as  Jackson Cuidon shows in his review of 42, [...]

Assessment for government programs

In my field of higher education, the big idea is assessment.  Accreditors are requiring that we assess what we do; that is, that we give evidence for the quality and effectiveness of our programs and operations.  Businesses too are measuring product quality and customer satisfaction.  But there is almost no assessment of government programs.  Very [...]

Atheists want to participate in interfaith services

Atheists in Boston are complaining that they haven’t been invited to participate in the interfaith services held in connection to the Boston Marathon bombings.  See No Room for Non-Theists at Boston Interfaith Service | (A)theologies | Religion Dispatches. Isn’t this an admission that atheism is just another religion?  And if atheists participate in an interfaith [...]

CSI, Boston

Here is a fascinating account of the police work that led to the identification and apprehension of the Boston Marathon bombers:  Police, citizens and technology factor into Boston bombing probe – The Washington Post. The legal issue now is whether “Jahar,” the surviving terrorist, should be considered an “enemy combatant” or whether he should be [...]

Boy Scouts to admit gay members but not leaders?

The Boy Scouts of America will propose a change to their policies that will admit gay members but still not allow gay scout leaders.  Is that a good compromise?  Gay activists are attacking the proposal, insisting that the scouts also allow for gay leaders.  The organization will vote on the proposal in May. From Reuters: [...]