Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 81
April 28, 2017
“Wednesday is the new Sunday”
More and more churches are holding church services on Wednesday evenings. And for more and more Americans, that is the day they go to church. Though many conservative Protestants have long held midweek services as an “extra” day to worship, this new trend of worshipping on Wednesday alone is becoming especially common in mainline Protestant denominations. (Though [Read More...]
Education and religion
Does having more education mean being less religious? That has been the conventional wisdom in academic circles. But a new Pew Research study has found that the relationship between education and religion is much more complicated than that. In general, according to the report, highly educated people are less religious. But this effect does not [Read More...]
Another Korean War?
President Trump brought all 100 Senators to the White House for a high level military briefing on the situation in North Korea. That, combined with further military buildups in the area and talks with South Korea, underscores the seriousness of the tensions between the United States and North Korea over that country’s nuclear program. Does this [Read More...]
April 27, 2017
Plantinga wins Templeton Prize
Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga has won the Templeton Prize for contributions to religion. Plantinga has shown, in a sophisticated way that is convincing even to most non-believing philosophers, that it is not irrational to believe in God, that the “problem of evil” does not disprove God’s existence, and that Christianity can make important contributions to [Read More...]
The big tax cut proposals
President Trump is releasing details of his tax cut proposals. He would significantly raise the standard income tax deduction from $6,300 for an individual and $12,600 for married couples. Exactly how much has not been released, but in his campaign Trump suggested $15,000 for an individual and $30,000 for families. He would also cut the [Read More...]
Trump can’t withhold all money from sanctuary cities
A court ruled that President Trump may not withhold all federal funds from “sanctuary cities” that do not enforce U.S. immigration laws. The ruling said that the President may withhold some funds, as already specified in the law. That will amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, a not insignificant punishment. But only Congress has [Read More...]
April 26, 2017
A Lutheran Catholic and vocation
Our hosts here in Finland arranged a city tour of Helsinki with Emil Anton. As he works on his doctorate in theology, he works for a tour company, among other things, and has put together the “Holy Helsinki” tour of religious sites. But Emil is also quite a Christian thinker himself. He is a noteworthy author, [Read More...]
Profanity and politics
Politicians are now using the whole array of four-letter words in their speeches. President Trump does it, but Democrats seem to be doing it as a purposeful, repeated, and calculated rhetorical ploy. Why is so much of our political discourse adopting profanity? What does it mean this this is happening? Click the link after the [Read More...]
International Trumpism?
What with England’s Brexit vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump, many observers have predicted that a new wave of Trump-like nationalism, rejection of immigration, and economic populism would dominate the global landscape. Has that happened? Well, no and yes. . . . Photo of Marine Le Pen by [Read More...]
April 25, 2017
Confessional Lutheranism in Finland
Imagine that the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod suddenly went liberal. Pastors of every gender and sexual identity, seminaries that ignored the Bible, the gospel replaced by leftwing politics–the whole way. Also imagine that there were no other church bodies that you could go to instead–no Wisconsin Synod, no Evangelical Lutheran Synod, and, even though this [Read More...]
