Maybe I’m just a sucker for a good analogy, but this piece by Doug Mainwaring really did a great job, in my opinion, of summing up the totality of the public discourse over the possibility of same-sex marriage. He begins: In our sometimes misguided efforts to expand our freedom, selfish adults have systematically dismantled that […]
The Unfitness of Ideas: Contraceptive Mentalities and Natural Selection
Before the Supreme Court this week will be the question of “same-sex marriage.” The potential for a Roe v. Wade category of decision making is certainly there: a decision that may echo in American discourse for the next few generations, much as Roe is still. A branch of the federal government, the SCOTUS, has […]
The Westboro Baptists,The Rainbow House, And The Chariot of Orthodoxy
Confessions: I am a Topekan. It’s a pretty good city, all things considered. Not the best, by far, but good. I’ve grown up “in the shadow” of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) all of my life. -They’ve picketed my Church (“Sodomite Fag Priests Burn In Hell,” apparently) -They’ve picketed my High School (“Sodomite School News […]
Not FARce From The Truth: 8th-Grade Health Class Squirms Throughout Entire Screening Of ‘Miracle Of Abortion’
The following post from the Onion warranted a re-printing: CANTON, MI—According to sources at Thomas E. Dewey Middle School, all 26 students in Mrs. Flannery’s fifth-period health class squirmed uncomfortably and grimaced in disgust Thursday throughout the screening of a 45-minute educational video titled The Miracle Of Abortion. Sources reported that the film, which uses […]
The Writing on the Ground
This Sunday’s gospel presents us with the story of the woman caught in adultery (not, of course, the man). The scribes and pharisees come to Jesus to test whether he’ll be obedient to the law of Moses, which prescribed death for such a one, or to Roman laws, which outlawed capital punishment by anyone but […]
The Election of Pope Francis I in Pictures.
He’s the first Francis, the first Jesuit, the first American, etc. His papacy will probably be noted for its accent on humility.
Q: Does God Want Only A Contrite Heart?
A reader asks: I . . . came across the daily readings. They seem to contradict themselves. . . . Hosea 6:1-6: The last couple versus are, “what am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah? For your love is like morning mist, like the dew the quickly […]
The Anti-Pornography Renaissance: Non-Theistic Reasons To Go “Fapless”
I grew up in the era of dial-up internet, and I remember many of my friends touting the blessings of high-speed internet. A few gamed, but ultimately it was all about one thing: how quickly you could download porn – first pictures, and then video. It’s a temptation most guys face (I’ve talked to priests […]
The History Of Christianity In One Comic (and a bunch of text)
In the last 500 years in particular, however, what Christianity is has gotten…”muddy.” Cloudy. Hazy. It’s hard to tell what is what, because by modest estimates, there are between 3,000 and 30,000 different Christian denominations in the world today. Some teach that there are no sacraments, some that there are 7. Some teach that Jesus was God […]