Religion
May 10, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Another busy, travel-heavy week, so I wasn’t able to post a proper obituary notice for John Lukacs, who passed away early this week at the age of 95. The first Lukacs book I read as an undergraduate way back in 1980 was The Passing of the Modern Age, followed shortly by 1945: Year Zero, and I was hooked. (Both of these books hold up extremely well after 40 years.) Lukacs
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April 24, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Before Easter fades too far into the rear-view mirror, I want to note this stunningly ignorant op-ed in the New York Times: “As a Black Child in Los Angeles, I Couldn’t Understand Why Jesus Had Blue Eyes.” The author decries the Western tradition of depicting Jesus as a white man, and adds: Jesus, born in Bethlehem, was most likely a Palestinian man with dark skin. As the Daily Wire correctly
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April 19, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Within hours of the fire that destroyed much of the Notre Dame Cathedral, donors pledged more than $1 billion to restore this magnificent, iconic structure and place of worship. So reports the Washington Post. In the same article, the Post also reports on a backlash against this amazing generosity. A leader of the Yellow Vest movement says that if donors can give so much money to rebuild Notre Dame, “they
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April 16, 2019 — Steven Hayward
Like Paul I’m overwhelmed by the sight of Notre Dame in flames. I don’t know how many times I have visited, but one of my favorite things to do in Paris is to linger outside the Shakespeare & Company bookstore right across the Seine and gaze at the cathedral especially in the changing afternoon and early evening light, much as Cezanne and Monet must have done to inspire some of
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April 15, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Like Paul, I was stunned by the news that Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire. Unlike Paul, whose wife is from Paris and who has spent a lot of time there, I have never been to Paris and have not seen Notre Dame. So I have no personal connection to the cathedral. Nevertheless, I was devastated at early reports that Notre Dame was likely to be a total loss. More
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March 5, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
The Colorado Civil Rights Commission has decided to dismiss its pending discrimination charge against Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop. Phillips, you will recall, refused on grounds of his deeply held religious beliefs to bake a cake to celebrate a gay marriage. The Commission found him in violation of the law and imposed severe punishment. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where Phillips prevailed. Thereafter, Phillips refused
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February 7, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I deduced the Booker Doctrine from Senator Cory Booker’s disgusting interrogation of D.C. Circuit nominee Neomi Rao on Tuesday in her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee (video below, transcript here). Under the Booker Doctrine, orthodox Christians and Jews are disqualified from public life because of their adherence to traditional views of sexual morality. If Booker were consistent, the Booker Doctrine doctrine would apply to Muslims as well as
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February 6, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Among notable doctrines in American history we must count the Monroe Doctrine, the Freeport Doctrine, the Truman Doctrine, the Carter Doctrine, and the Reagan Doctrine. Most of these are presidential foreign-policy doctrines, but not all of them. The Freeport Doctrine is attributable to Senator Stephen Douglas. To these I would add the Booker Doctrine. The Booker Doctrine is implicit in his disgusting interrogation of Trump judicial nominee Neomi Rao when
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February 5, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Nancy Pelosi claims to be a Catholic. Charitably interpreted, that means her grandparents were Catholics; possibly even one or both of her parents. But Pelosi has not even a nodding acquaintance with Christian doctrine. The latest example, via PJ Media, is revealing. Remarkably, Pelosi was addressing an audience of Christian college and university presidents and administrators. Is “chutzpah” a Catholic term of art? After a brief, self-deprecating introduction, Speaker Pelosi
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January 23, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Ilhan Omar’s outrageous lies about the Covington Catholic boys, since deleted, illustrate an important lesson. Omar is a notorious anti-Semite; she goes so far as to advocate for the BDS movement. So, is it surprising that her venom has now been directed against Catholics? Not at all. The people who hate Jews are, for the most part, the same people who hate Christians. In the last few months, we have
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January 18, 2019 — John Hinderaker
We have been writing about the growing anti-Semitism of the Democratic Party, but don’t kid yourself: the Left hates Christianity more than it does Judaism. The Left’s bigotry has manifested itself over the last few days in connection with Karen Pence, the vice-president’s wife. David French explains (links omitted): Karen Pence is a believing Christian woman. She took a part-time job at a private Christian school. And this, believe it
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December 31, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
In this post, I reported on the shameful attack by Senators Mazie Hirono and Kamala Harris on a judicial nominee — Brian Buescher — for belonging to the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic social and charitable organization. The two Senators insist that Buescher drop his membership in that organization and recuse himself from cases in which it has taken a position. Why? Because according to Hirono, the Knights have taken
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December 26, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Recently, Sen. Mazie Hirono claimed that Democrats have a hard time connecting with voters because they (Democrats) are so “smart” and “know so much.” If Democrats are smart and knowledgeable, you can’t prove it by Hirono. She embarrasses herself routinely on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where she almost invariably finds herself in over her head. The latest embarrassment is her attack, along with Sen. Kamala Harris, on a judicial nominee
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December 23, 2018 — Scott Johnson
Illinois Rep. Luis Gutiérrez is retiring from Congress (why? here is the story), but we will not be spared his like in the new Congress. Indeed, they will rule the roost in the House. We can accordingly look forward to many more rants such as the one to which he subjected DHS Secretary Nielsen at a Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday. David Rutz has posted the video (below) along with
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November 19, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
The House of Representatives has lifted a 181-year-old ban against wearing hats on the floor of the House. The ban was instituted in 1837 as to push back against the British custom of wearing hats in parliament. The change has been made to accommodate newly-elected Ilhan Omar, a Muslim who wears hijab. It will also enable another newly-elected Muslim, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, to do the same. In addition, Democrats
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October 15, 2018 — Steven Hayward
It is disputed whether delegates to the Democratic National Convention in 2012 booed a proposed resolution acknowledging God, but regular church attendance is nowadays one of the best predictors of partisan voting patterns (regular churchgoers vote heavily GOP), and needless to say environmentalism–especially the Calvinist-tinged kind dear to Al Gore–is the only religion that generates any enthusiasm among Democrats. Then there’s this: ‘I Stand For The Flag, I Kneel At
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September 2, 2018 — John Hinderaker
Last year, my wife and I visited Italy for the first time. In Rome, we arranged for a guide to take us through the Vatican. I envisioned an elderly gentleman, but our guide turned out to be an attractive young woman who, I soon decided, was a practicing Catholic. At one point, she asked me guardedly what I thought of Pope Francis. I’m not a Catholic, I said, so it’s
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