A Thinking Reed

  • Animals in a war zone

    Fascinating article by conservationist Lawrence Anthony about his efforts to protect zoo animals (and others) in Baghdad during the war. It’s an interesting question for the ethics of war: has anyone ever considered animals as potential “collateral damage”?

  • Friday metal – Anthrax, “Safe Home”

    I may be in the minority of Anthrax fans in that I actually think the John Bush-era stuff holds up better than the “classic” lineup with Joey Belladonna. Not that I don’t like the Belladonna stuff, mind you. This is from the last album they did with Bush before embarking on an (IMO) ill-advised reunion…

  • Progs for Paul?

    The rather odd premise of this Reason article is that libertarian “constitutionalist” GOP candidate Ron Paul may have appeal to disaffected progressives. Now, this may be true in the broad sense that progressives will likely find themselves agreeing with Paul on the war, the PATRIOT Act, the war on drugs, etc. but what is the…

  • Creatures of the Same God

    I’m excited to see that Anglican theologian Andrew Linzey is publishing a new book by this name. It looks like it will build on his earlier work on animal theology and develop it in some new ways. Unfortunately, I don’t see any indication that it will be available here in the US upon publication, and…

  • Competition for thee but not for me

    Grist has a discussion of the recent FTC objections to the proposed Whole Foods/Wild Oats merger and points out that the government has been curiously indifferent to what seems to be the more serious issue of big agribusiness consolidation and market concentration. Slate also ran a piece criticizing the government’s opposition to the Whole Foods/Wild…

  • Eugene McCarraher on Hitchens

    I wrote a while back that I’d like to see Christopher Hitchens debate a serious Christian thinker. We may have found our man.

  • “May the Force be with you.” “And also with you!”

    Last night I gave a presentation on “The Gospel According to Star Wars” under the auspices of our parish’s “Theology on Tap” series. This barmy idea was cooked up by me and our curate after a couple of beers at last summer’s parish picnic, but I think it went well all things considered. The people…

  • Paris Hilton: scapegoat

    I find myself in the rare position of agreeing with Christopher Hitchens on this. So, what’s the deal here? Is it that we feel ashamed for paying so much attention to Hilton, et al. that we heap scorn and derision on her at the first opportunity in order to feel better about ourselves?

  • Friday metal – Iron Maiden, “Can I Play with Madness?”

    Love the video with the crusty old art teacher learing the esoteric secrets of …. Maiden!

  • On almost being liturgically indifferent

    See here for a well-informed (my comment excepted) discussion on things liturgical in light of the rumored forthcoming liberalization of the use of the pre-Vatican II Mass in the RCC. Obviously Protestants don’t directly have a horse in this race, but as Derek points out what the RCC does tends to affect Protestant bodies. I…