A Thinking Reed

  • Why I’m rooting for the Democrats this fall

    This article argues that conservative evangelicals are unlikely to desert the GOP because of the hostility of the Democrats toward religious believers: The Democratic party elites cheer when regulators force Catholic charities to fund things the church considers immoral. They vote to curtail the freedom of conscience of pro-life pharmacists. They filibuster judicial appointees who…

  • Can the center hold?

    Slate has an interesting article about the faltering of Conservative Judaism. As neither ultra-conservative like the Orthodox, nor ultra-liberal like the Reform branch, Conservative Judaism has, according to this piece, had a hard time negotiating the tensions between tradition and modernity from a principled position: Take the issue of the ordination of gay rabbis. It’s…

  • Threat assessment

    Andrew Bacevich has a slightly different version of his “Islamic Way of War” article in the newest American Conservative. This merits being highlighted: What are the implications of this new Islamic Way of War? While substantial, they fall well short of being apocalyptic. As Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has…

  • A shameful confession

    I can’t recite the Nicene Creed from memory. At our Lutheran church in Philly we usually recited the Apostle’s Creed and I pretty much have that down (praying the Rosary helps with this too). But the liturgy at the church we’ve been attending in Boston uses the Nicene Creed and I always have to refer…

  • Sunday notes on Monday

    We subscribe to the Sunday Boston Globe since it’s the only day we really have time to read the paper. I used to read the Philadelphia Inquirer every morning when we lived there, but a longer commute here in Boston means that’s not really an option. Anyway, there were several items in yesterday’s paper I…

  • Pascal’s Fire 7: The end (of the universe and this series)

    Up until this point, Keith Ward has been arguing that the findings of modern science can point to, even if not demonstrably prove, the existince of an infinite mind that underlies and upholds the physical world in existence. But this is a far cry from what most of us mean when we talk about God.…

  • Is peace a winning issue?

    There’s been no shortage of people willing and eager to argue that any move by the Democrats toward an anti-war position will be an electoral kiss of death in 2006 and beyond. The victory of Ned Lamont in the Connecticut primary over incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman has been hysterically denounced by friend and foe alike…

  • Avdat

    Iā€™m very happy to find out that friend of this blog Marvin Lindsay, formerly of Ivy Bush fame, has returned to the world of blogging! Marvin also recently published a really good op-ed in his local paper on Christians in politics.

  • The Christian Coaltion – "drifting to the Left"?

    Chip Frontz tipped me off to the news that the Alabama chapter of the Christian Coalition is disassociating itself from the national body on account of the latter’s “leftward drift.” The Alabama chapter is the third to do so. [Alabama chapter president John] Giles said the relationship between the state affiliate and national organization began…

  • "Don’t kid yourself, Jimmy! If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you care about!"

    Here are some very bad, yet strangely common, arguments against vegetarianism: 1. “But other animals eat each other!” 2. “We’re at the top of the food chain!” 3. “How do you know plants don’t feel pain?” I’m not saying there aren’t good arguments against it, but you have to wonder why the really bad ones…