Okay, I guess I have something to say about the immigration issue after all. Not so much about the concrete policy proposals being offered, but about the kinds of moral issues raised by the debate. The question, as I see it, is something like this: do we have obligations to those with whom we have…

The mysterious Abby speaks! As a firm believer that a woman’s place is in the home, I thought I would post a few recipes. As you may know, we don’t eat meat and we try to eat a low-sodium diet (thanks, Mom, for the blood pressure gene). Here are two favs: Whole wheat dinner rolls:1/2…

This story reports that a study sponsored by the Templeton Foundation indicated that heart surgery patients who were being prayed for didn’t show a higher rate of recovery than those who weren’t being prayed for and, in fact, had slightly more complications. I’m always baffled that people take studies like this at all seriously. They…

Kim at Crossroads on the question “What is poverty?” A discussion of universalism at Flos Carmeli. Camassia‘s series of “Questions of a Catechumen” (here, here, and here with more to come(?)). Immigration has been a hot topic what with the various bills being debated in the House and Senate. “Gaius” of the Conservative Green has…

One is naturally cynical about record companies cashing in (no pun intended) on a recently deceased star by releasing all kinds of third-rate “previously unreleased” material. But this advanced review of the Johnny Cash Personal File – unreleased acoustic recordings Cash recorded himself mostly in the 70s – makes it sound really good. Ironically, the…

Charles Taylor had disappeared before his planned extradition to stand trial for war crimes, but has now been caught (couldn’t have happened to a more deserving fellow). Incidentally, I notice that Taylor has been demoted in several official news stories from “former president” or even “dictator” to the much scarier-sounding “warlord.” What exactly do you…

It seems that those liquor and energy drink mixes like Red Bull and vodka can give you a false feeling of sobriety. Of course, if you’re over the age of, say, 20 and you’re actually drinking these kinds of unholy concoctions, you’ve got other problems. (Link by way of Andrew Sullivan)

I’m sure I’ve linked to this before, but here’s an article by Stanley Hauerwas and John Berkman, “The Chief End of All Flesh,” which attempts to think theologically about our relationship to animals. In Hauerwas and Berkman’s view, to say that humans have “dominion” over creation (and, thus, animals) means that “God has chosen humanity…

Since the topic came up in the comments below, here is a recent article from philosopher Peter Singer on factory farming. And here’s an interview from the same source.

For reasons that are hard to articulate I find this pretty disturbing: If a new kind of pork makes it to the dinner table, healthy eaters worried about fat and heart disease might finally be free to, well, pig out. Scientists using genetic engineering techniques have produced pigs rich in omega-3 fatty acids – a…