O God, by the preaching of your apostle Paul you have caused the light of your Gospel to shine throughout the world: Grant, we pray, that we, having his wonderful conversion in remembrance, may show ourselves thankful to you by following his holy teaching; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you…

Earlier I mentioned that the Bush administration has created some strange political bedfellows, evidenced by the American Prospect publishing articles by anti-war libertarians and running a glowing article about William Jennings Bryan, the bête noir of enlightened secularists. Now the American Conservative has published appreciations of George “Amnesty, Acid, and Abortion” McGovern and Eugene McCarthy.

I think that many Christians would want to affirm the following: 1. Slavation comes through Christ alone. 2. Members of non-Christian religions (or people who adhere to no relgion at all) can be saved (and at least some will be). The motives driving our affirmation of these two statements are, I think, a desire to…

Apparently Richard Dawkins has a TV show in the UK, the central premise of which is that religion is the root of all evil. Subtle! Here Keith Ward (who has been discussed in this space recently) dissects Dawkins (via Amy Welborn). Ward nicely points out the dilemma that atheists sometimes try to use to discredit…

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you’re not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 100% Pelagianism 50% Monophysitism 33% Monarchianism 8% Docetism 0% Arianism 0% Adoptionist 0% Donatism 0% Apollanarian…

I’m not sure it’s worth anyone’s while to discuss something as over-the-top as this: There is no moral reason for this country not to torture. If in self defense, we can lie, cheat, deceive, firebomb cities, shoot spies, defoliate jungles, assassinate enemies, annihilate armies, steal secrets, and even use atomic weapons—all of which are perfectly…

Here. My wife and I just started watching this on dvd. So far I think it’s really good (we watched the miniseries and have just started season 1). Though, not quite as good as the late, lamented Firefly.

Philosopher Anthony Kenny reviews some recent books on the ethics of killing at the beginning and end of life. Dissenting from the dominant Catholic view, Kenny defends the position that the individual human life doesn’t come into existence until around 14 days (once the possibility of “twinning” has been excluded). If that’s right, it has…

San Franciscans are up in arms about anti-abortion ads on public transit and many of the ads have been defaced (via A Conservative Blog for Peace). I really like the Bay Area – I lived there for nearly three years. But when it comes to politics, the acceptable spectrum of opinion runs roughly from center-left…

Why is it okay, according to the Supreme Court, for the Federal government to prevent states from allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to relieve patients’ pain, but not okay to prevent states from allowing doctors to prescribe medicines so patients can kill themselves? I’m sure there’s some lawyerly explanation for this, but still…