James Bovard points out that it’s quite a pass we’ve come to when a secret court of political appointees that virtually never denies a request for a warrant is considered too restrictive of the President’s powers. (via Antiwar)

In Chapter 4, “Understanding Biblical Teaching about Salvation,” Keith Ward argues against a reading of the biblical witness that suggests that only a tiny number of elect are destined for salvation. Rather, he argues, the thrust of the biblical teaching is toward a cosmic vision of the salvation of all things. He takes his cue…

Geologist Alan Cutler says that the much heralded (or lamented) “war between science and religion” is largely a myth: The historical relationship between science and religion has been as complex as any human relationship. There is no reason to think that this will change. The warfare thesis suits the polemical purposes of partisans in certain…

Anglican philosopher-theologian Keith Ward, recently retired professor of divinity at Oxford, has published a new book called What the Bible Really Teaches (about Crucifixion, Resurrection, Salvation, the Second Coming, and Eternal Life) that is a charitable but firm rebuke to fundamentalist readings of the Bible. Ward considers himself a “born-again” Christian, but says that fundamentalist…

This is from Thomas Merton’s little book (and I do mean little; it clocks in at under 50 pages) Praying the Psalms, which I’ve been reading: If there is one theme that is certainly to be found implicitly or explicitly in all the Psalms, it is the motif of Psalm One: “Blessed is the man…

The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Dick Polman has a good round-up of the debate in Washington over the Bush administration’s program warrant-less domesitc spying (“Executive Power: The controversy could become a hot political issue in ’06,” January 8, 2006 – can’t seem to find it online). Is it telling that even people who should be sympathetic are…

Good column by Jonathan Rauch on the Bush administration’s expansive (to say the least) understanding of executive power during wartime. Key point here: The Civil War, World War II, and, to a lesser extent, the Korean War were intense, acute conflicts. Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Truman believed they were taking emergency measures during a conflict that…

Eric has a great quote from theologian David Hart describing his political outlook in the course of recounting a session at the American Academy of Religion meeting discussing his book The Beauty of the Infinite: I also had the joy of calling myself an “arch-conservative” in front of a room of people without then getting…

Adoration of the Magi, Albrecht Durer (1504)

Princeton philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah has an essay in the NY Times Magazine making “The Case for Contamination,” that is, a cosmopolitan ethic as an alternative to attempts at “cultural preservation” that try to restrict outside influences in order to maintain cultural “purity.” There’s also a novel analysis of fundamentalism as a kind of false…