Movie reviews from Slate, The Onion, and The NY Times. Christianity Today interviews Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix and director James Mangold. Official site for the movie. MORE: Frederica Mathewes-Green and Steve Beard at National Review Online.

Rep. John Murtha, a hawkish conservative Democrat has called for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq following the vote on the constitution next month. Murtha represents Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district in the southwestern part of the state, and as someone who grew up not far from there, I can assure you that this is a bastion…

Church-related organizations like Lutheran World Relief have really jumped on the “fair trade coffee” bandwagon. I sometimes, but not always, buy fair trade coffee and have never been able to make up my mind whether it actually does any good. This article (via Byzantine Calvinist) argues that it doesn’t: In fact, in this type of…

It’s interesting that in some theological circles epistemology has become such a hot topic, especially considering I’ve always found epistemology to be one of the least exciting branches of philosophy. Much of the controversy seems to revolve around attacking or defending “foundationalism.” Foundationalism is the view, often associated with Descartes, that all our knowledge rests…

At Reason Nick Gillespie writes appreciatively of Rhode Island founder Roger Williams, and sees him as a model for religious liberty and secular government that is still applicable today. While it’s true that the baptist Williams believed that it was wrong – for impeccably theological reasons – for government to try to coerce belief, he…

In his book on Spiritual Theology, Diogenes Allen considers whehter spiritual disciplines aimed at growing in love of God and neighbor are a form of “works righteousness,” a concern that Protestants often have: Many Christians are uneasy with the idea that we are to make an effort to overcome our inadequacies because it sounds like…

A while back I was reading an article about the flat tax and all the benefits it could bring in terms of simplifying the tax code. But, as far as I could tell, you could get all the same simplicity benefits from a simplified graduated rate. My wife, who is smarter than me and has…

As a matter of general principle, I believe there can be no doubt that criticism in time of war is essential to the maintenance of any kind of democratic government … too many people desire to suppress criticism simply because they think that it will give some comfort to the enemy to know that there…

This article on self-styled “Christian Zionists” isn’t likely to tell you anything you don’t already know, but, as I’ve been working my way through Romans lately with the help of a couple of commentaries, this brought me up short: “Our Christian Zionism – and we readily endorse that term – grows out of God’s promise…

Apparently there’s a trend among yuppies and millionaire movie stars to dress their children in Che Guevera t-shirts: This week, Fairchild Publications is introducing a horrifying new magazine called Cookie—a sort of Lucky for the sandbox set, featuring $900 strollers and hair gel for 3-year-old boys (“have him rub no more than a quarter-size dollop”).…