A Thinking Reed

  • C.S. Lewis, Vivisection and Kenosis

    Continuing the animal rights theme, this weekend I read C.S. Lewis’s essay “Vivisection” (found in his book God in the Dock). Lewis criticizes philosophical naturalists and Darwinists who support experimentation on animals, on the grounds that as materialists who deny the moral uniqueness of human beings, they would also have no rational grounds for objecting…

  • Animal Rights and Wrongs

    Do animals have rights? I used to resist this conclusion because I thought it implied that animals were on a moral par with human beings, and that was something I just couldn’t accept. I’m an unrepentant speciesist, I guess. But it now occurs to me that one can sensibly talk about “animal rights” without implying…

  • Party People

    There’s been a lot of talk over the past few years about the increasing “polarization” or partisanship in American political life. The so-called red states are full of NASCAR-watching, gun-toting die-hard Republicans, and the blue states are where the latte-sipping, Volvo-driving, NPR-listening Democrats make their home. And never the twain shall meet, apparently. Some reports…

  • What the World Needs Now Is Another Blog Like I Need a Hole in My Head…

    …nevertheless, here it is. I intend to spew my thoughts on religion, politics, books, and whatever else manages to catch my moth-like attention out into the dark, unforgiving void of cyberspace. Call it an exercise in narcissistic nihilism. That’s what the internet’s for, right?