“I believe we are facing an inevitable and culture-determining decision on the three issues centrally identified in this statement. I also believe that we will experience a significant loss of Christian churches, denominations, and institutions in this process. There is every good reason to believe that the freedom to conduct Christian ministry according to Christian conviction is being subverted and denied before our eyes. I believe that the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage, and religious liberty are very much in danger at this very moment.” (Albert Mohler, “Why I Signed the Manhattan Declaration”)
This is in my “to-read” stack: In God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades, Baylor’s respected historian Rodney Stark reminds us that—contrary to popular notions—the Crusades were provoked by Muslim invasions of Christian lands.
GeekDad lists the top 10 bad messages from some of our favorite family-friendly flicks. See if you agree.
“Uninvolved fathers have long been accused of lacking motivation. But research shows that many societal obstacles conspire against them. Even as more fathers are changing diapers, dropping the children off at school and coaching soccer, they are often pushed aside in ways large and small.” (NYT, on new research that suggests that women are unintentionally blocking men from greater participation in child-raising because they insist that men do it their way)
Related: The Guardian reports on a study that shows that “working women who claim partners don't pull their weight do so to feel more feminine and in charge in the home.”
“There is now a new revolution under way, one aimed at rolling back the almost comical overprotectiveness and overinvestment of moms and dads. The insurgency goes by many names — slow parenting, simplicity parenting, free-range parenting — but the message is the same: Less is more; hovering is dangerous; failure is fruitful” (Time, introducing a belated reaction against “helicopter parenting”).
“A trove of e-mails stolen from a leading climate-research group in Britain has sparked an online debate over global warming data. Bloggers claim the e-mails reveal that scientists colluded and manipulated data to support global warming theories.” (Wired)
“Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and beliefs from mockery — essentially a ban on blasphemy that would put them on a collision course with free speech laws in the West.” (AP Story)
“We're intensely attracted only to lovers who are hidden versions of Dad's and Mom's worst and most hurtful traits. We all have 100 percent unfailing radar systems that draw us to the people who are so wrong for us that they're right for us. It's nature's way. It's the true meaning of love” (Mark E. Smith in “The Mind-Blowing Purpose of Marriage” at MarriagePartnership.com)
“Could it be we've lost our capacity for gratitude? A successful harvest occasioned thanks back when it was all that stood between us and a long, cold, hungry winter. But now we're divorced from the seasonal rhythms of the farm, where the harvest is celebrated as the payoff of all the year's labors. Even in the midst of this Great Repression we enjoy perpetual plenty. What resonance does a cornucopia have to people who have come to expect ripe blackberries in February? If anything, we should be more grateful, but that's not our nature. Anything we struggle for, we hold dear; anything that comes easy, we take for granted” (from a WSJ article on why our culture skips right from Halloween to Christmas without much thought of Thanksgiving)
“More than just an annual turkey fest, the Puritans gave America a pedagogy of work and an attitude toward life that upsets the modern notion that a person's occupation equals his value. A man's worth, the Puritans might advise the unemployed Steve Lee, lay in his service to God and to his fellow man, not in titles or financial portfolios. Rather than seeing life as a series of random events, the Puritan's belief in Providence imputed a profound sense of a loving God's purpose for him, a purpose that left very little room for despair.” (“Some Puritan Advice for the Unemployed,” WSJ)
Catholic Mass: The Video Game. I expect this will be the must-have toy this Christmas--Not:
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