thoughts in and out of season
The claim that race is a myth because of the overall genetic similarity of human beings was transparently silly, but people bought it because they liked the way it sounded. It’s hard to know whether the genome researchers who promoted it believed it or not, but it certainly helped them avoid funding problems. Here’s evidence … More ...
Here are some objections to Christianity that are common today:
A few years ago New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman fired Carl Williams, the state police superintendent, within hours of the publication of an interview in which he said:
… More ...“If you’re looking at the methamphetamine market, that seems to be controlled by the motorcycle gangs, which are basically predominately white. If you’re looking at heroin and
Steve Yates gives a lengthy summary of where educational policy is going in line with recent Federal legislation: FedEd: Education for Global Government. It’s a useful discussion, partly because his somewhat rambling presentation brings in a lot of the important background, like the centrality of world government, the notion of business-government “partnership” (a.k.a. corporatism), … More ...
Makes perfect sense: the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the leading UK charity dealing with child protection, has been spending its money on campaigning to outlaw parental smacking rather than protecting actual children. So they join the American Catholic bishops, who would rather pronounce on racism, foreign policy and social … More ...
“Outside the Church there is no reality.” What could such a statement possibly mean?
It’s hard to view the world we know as real unless it has an intrinsic connection to our thoughts and intentions. If it doesn’t, then we can’t grasp it in thought, and it seems to become an unknowable whatever that somehow … More ...
Current departures such as “gay marriage” are often defended as examples of the natural development of institutions with the times. To oppose them is said to be an arbitrary attempt to freeze social development at a particular point. Such claims don’t hold up. While it’s true that changing conceptions, interests, and ideals have repeatedly led … More ...
Reports from the front suggest that life in the business world ain’t as much fun as it was. Hours are up, security is down, and managements are increasingly turning to various “management by terror” systems, such as employee evaluation programs that require some fixed percentage of employees in every department to be declared deadwood and … More ...
I do have some anxiety about becoming a Catholic. The point is to come to grips with the reality of things, and outside the Church it seems to me there’s no reality. On the other hand, reality is alarming. Then too, there are Christ’s comments on those who don’t carry through—the king who undertakes war … More ...
Surveys are a crude measure of personal lives, but they do provide something of a reality check. So it’s worth noting that a large-scale study shows that Britons are increasingly depressed, unhappy in their relationships, and alienated from civic society despite higher incomes, better health and much greater opportunity for women. Some notable statistics: