Last weekend I overheard two recent grads (both musicians) discussing America’s greatest composers. The usual names were raised: Copland, Gershwin, Bernstein, Sousa … Foster. “Who?” said one. “Stephen Foster,” replied the other. Only one knew who Foster was, and neither knew he was from Pittsburgh. Both, ironically, recently spent a lot of time in Oakland, where the Stephen Foster statue once stood outside the Carnegie.
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Commentators came out of the woodwork to ridicule President Donald Trump for allegedly turning his July 14 press conference into a campaign rally (and for being unpresidential). So what if he did?
They objected that he veered into other topics when he was supposed to be talking about China and Hong Kong. Horrors!
They objected that he veered into other topics when he was supposed to be talking about China and Hong Kong. Horrors!
Several years ago I was approached in the grocery store by a gentleman from our community that I knew through acquaintance. He had learned that I was the new government teacher at our local high school and wanted to see if I was willing to accept a guest speaker. I told him I was open to the idea but was curious who he had in mind.
In his opening address at the recent IFI Worldview Conference, Dr. Robert Gagnon poses the question “Is ‘LGBTQ’ Pressure Beginning to Crack the Evangelical House?” Dr. Gagnon believes that exposure to the daily indoctrination of culture is resulting in a Stockholm Syndrome of sorts among our youth, even those in evangelical churches, and he considers whether this same phenomenon is afflicting evangelicalism as a whole.
When was the last time we saw governments embrace the violent, racialist political agenda of a specific racist organization and make the citizenry obey it by force of law while exempting its adherents from the actual laws on the books? If you are conjuring up images of the KKK during the Jim Crow days in the South, you are not missing anything. So why is this suddenly OK when it comes to an organization that names itself Black Lives Matter?
Sometimes, the facts of a case have an emotional appeal in addition to a strong constitutional basis. Espinoza v. Montana certainly qualifies. Kendra Espinoza, a hard working (three jobs) and determined single mom, decided to take her two daughters out of the local public schools and enroll them in Stillwater Christian School in Kalispell, Montana. She explained that she “wanted them to be able to read the Bible and be taught how to pray, and taught from that faith-based perspective.”
Every so often, even though I know better, I flip over while driving and scan my favorite sports talk radio stations. Unfortunately, ESPN radio has become insufferable just like the rest of the network. It was only on for about 10 seconds before I heard someone say something to the effect of, “Where sports and social justice meet.” I turned it off. It’s not that I don’t care about justice or am indifferent to our social problems. They are real and need to be addressed. It’s one of the reasons I write for this website and am actively engaged in ministry. But Jonah Goldberg wrote something very profound the other day. Profound and exactly right:
During the coronavirus pandemic, when surgical procedures to alleviate suffering and correct serious medical conditions were deemed non-essential and disallowed, the “essential” dismemberment and murder of babies in the womb continued unabated at abortion clinics throughout Illinois, including Planned Parenthood’s newest abortorium in Waukegan.
Sadly, fireworks were not the only munitions shot over the July 4 weekend. Statues weren’t the only things felled by anarchists and criminals roaming free in the streets. This weekend was a bloody one across the country, with endless shootings in America’s cities, including New York City, which was considered the safest American city for a generation. Once again, African-American victims, including a number of young children, paid the price while the anarchy was excused and even legitimized by the media and politicians.
Among other places, it recently showed itself in CHAZ, or CHOP, or whatever name the anarchists in Seattle ended up calling their little exercise in autonomy that predictably ended in murder, theft, and humiliating failure.
And don't think I was rooting against them.
And don't think I was rooting against them.
