My wife and I taught our two sons never to describe things or people as “stupid.” I explained that the use of a word like “stupid” shows a lack of critical thinking. If everything is “stupid,” then there is no way to assess differences and gradation in arguments. Also, saying “stupid” all the time dilutes the significance of the word when you really need to use it. Michael Newdow, the “under God” [...]
Ted Kennedy, the senior Senator from Massachusetts, has been blasting President Bush for striking a hornet’s nest of Islamic terrorism and exporting its influence abroad. Kennedy wants to believe that if we had just left the Islamic terrorists alone, everything would have been alright. There are lots of Americans who think the same way. The truth is, Islamic extremism is a festering sore that one [...]
So the LORD gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; [...]
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive (Gen. 50:20). How many times have you heard this verse quoted? Lots. How many people actually believe it? Pat Robertson doesn’t seem to believe it. The school board in Dover, Pennsylvania, was voted out of office in Tuesday’s election. Its members wanted Intel [...]
National Geographic has produced a series of special programs called Science of the Bible where modern technology and research are used “to explore a wide range of biblical accounts including crucifixion, faith and healing practices.” I’m suspicious. I’m all for science, but the people at National Geographic are secularists. They don’t believe in even the possibility of miracles because their evol [...]
Paris is burning. The disenfranchised Muslim communities are storming the Bastille of French Socialism. The principles of the French Revolution are coming home to roost. North African Muslims were lured by Europe’s promise of economic Paradise. What they got was warehousing in French ghettos where unemployment is around 30 percent. The enlightened French believed that language, food, and culture c [...]
A great deal of ink has been spilled over whether the Bible should be interpreted literally. But before interpretive methods can be settled, there must a discussion of literal translations. Too often debates over interpretation can be settled by noting what the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek actually say. For example, Matthew 24:14 is most often translated “all the world.” The casual Bible reader will [...]
An emailer to American Vision made the following comment in response to a guest column written by David New, Esq.[1] Perhaps the author is not familiar with the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. . .”, or Article 4, Section 3, “. . . no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” [...]
American Vision recently received an email response to “Where is God in the Constitution?: Part 1,” an article that was written by guest columnist David New and appears on our website. The emailer writes that he is “dismayed to see the propaganda displayed” in the article where the “author launches into a tirade against secularists.” He goes on to write that it is “laughable” to suggest “that it i [...]
John C. Danforth, an Episcopal minister and former Republican Senator from Missouri, has weighed in on Christian political involvement in social issues. His first broadside came by way of an article he had published in June 2005 with the title “Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers.”[1] More about this article below. Most recently, after a speech he had given to students at the Bill Clinton School o [...]
Will America suffer the same fate as Europe and the rise of what Karen Armstrong calls “secular fundamentalism”? We seem to be headed in a similar direction with the secularization of our schools and courts. Christianity in America, like Christianity in Europe, is under attack. We see it every day. Judges are being scrutinized for their religious beliefs, especially on abortion and homosexuality. [...]
“Theists often assert that popular belief in a creator is instrumental towards providing the moral, ethical and other foundations necessary for a healthy, cohesive society.” Gregory S. Paul, writing in the Journal of Religion and Society (2005), takes issue with this claim. He argues that a religious nation like the United States is actually worse off morally than the newer secular nations of Euro [...]
Liberal pundit Al Franken suggested to David Letterman that “[Lewis ‘Scooter’] Libby and Karl Rove are going to be executed” because they supposedly outed a CIA agent, a treasonous offense. Franken qualified his statement somewhat, possibly after considering the implications of what he had just said: “Yeah. And I don’t know how I feel about it because I’m basically against the death penalty, but t [...]
The men and women of “Monster Garage” turn ordinary vehicles into extraordinary monster vehicles. The show’s driving force is Jesse James, who’s great-great-grandfather was the outlaw’s cousin. All who work on the show are very talented. I would guess that many of them had difficulty sitting still in school and keeping their mind on their work. (How many times have yo [...]
Leonard Pitts, Jr., a syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services and a Pulitzer Prize winner, writes in a recent column, “It is the overwhelming consensus of the mainstream scientific community that Darwin had it right. So pretending there is another side to the question makes about as much sense as pretending there is another side to the Klan.”[1] His KKK analogy is an outrage, but being a l [...]
Noah Feldman, author of Divided By God: America’s Church-State Problem—And What we Should Do About It, makes some valid points in his article “God, government and you” that appeared in USA Today on October 17, 2005. He writes, “The Framers believed to a man in the importance of the liberty of conscience, and they barred a national established religion in order to protect that value.” Feldman admit [...]
Two news stories I read yesterday (October 17, 2005) struck me as indications that the morally relativistic worldview of modern-day liberalism, materialism, and naturalism is headed for a crack up. The first story was a report that appeared on Matt Drudge’s site about Madonna who now believes that modern culture is corrupt. She describes it as “the beast.” “The material world. The physical world. [...]
It is easy to understand why the human rights idea came into popularity in Christendom. It is simply that men living in Christendom enjoyed that “blessed liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” to such an extent and over so many centuries that they found it easy to take for granted. Liberty, instead of being recognized as the gift of Christ and the reward of Christian justice, was [...]
Non-dispensationalists like me would say that all the promises made to Israel have been fulfilled, and the redemption of Israel according to those promises made it possible for Gentiles to be grafted into an already existing Jewish assembly of believers that the Bible calls the Church. Soon after Jesus’ ascension, the gospel is preached to “Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men, from every nation u [...]
WorldNetDaily published my article “Why Pat Robertson is Wrong” yesterday.[1] It dealt with Robertson’s claim that today’s earthquakes are signs of the soon coming of Christ. As usual, I received my share of hate mail. Words like “stupid,” “lukewarm,” and “heretical” were thrown about with careless ease. The nastiest letters I get usually come from people who believe we are living in the last days [...]
