• Christianity,  Sports

    Strachan on the Morality of Football

    Owen Strachan has a serious article at First Things critiquing football as an overly violent sport that causes some players permanent physical disabilities or even death. He concludes: “No one enjoys legalism, but if the costs of football outweigh its benefits—and they well may—it may be best for many to take a step back from it and point youths to concentrate on less violent sports. Perhaps we should go so far as to consider legislation regarding the physical safety of football players on such matters as concussions. Ideas will vary as to what such a measure might look like. However, such a tangible measure, borne of respect for human dignity…

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Faces of the Christian Right?

    Did you see the bit on Newsweek’s website last week about “Faces of the Christian Right“? The piece purports to list several individuals who are emerging leaders in the Christian Right. Guess who’s on the list. Here it is: Robert George, Jim Daly, Maggie Gallagher, Matthew and Nancy Sleeth, Melissa Rogers, Marjorie Dannenfelser, Tony Perkins, Jim Wallis and Joel Hunter.

  • Christianity,  Culture

    Chuck Colson on the App Flap

    On Tuesday, I noted that Apple removed the Manhattan Declaration app from the iTunes Store after complaints from gay activists. Yesterday, Apple explained that they removed the app because it was “offensive to large groups of people.” Chuck Colson, Robert George and Timothy George have been trying to reach Steve Jobs to request him to reverse this decision, but so far haven’t been able to contact him. So they have started an online petition that you can sign if you would like to see the app restored.

  • Christianity,  Music

    Christmas Music – Sacred

    A world without music would be a world in black and white. With all the color removed, it just wouldn’t be as beautiful as it was meant to be. Music is so much a part of this season of the year that I thought it would be worth a few posts to talk about the music that my family listens to most at Christmas time. I’m certain you’ll find some items here that you are already well-acquainted with. Perhaps there will be some other items that are new to you or that you had forgotten about and are glad to be reminded of. So for what it’s worth, here it…

  • Christianity,  Culture

    Apple Pulls Manhattan Declaration App

    Well this is really annoying. Apple has removed the Manhattan Declaration app from iTunes App Store in response to claims that the app was anti-gay. I’m not kidding. Read about it here (HT: James Kushiner). Chuck Colson, Robert George and Timothy George have written a letter to Steve Jobs about the removal of the MD app from the iTunes store. They promise to write an update when they receive a response. Here’s the statement that they released to supporters of the Declaration.

  • Christianity,  News

    Enter Rob Plummer

    My friend and colleague Rob Plummer has just entered the blogosphere. Besides being a professor of New Testament at Southern Seminary, Rob is an elder at Sojourn Community Church and the author of the blockbuster book 40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible. One of his first posts is an excerpt from his recent ETS paper, and it’s titled “Taco Bell and Biblical Interpretation.” See, you’re already hooked!

  • Christianity,  Politics

    Blindly Partisan and the Worse for It

    Ross Douthat has an insightful word in today’s New York Times about the brain-stultifying effects of hyper-partisanship. He writes: “Up to a point, American politics reflects abiding philosophical divisions. But people who follow politics closely — whether voters, activists or pundits — are often partisans first and ideologues second. Instead of assessing every policy on the merits, we tend to reverse-engineer the arguments required to justify whatever our own side happens to be doing. Our ideological convictions may be real enough, but our deepest conviction is often that the other guys can’t be trusted.” Douthat argues that the controversy over TSA searches would have gone differently had a Republican been…

  • Christianity,  Culture

    Yoga Redux

    Last month, I posted a brief note about an article by Albert Mohler arguing that the practice of Yoga is incompatible with the Christian faith. The Associated Press covered Mohler’s article and subsequently set-off a tempest of controversy with Yoga practitioners across the country. Many Christian Yoga devotees objected to Mohler’s piece and contended that their practice of Yoga had no religious dimension to it at all. For them, Yoga offered no contradiction at all to their Christian convictions. Mohler’s response to that argument was simple. If there’s no religious dimension to your Yoga, then it’s not Yoga. It’s just stretching. According to today’s New York Times, a group of…