Yesterday, the Supreme Court set a date for hearing oral arguments in Hobby Lobby’s case against Obamacare’s contraception mandate. Lawyers for Hobby Lobby and for the Obama administration will make their cases on Tuesday, March 25 at 10 a.m. At issue is whether the government has a right to force the Christian owners of Hobby Lobby to provide coverage for drugs that sometimes cause abortions. The Obama administration will argue that the government does have a right to force these Christians to violate their consciences in order to comply with Obamacare. Obviously, the owners of Hobby Lobby will argue otherwise.
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Cody’s Story
From Igniter Media.
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Evaluating the Consequentialist Case for Legalizing Pot
The editors of National Review have penned a recent editorial calling for the legalization of marijuana. They argue that the consequentialist case for legalizing pot is powerful. According to them, marijuana is a benign intoxicant that the state has no business regulating. Individual liberty means that the government needs to get its nose out of prohibiting the use of this drug. According to them, regulating marijuana has led to a failed and expensive war on drugs. Furthermore, laws against marijuana usage only end up making ordinary citizens into criminals. And what’s the use of that?
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Miley Cyrus and the Moral Gag-reflex
John Stonestreet suggests that Miley Cyrus may have pushed the envelope too far, even for our hypersexualized American Culture. He writes: It’s too soon to call it a “reformation of manners” but a backlash to what one recent author called our cultural vulgarity is already asserting itself—not via the boycotts of angry culture warriors but by some of the unlikeliest cultural allies in politics, the media, and the music industry. For example, several celebrities have spoken out who’ve been repulsed by the shameless pornification of “entertainers” such as Miley Cyrus… Now, many of these new allies have little on which to base their revulsion of the new vulgarity other than…
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Almost killed by the prosperity gospel
I love this testimony from Sean DeMars about the prosperity “gospel” that almost killed him. He writes: Here’s the bottom line: I was a heretic. But Christ had saved me from my sin, and he saved me from my heresy too. When it comes to embracing the prosperity gospel, I doubt that you would have found anyone more dedicated or ruthless than me. I was the chosen one. But I was ensnared in a false gospel. And so is everyone else who is trusting in this “crap called gospel,” to borrow a phrase from that old man’s video.
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Bill Nye the Science Guy takes on creationists
Bill Nye the Science Guy recently produced a video that has gone viral (see above). It features “The Science Guy” castigating parents who teach creationism to their children. In short, he thinks parents should not be allowed to teach their children such a thing. If parents want to believe in fairy tales like creationism, that is fine. But it is not fine—according to “The Science Guy”—for parents to foist those fairy tales on their children.
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Marrying a man addicted to pornography?
In the most recent issue of JBMW, Heath Lambert answers this question: “Should a woman marry a man who has a problem with pornography?” The essay contains much practical and helpful advice, and I commend it to you. Here’s how Lambert begins his answer to the question: First, the short answer. There is a clear and concise response for a woman wondering whether she should marry a man after discovering he struggles with pornography: no. She should not do it. Marriage is too important and too exclusive to enter into it with a man who is cultivating desires for women beyond the one to whom he is married. You need…
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Charles Blow’s self-defeating column against Christianity
In his most recent column for The New York Times, Charles Blow argues that the Replublican Party is manipulating the benighted convictions of Christians for political purposes. Blow accuses the GOP of manufacturing a war on Christians in a cynical attempt to keep its base riled up for the next election. In short, Blow says that there are no real threats to religious freedom in this country. It’s all just a figment of our imaginations. It’s a ruse designed by the GOP to ensconce Christians in their most “base convictions” (like belief in the biblical creation account and the Bible’s definition of marriage). If it weren’t for the GOP manipulating…
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New York Times reports on Calvinist resurgence
The New York Times has just published a feature on the resurgence of Calvinism among evangelicals. The story features Mark Dever and Collin Hansen as well as remarks from Arminian critic Roger Olsen. That fact that this story even made it into the nation’s paper of record is significant all by itself. For that reason alone, you don’t want to miss this one. The end of the article asks whether the reformed resurgence is a fad—a movement that is here and then gone like the emergent church. I think that comparison misses the point. There are many important differences between the two movements that render them apples and oranges. The…
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Tim Tebow signs with ESPN
It was announced today that Tim Tebow is joining ESPN to be an analyst for its SEC Network. While he still wishes to play professional football, this is his gig for now. In a statement, Tebow says this: I am so excited that ESPN has given me this incredible opportunity… When I was 6 years old, I fell in love with the game of football, and while I continue to pursue my dream of playing quarterback in the NFL, this is an amazing opportunity to be part of the unparalleled passion of college football and the SEC. I know nobody wants to hear this, but I just thought I remind…