The New York Times reports on Ken Starr’s forthcoming tenure as the president of Baylor University. Starr begins on June 1. Here’s a snippet from the report: “Baylor’s growth into a large research university is now irreversible, but its Christian character remains unsettled. Dr. Sloan recruited several prominent evangelicals, and was known to reject potential hires for not being able to articulate how faith had influenced their academic lives. Even so, the faculty is perceived to be more liberal in its Christianity than many Texas Baptists, including Baylor’s alumni. “Despite his notorious prosecutorial history, Mr. Starr may be the Christian conciliator Baylor needs. In his faith life, he has tacked…

Trevin Wax has some great reflections on Jennifer Knapp’s appearance on “Larry King Live” last week. He writes: After viewing Friday night’s Larry King Live with Jennifer Knapp, pastor Bob Botsford, and Ted Haggard, I was struck with the question: Why is it that whenever a proponent of Christianity’s historical view of sexuality goes head to head with an advocate for gay rights, the traditional Christian almost always loses the argument? Read the rest here.

Last week, National Review Online published an anonymous article titled “Getting Serious about Pornography.” The testimonial of the author is heart-rending. She writes: “By his own account, my husband of 13 years and high-school sweetheart, was first exposed to pornography around age ten. He viewed it regularly during high school and college — and, although he tried hard to stop, continued to do so throughout the course of our marriage…

Over the weekend, I watched @GinaWelch interviewed by Richard Metzger of the LA Times, and I thought it worth passing along.

Anne Rice, the famous vampire novelist and author of Interview with a Vampire, shares her story for the “I Am Second” campaign. When she was a young woman, her faith gave way to existentialist philosophy, and she became what she calls a “Christ-haunted atheist.” Her apostasy lasted for 38 years before she returned to the faith of her youth. It really is a remarkable story. (HT: @drmoore)

Russell Moore has a must-read at The Resurgence website. In it, he asks whether Christians should be outraged by the new “We Are the World” single that was recently recorded after the Grammys. He writes: “Well, yes, I am outraged. Willie Nelson should have been invited to participate. He’s still every bit as talented as he was in 1985, and if Nick Jonas can be invited, then certainly Willie should’ve been too.” Okay, there’s actually more to it than that. Go read it here.

It is a great national shame that we send women off to fight our wars. I understand that saying such a thing is terribly non-PC these days. The general egalitarian spirit of the age looks askance at the idea that women are to be protected, not deployed. Nevertheless, that used to be the consensus view in the Christian West. But we have fallen a long way from that integrity. That is why I am surprised to see Mary Eberstadt’s OP-ED in Friday’s Washington Post. It goes decidedly against the egalitarian grain. She writes: