You need to read what John Piper has to say about the proposed Minnesota marriage amendment, which would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Piper’s article would be helpful not only to Minnesotans, but also to anyone interested in understanding how Christians should think through the intersection of public policy and sexual ethics. Here’s an excerpt:
-
-
Pre-abortion sonogram required under new Texas law
There’s good news on the pro-life front out of Texas. Governor Rick Perry just signed into law a bill that requires women seeking an abortion to have a sonogram before going through with the procedure. The law also requires a 24-hour wait period between the sonogram and the abortion. As you can imagine, pro-abortion legislators are not happy about the law. The Associated Press reports:
-
Douthat on “The Palin Tragedy”
Here’s Ross Douthat‘s take on Sarah Palin then and now: “Palin was caricatured viciously, but in response she decided to essentially become the caricature, giving her enemies exactly the kind of Spiro Agnew-in-heels performance they expected, and then chasing celebrity in destructive (if lucrative) ways once the initial firestorm around her subsided. The only thing that can be said in her defense is that her choices, while misguided, have been very, very human.
-
Gerson’s Trenchant Critique of Libertarianism
In last week’s Republican debate, Ron Paul called for a repeal of laws against prostitution, cocaine, and heroin. Paul argued that our society should treat turning tricks and shooting up in the same way that we treat freedom of religion—they are inalienable rights. This kind of libertarianism in my view is deficient in its view of human nature and would comprise an unloving and degrading way to organize society. I couldn’t agree more with Michael Gerson’s critique of Paul’s libertarian approach. Gerson writes:
-
N.T. Wright and Rowan Williams Criticize Bin Laden Killing
Rowan Williams and N.T. Wright have some strong words criticizing the recent execution of Osama Bin Laden. I do not agree with either of them, but here they are nonetheless. First, Rowan Williams:
-
The Kids with George W. Bush on 9/11
TIME magazine has a fascinating story on the children who were with President Bush on 9-11 when he received the news that America was under attack. They are all very appreciative of his calm response and that he didn’t immediately storm out of the room. One student described it this way: “I’ll always remember watching his face turn red. He got really serious all of a sudden. But I was clueless. I was just seven. I’m just glad he didn’t get up and leave because then I would have been more scared and confused.
-
Moral Equivalence and Bin Laden
Doug Wilson and Kevin DeYoung both have helpful warnings against making a moral equivalence between the crimes of Osama bin Laden and the lesser shortcomings of the average Christian. First, Doug Wilson:
-
Newsflash: Obama Born in the USA
Time to break out the Springstein anthem. President Obama was in fact born in the USA. Just this morning, the White House released the President’s long form birth certificate to allay any remaining doubts about the President’s birthplace. If this is news to you, well then…now you know. In remarks after the release, the President said that the country didn’t need to be distracted by “sideshows” and “carnival barkers.” I couldn’t agree more with his characterization because that’s exactly what this birther issue was.
-
Trump and Abortion
Donald Trump has been all over the news lately as a potential front-runner for the Republican nomination for President in 2012. In my view, the speculation about Trump’s place in the field is way out of whack with reality. For a variety of reasons, I think his candidacy has little chance of succeeding. That being said, recent polls suggest that he is at the front of the pack of Republican presidential hopefuls. Many have attributed his sudden rise in the polls to his public statements questioning the citizenship of President Obama. Another reason that his candidacy has more plausibility among some conservatives is his recent conversion to the pro-life point…
-
Can you defend the sexual revolution?
Anthony Esolen has a helpful article asserting the ideological bankruptcy of the sexual revolution. In essence, he argues that it undermines the common good to treat sex as if it were irrelevant to the flourishing of society. Here’s the first paragraph: “Why should two men who are sexually attracted to one another not be allowed to pretend that they are married? That we are even asking such a question is the result of our having accepted the premise of the sexual revolution, which is, essentially, that what people do with their bodies is their own business, so long as no one is harmed. By ‘no one’ we mean the people…