Someone asked me several months ago who I favored for President in ’08. I told him Senator Rick Santorum would be my pick. I meant it then, and I still feel that way now. It seems to me that there are too few politicians who successfully bring their faith to bear upon their politics in a way that is consistent with a Christian worldview. In my view, Rick Santorum is one of the few who does it and who does it well.
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Barney Fife and the Lighter Side of Politics
With all the acrimony and politicking going on these days, maybe this would be a good time for a little instruction from Deputy Barney Fife. He’ll learn you a thing or two about Constitutional government! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgLYXwz0rJ0
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“Halp Us Jon Carry!”
Despite Senator John Kerry’s insulting remarks about U.S. soldiers in Iraq (see previous post), I’m glad to see that our G.I. Joe’s haven’t lost their sense of humor. The New York Post has the story about the picture: “GI’s Drop Smart Bomb on Kerry.”
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John Kerry: I Was for the Troops before I Was against Them
In a speech on Monday, Senator John Kerry implied that only uneducated dullards end up fighting for the U.S. in Iraq, saying “Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” In a subsequent news conference, Kerry refused to apologize for the comment, saying that his remarks were just a “botched joke” (source). It turns out that no one is laughing, and now Kerry has the American Legion calling for an apology even as a Democrat congressman complains, “I guess Kerry wasn’t content…
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Santorum: The Pro-life Candidate
Not long ago, I wrote about Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s re-election bid and his debate with his Democrat challenger Bob Casey on “Meet the Press.” This campaign has been an interesting one to watch if for no other reason than that both candidates are ostensibly pro-life. But the “Meet the Press” debate revealed that Bob Casey is not a principled pro-lifer, as it became clear that Casey does not support the right to life from conception to natural death.
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Gay “Marriage”: A Debate about a Word?
A common misunderstanding about the debate over gay “marriage” is that this whole dust-up amounts to an argument about a word. The misunderstanding goes like this: “Conservatives want the word ‘marriage’ to refer to heterosexual unions, and liberals want the word to refer to heterosexual and homosexual unions.” If this were all that was as stake in this debate, then all that would be required is an updated edition of the dictionary.
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Peggy Noonan Hopes the Republicans Lose This November
Peggy Noonan suggests that the Republicans need to lose their congressional majorities this November so that they will be chastised for not being consistently conservative in their governing philosophy (See “Is There Progress through Loss?“). Noonan says this as one who was once a staunch supporter of President George W. Bush, but who now thinks that he and the Republican majority in Congress have strayed from the straight and narrow path.
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Complementarian in Principle, but Not in Practice?
In a previous post, I noted that Dwight McKissic’s letter to the trustees of Southwestestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) included a call for “a more inclusive role of women in public worship.” Specifically, McKissic has in mind a role for women in “public proclamation” in the church. He cites as examples many prominent women who do just that and who are regarded widely by Southern Baptists to be exercising a faithful ministry. Among those he lists are Beth Moore, Betty Criswell, Ann Graham Lotz, and Dorothy Patterson.
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Can Christians Forbid “Private Prayer Languages”?
The trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) responded to Dwight McKissic’s chapel sermon advocating a private prayer language with the following statement: “Southwestern will not knowingly endorse in any way, advertise, or commend the conclusions of the contemporary charismatic movement including ‘private prayer language.’
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CTR on Tongues of Fire
The newest edition of the Criswell Theological Review will be released next week. Our editor, Dr. Alan Streett, has put together a timely set of articles addressing the issue of tongues-speaking and Southern Baptists. We will be making one or two of the articles available online in the coming weeks and months. Already, you can download the introductory essay from the editor and an interview with Tom Hatley, former chair of the Trustees that govern the International Mission Board (SBC). The editor describes why CTR is taking a look at tongues-speaking, and he previews the interview with Hatley: