Tim Farron quits as Lib Dem leader | Politics | The Guardian

Tim Farron quits as Lib Dem leader | Politics | The Guardian: Farron says ‘remaining faithful to Christ’ was incompatible with being party leader after repeated questions over his faith

Farron resigns as Lib Dem leader

Farron resigns as Lib Dem leader:

From the very first day of my leadership, I have faced questions about my Christian faith. I've tried to answer with grace and patience. Sometimes my answers could have been wiser.

At the start of this election, I found myself under scrutiny again - asked about matters to do with my faith. I felt guilty that this focus was distracting attention from our campaign, obscuring our message.

Journalists have every right to ask what they see fit. The consequences of the focus on my faith is that I have found myself torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader.

The Drone War: Understanding Who Must Die From Above

The Drone War: Understanding Who Must Die From Above:

Unmanned aerial vehicles are piloted remotely from thousands of miles away providing both surveillance in near-constant streams, and the ability to drop bombs. Through this new means of violence, Americans are not vulnerable, and are instead separated physically from the violence and death. The U.S. drone campaign is waged almost entirely in secret and without the hindrance of laws, international or domestic.

IX. Crime, punishment, reformation | The Russian Orthodox Church

IX. Crime, punishment, reformation | The Russian Orthodox Church:

The abolition of death penalty would give more opportunities for pastoral work with those who have stumbled and for the latter to repent. It is also evident that punishment by death cannot be reformatory; it also makes misjudgement irreparable and provokes ambiguous feelings among people. Today many states have either abolished the death penalty by law or stopped practicing it. Keeping in mind that mercy toward a fallen man is always more preferable than revenge, the Church welcomes these steps by state authorities. At the same time, she believes that the decision to abolish or not to apply death penalty should be made by society freely, considering the rate of crime and the state of law-enforcement and judiciary, and even more so, the need to protect the life of its well-intentioned members.

Why Scruffy Hospitality Creates Space for Friendship | KnoxPriest

Why Scruffy Hospitality Creates Space for Friendship | KnoxPriest:

So it’s Thursday when I published this post. Go ahead and invite someone for tomorrow night. Keep your to-do list short. Take ten minutes to pick up the house and throw something together for dinner, even if it’s from Trader Joe’s. You’re more ready than you think. And we’re all hungry for genuine conversation more than we realize.

Human Beings or Human Persons? | Public Orthodoxy

Human Beings or Human Persons? | Public Orthodoxy:

One of the liveliest exchanges at the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in June 2016 concerned which Greek words should be used in Council documents to refer to humans: anthrōpos (“human being”); or anthrōpino prosōpo (or simply prosōpon) (“human person”). The main protagonists in this debate were, in the anthrōpos corner, Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos), and in the prosōpon corner, Metropolitan John (Zizioulas), supported by Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware). While this episode may seem to be an intra-Greek linguistic spat, the theological stakes are very high.

100 Must-Read Books About Christianity

100 Must-Read Books About Christianity:

According to Pew Research, Christianity is the world’s largest religious group, so it’s worth knowing something about it, whether you’re a Christian or not. And if you’re interested in learning more about the Christian faith, there’s no lack of books out there. It’s hard to know where to start! I’m here to help with enough recommendations to keep you reading for a long time.

Can you be pro-life and anti-war? In Pittsburgh, apparently not.

Can you be pro-life and anti-war? In Pittsburgh, apparently not.:

On Tuesday, a “Consistent Life Ethic” group was booted from sponsorship of the Pittsburgh March Against War after Facebook complaints against their pro-life stance.

Rehumanize International, previously Life Matters Journal, is a group that opposes all violence against human beings, including abortion, war, euthanasia, torture, capital punishment and human sex trafficking.

They were invited to co-sponsor the Pittsburgh March Against War, set to take place this summer, and were then removed from sponsorship after a vote of the other co-sponsors, following several complaints on the event’s Facebook page.

Abortion: the Most Important Moral Issue Ever....Except for When it's Not

Abortion: the Most Important Moral Issue Ever....Except for When it's Not:

New Pro Life activists and writers have received accusatory messages demanding to know whether we are a “Podesta plant” or perhaps receiving Soros money to infiltrate the pro-life movement with insidious messages of social justice.

The message is clear: abortion is the worst evil. Stopping it is the top priority. The absolute necessity that we choose life for the unborn renders all other issues null and void, for now.

Terror Attacks Spark Cowardly Debate - ABC News

Terror Attacks Spark Cowardly Debate - ABC News:

Within hours of the attacks, President Bush twice used the c-word to describe the terrorists' plot. In a statement at an Air Force base in Louisiana, he declared, "Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward … . Make no mistake: the U.S. will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts."

The House and Senate soon followed suit. A joint resolution passed the next night labeled the suicide hijackings as "heinous and cowardly attacks."

An alternative view came from Bill Maher, host of the ABC late-night talk show Politically Incorrect. "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly," Maher said on the show last week. "Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly."

The Analavos of the Great Schema Explained | MYSTAGOGY RESOURCE CENTER

The Analavos of the Great Schema Explained | MYSTAGOGY RESOURCE CENTER:

The Great Schema in the Orthodox Church requires the traditional monastic vows, plus special spiritual feats. According to Archpriest G. S. Debolsky: "In the understanding of the Church, the Great Schema is nothing less than the supreme vow of the Cross and death; it is the image of complete isolation from the earth, the image of transformation and transfiguration of life, the image of death and the beginning of another, higher, existence."

Good Christians Disagree, But Right Christians Do Not | Circe Institute

Good Christians Disagree, But Right Christians Do Not | Circe Institute:

Christianity is not a religion which is aimed at making men moral. Rather, Christianity is a religion which makes men divine. Morality is indispensable, but morality will be swallowed up in the apotheosis of a man. Classical education does not work against such intentions, which means that a classical education is unconcerned with whether “Good Christians disagree…” on an issue.

10 Journalism Brands Where You Find Real Facts Rather Than Alternative Facts

10 Journalism Brands Where You Find Real Facts Rather Than Alternative Facts:

Realizing that millions more people are scratching their heads, wondering what to read and where to spend their subscription dollars, here are my top 10 large journalistic brands where I believe you can most often find real, reported facts:

Health benefits of coffee-Aleteia

Health benefits of coffee-Aleteia:

Research the world over is confirming that drinking coffee keeps you alive … but it doesn’t work if you drink it in moderation. In fact, Harvard researchers found that low consumption of coffee is linked to deaths from heart-related illnesses. To get the health benefits of coffee, you have to drink it like you mean it.

Drinking three to five cups of coffee per day gives you a longer life, making you 15 percent less likely to die early, lowering your risk of dying from a heart attack or a stroke by 21 percent and slashing your risk for type 2 diabetes by 12 percent.

The Evangelical Roots of Our Post-Truth Society - The New York Times

The Evangelical Roots of Our Post-Truth Society - The New York Times:

Conservative evangelicals are not the only ones who think that an authority trusted by the other side is probably lying. But they believe that their own authority — the inerrant Bible — is both supernatural and scientifically sound, and this conviction gives that natural human aversion to unwelcome facts a special power on the right. This religious tradition of fact denial long predates the rise of the culture wars, social media or President Trump, but it has provoked deep conflict among evangelicals themselves.

That innocuous phrase — “biblical worldview” or “Christian worldview” — is everywhere in the evangelical world.

Experimental Theology: The Paradox of Progressive Political Theology

Experimental Theology: The Paradox of Progressive Political Theology:

Progressive Christians resonate with Anabaptist, anti-empire political theology as it aligns well with the language of the prophets--indictment of oppression and injustice--which connects with the social justice impulses of progressive Christians. But lacking a robust ecclesiology, church as counter-cultural polis, progressive Christians are forced to turn to the state as the only player able to address the oppression and injustices they are calling out. Without a church, democratic engagement--guided by Niebuhrian political theology--is the only tool available to make the kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

The Crisis of Western Civ - The New York Times

The Crisis of Western Civ - The New York Times: The faith in the West collapsed from within. It’s amazing how slow people have been to rise to defend it.

Is Male Headship a Lost Cause? | Desiring God

Is Male Headship a Lost Cause? | Desiring God:



Complementarianism will endure. It is not a lost cause. The reason I think it will endure and is not a lost cause may not be exactly what you think. Let me give you three reasons it will endure that are not the reason I’m going to give. I think there are a lot of reasons why it will, but these three are the ones you probably thought I would give, so I’m going to give them and then give the one I really want to give.

Media should show skepticism over Syrian chemical weapons attack claims

Media should show skepticism over Syrian chemical weapons attack claims:

If you watch and read the Australian media, whether it be the television news or discussion programs like Insiders and even Mediawatch, it's taken as read that chemical weapons were dropped by Bashar al Assad's Syrian government warplanes.

It's as if there's no memory of the weapons of mass destruction lies the American, British and Australian governments told us before the 2003 Iraq invasion.

The modern myth of the Easter bunny | Adrian Bott | Opinion | The Guardian

The modern myth of the Easter bunny | Adrian Bott | Opinion | The Guardian:

Did you know that Easter was originally a pagan festival dedicated to Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, whose consort was a hare, the forerunner of our Easter bunny? Of course you did. Every year the fecund muck of the internet bursts forth afresh with cheery did-you-know explanations like this, setting modern practices in a context of ancient and tragically interrupted pagan belief.

The trouble is that they are wrong. The colourful myths of Eostre and her hare companion, who in some versions is a bird transformed into an egg-laying rabbit, aren't historically pagan. They are modern fabrications, cludged together in an unresearched assumption of pagan precedence.

Approaching “The Silmarillion” for the First Time | A Pilgrim in Narnia

Approaching “The Silmarillion” for the First Time | A Pilgrim in Narnia: This is what a friend of mine called The Silmarillion: the Bible for Tolkien geeks. It is an astute observation, I think. Like the Bible, The Silmarillion includes genres like myth, legend, history, genealogy, prophecy, and poetry. It is a text of texts from another culture based in other languages, but a text that is meant to inform not just the past but the present. Like the Bible, it better reread than read.

How fights over Trump have led evangelicals to leave their churches - The Washington Post

How fights over Trump have led evangelicals to leave their churches - The Washington Post:



for 20 years, liberal to moderate evangelicals have been leaving their churches because they disagree with the Christian right. This is important because it allows us to recognize that this sorting process is plural, local, and continual. It is not something owned by the left or right, but a regular and expected part of life in all religious organizations.

Trump’s ‘Wag the Dog’ Moment – Consortiumnews

Trump’s ‘Wag the Dog’ Moment – Consortiumnews:

Today, because Trump and his administration are now committed to convincing Americans that Assad really was responsible for Tuesday’s poison-gas tragedy, the prospects for a full and open investigation are effectively ended. We may never know if there is truth to those allegations or whether we are being manipulated by another “wag the dog” psyop.

Disharmony: The religious response to Syria’s travails is prolix and confused | The Economist

Disharmony: The religious response to Syria’s travails is prolix and confused | The Economist:



Generally, the local Catholic and Orthodox churches remain reluctant to condemn Bashar al-Assad, whom they regard as their protector against the furies of Islamism. That in turn influences the hierarchs and adherents of those churches in other places. Meanwhile, some luminaries of America’s religious right (though not of the isolationist far-right) saw their country’s missile attack as a noble act by Donald Trump: a sign of his virtuousness compared with the wicked sloppiness of his predecessor.

How French “Intellectuals” Ruined the West: Postmodernism and Its Impact, Explained – Areo Magazine

How French “Intellectuals” Ruined the West: Postmodernism and Its Impact, Explained – Areo Magazine:

Postmodernism presents a threat not only to liberal democracy but to modernity itself. That may sound like a bold or even hyperbolic claim, but the reality is that the cluster of ideas and values at the root of postmodernism have broken the bounds of academia and gained great cultural power in western society. The irrational and identitarian “symptoms” of postmodernism are easily recognizable and much criticized, but the ethos underlying them is not well understood. This is partly because postmodernists rarely explain themselves clearly and partly because of the inherent contradictions and inconsistencies of a way of thought which denies a stable reality or reliable knowledge to exist.

The Russian Church: Profiting by Silence | Public Orthodoxy

The Russian Church: Profiting by Silence | Public Orthodoxy:

Among those detained and beaten by police forces was Gregory Hill, the underage son of an Orthodox priest and a British subject who was not part of the protesting crowd and whose only fault was failing to produce his papers immediately upon request. In the words of his mother, “Grisha [Gregory] is bruised because one policeman was holding his head to the ground, while the other kicked him in the groin and ribs. We are shocked by the comments from the city government that police reacted in a competent way and ensured security in heavily crowded areas. I very well see that ‘competence’ on Grisha’s face.” (Sergei Chapnin)

Eastern Christian Books: Reading Dreher with Schmemann and MacIntyre (and thus Marx)

Eastern Christian Books: Reading Dreher with Schmemann and MacIntyre (and thus Marx):

In fact, several passages from Schmemann came back to mind in reading Dreher, whose book fixates on same-sex marriage and gender issues to an unhealthy and unhelpful degree. None seems more acute or appropriate than this one: In March 1976 during Lent, Schmemann wrote: "Students' confessions. Always sex. I am beginning to think that this sin is useful; otherwise they would consider themselves saintly and plunge into guruism." Dreher's entire project reeks of guruism.

Lance's Religion Blog: Health Care Reform in Light of Orthodox Theology and the Sanctity of the Human Body

Lance's Religion Blog: Health Care Reform in Light of Orthodox Theology and the Sanctity of the Human Body:

As this country debates health care reform, I cannot help but turn to Orthodox theology for some answers. Orthodox theology is pretty much synonymous with Patristic theology. For an Orthodox Christian, salvation is holistic, involving Body and Soul. It is organic. God does not save the soul only, but the Body as well, and all Creation. To separate the soul from body is to hold to a decidedly non-Christian form of dualism. In the Eucharistic prayers of the Byzantine Liturgy, it is affirmed that the Holy Eucharist is for “the healing of both soul and body.”

From the Inside: Lessons from Singapore | Daily Maverick

From the Inside: Lessons from Singapore | Daily Maverick: I was blown away by the boldness of its vision, but most of all by the fact that a small country with no natural resources had in a single generation moved from extreme poverty to the cutting edge of modernity, and is determined to remain there, constantly re-inventing itself in a changing global economy.

When the young presenter (who looked in her 30s) asked if we had any questions, I asked hesitantly: “Will this plan actually get implemented?” Behind her immaculate poise I could see she thought it was the dumbest she had ever been asked.

“Of course”, she answered, before explaining how the country implemented a new plan every five years. This is how Singapore became one of the world’s leading ports, developed a powerful manufacturing sector, attracted investment across the globe, and became the springboard for exports across Asia. Good planning and implementation was how Singapore moved from mass unemployment to a labour-intensive manufacturing export economy, then to a high-skills, capital-intensive economy, and then a digital economy. And now they are positioning themselves at the cutting edge of the future super-smart economy.

Are Liberals on the Wrong Side of History? - The New Yorker

Are Liberals on the Wrong Side of History? - The New Yorker: Of all the prejudices of pundits, presentism is the strongest. It is the assumption that what is happening now is going to keep on happening, without anything happening to stop it. If the West has broken down the Berlin Wall and McDonald’s opens in St. Petersburg, then history is over and Thomas Friedman is content. If, by a margin so small that in a voice vote you would have no idea who won, Brexit happens; or if, by a trick of an antique electoral system designed to give country people more power than city people, a Donald Trump is elected, then pluralist constitutional democracy is finished. The liberal millennium was upon us as the year 2000 dawned; fifteen years later, the autocratic apocalypse is at hand. Thomas Friedman is concerned.

What is the Labour Party for? On the mystery of Jeremy Corbyn

What is the Labour Party for? On the mystery of Jeremy Corbyn:

There is a preference in the media’s political coverage – and in political campaigning altogether – for symbol and personality over policy and fact. The media coverage of Corbyn, who despite being an MP and unusually active campaigner for over thirty years had not much figured in the press until the leadership contest, has been by any measure persistently negative.

Church of Greece split over role of neofascist Golden Dawn party | News | ekathimerini.com

Church of Greece split over role of neofascist Golden Dawn party | News | ekathimerini.com:

Meanwhile, other leading clerics, spearheaded by Bishop Amvrosios of Kalavryta and Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus, have made no secret of their support for Golden Dawn.

Seraphim has often spoken out in public against Jews and homosexuals. For his part, Amvrosios recently called on Golden Dawn officials to change their style so as to boost their ratings.

The Most Politically Dangerous Book You’ve Never Heard Of - POLITICO Magazine

The Most Politically Dangerous Book You’ve Never Heard Of - POLITICO Magazine:

A congressional inquiry placed the blame for the 2008 financial crisis squarely at Greenspan’s feet, and, under questioning by members of the House, Greenspan admitted that there must have been “a flaw” in his Randian worldview.

A flaw, yes, but where did it really come from?

The answer will surprise even the most avid Rand fans. The fundamental idea underlying her objectivism was a twin ideology known as rational egoism—the belief that rational action always maximizes self-interest. And Rand, who wielded the phrase “second-hander” as a cudgel against her enemies, had herself borrowed this idea from the scribblings of her countryman, a Russian writer named Nikolai Chernyshevsky, whose 1863 utopian novel, though critically mocked, became an inspiration for Rand’s generation of the early 1900s.

Linking Global Voices

Linking Global Voices:

Linking Global Voices serves the global missions community by focusing on the unique role of networks.

We live in an unprecedented period of mission history. The new paradigm of “from anywhere to everywhere” is by nature complex, resulting in an increasing need to partner with others for effective ministry. Networks are a strategic tool for ministry leaders navigating the complexities of the globalized world of missions. Mission minded churches and agencies are developing their "network engagement strategy". Healthy networks facilitate the sharing of resources and are constantly birthing partnerships.

It's Indian Everyday: What are Biryani, Pulao and Tehri

It's Indian Everyday: What are Biryani, Pulao and Tehri:

In Biryani, boath the meat/vegetables and rice are cooked separately and then they are layered and baked during cooking. The process also lives up to the name Biryani in Persian meaning 'fry before cooking'.

In Pulao, the 'meat/vegetables and rice are stirred' before cooking and both are cooked together without any layer formation.

Tehri is a vegetarian dish prepared by cooking rice with potatoes. Other vegetables may also be added to it. It is common in Uttar Pradesh, India.

The Ego and the Universe: Alan Watts on Becoming Who You Really Are – Brain Pickings

The Ego and the Universe: Alan Watts on Becoming Who You Really Are – Brain Pickings:

Watts uses the phrase “little boxes made of ticky-tacky” to describe the homogenizing and perilous effect of the American quest for dominance over “nature , space, mountains, deserts, bacteria, and insects instead of learning to cooperate with them in a harmonious order.” The following year, Malvina Reynolds used the phrase in the lyrics to her song “Little Boxes”, which satirizes suburbia and the development of the middle class. The song became a hit for Pete Seeger in 1963 and was used by Showtime as the opening credits score for the first three seasons of Jenji Kohan’s Weeds.

Pastor who fed grass to his congregation explains himself | DESTINY MAN

Pastor who fed grass to his congregation explains himself | DESTINY MAN:

A Pretoria pastor who made his congregation eat grass and drink petrol has explained the reasons behind his actions

Over the past few weeks the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (the CRL Rights Commission) has been investigating the commercialisation of churches and questionable practices and claims by a number of church leaders.

Yesterday the commission was less than impressed with Rabboni Centre Ministries’ pastor Lesego Daniel’s explanation of why he made his congregants eat grass and drink petrol.

Pastor Lesego 'cooks' Mpumalanga man | The Citizen

Pastor Lesego 'cooks' Mpumalanga man | The Citizen:

With the spotlight on self-proclaimed Pastors, a controversial “Man of God” has claimed that he “cooked” one of his congregants.

A day after the Economic Freedom Fighters torched the tent of a pastor who fed live rodents and snakes to his congregants, Pastor Lesego Daniel of Rabboni Centre Ministries, claimed to have “cooked”a church member.

Infamous for making his congregants drink petrol, Daniel said he “cooked” Charles Tema, a 20-year-old Mpumalanga man, who aspires to be like the pastor.

David Lindsay: �Venceremos!

David Lindsay: Venceremos!:

I do not deny the problems with human rights in Cuba, any more than I deny the ghastliness of the "exiles" in Miami who aspire to turn the place back into the giant drug den and brothel depicted in The Godfather Part II.

A government that is allied to Saudi Arabia is not entitled to criticise the human rights record of any other country apart from North Korea. The reverse would also hold.

Obama drone casualty numbers a fraction of those recorded by the Bureau - The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Obama drone casualty numbers a fraction of those recorded by the Bureau - The Bureau of Investigative Journalism:

The US government today claimed it has killed between 64 and 116 “non-combatants” in 473 counter-terrorism strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya between January 2009 and the end of 2015.

This is a fraction of the 380 to 801 civilian casualty range recorded by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism from reports by local and international journalists, NGO investigators, leaked government documents, court papers and the result of field investigations.

While the number of civilian casualties recorded by the Bureau is six times higher than the US Government’s figure, the assessments of the minimum total number of people killed were strikingly similar. The White House put this figure at 2,436, whilst the Bureau has recorded 2,753.

Fidel, the Real Deal | Daily Maverick

Fidel, the Real Deal | Daily Maverick:

Proof of Fidel Castro’s impact in speeding up the end of white minority rule in southern Africa emerged from a 1976 intelligence briefing by then CIA director George H.W. Bush to the US president, Gerald Ford: “It is the intelligence community’s prediction that Cuban troops will be involved in Rhodesia before the end of 1976” – three months away.

How the Cuban revolution failed

How the Cuban revolution failed:

When Fidel Castro and Che Guevara rode victoriously into Havana sitting atop a tank and smoking cigars, the Cuban masses rejoiced. The banks were immediately nationalized, the casinos were shut down, prostitution was eradicated, and the national resources that had previously been siphoned off by America were now restored to the control of the Cuban populous. Socialism had prevailed. The poor were liberated. The power of the people had overcome the oppression of the American capitalist machine. At least that’s what the people were initially led to believe.
But the socialist revolution quickly turned into a communist nightmare. And it did so almost overnight. Fidel and Che immediately let it be known that they were not at all interested in democratic socialism. Atheistic communism is what they espoused, and Batista’s capitalist backed dictatorship would now be fully and thoroughly replaced by a repressive communist dictatorship. And when those who fought side by side with Fidel and Che - and who suffered and bled for the revolutionary democratic socialist ideal - dared to oppose the hard and drastic communist turn that Fidel and Che took, they were either executed or imprisoned.

The Personality of Political Correctness - Scientific American Blog Network

The Personality of Political Correctness - Scientific American Blog Network:

The researchers found that PC exists, can be reliably measured, and has two major dimensions. They labeled the first dimension "PC-Egalitarianism" and the second dimension "PC-Authoritarianism". Interestingly, they found that PC is not a purely left-wing phenomenon, but is better understood as the manifestation of a general offense sensitivity, which is then employed for either liberal or conservative ends.

Shipwrecked camera discovered underwater after 2 years with photos intact ...

Shipwrecked camera discovered underwater after 2 years with photos intact ...:

In a truly remarkable resolution to a lost-and-found story, a digital camera that was lost after a shipwreck in 2012 was found with the photographs intact last year near Vancouver Island.

In 2012, Paul Burgoyne had been on a journey from Vancouver to Tahsis in British Columbia on his nine-metre boat Bootlegger when it was wrecked.

Burgoyne had been rescued, but the camera with several irreplaceable photographs were lost to the sea.

How to tell if your neighbors are stealing your Wi-Fi

How to tell if your neighbors are stealing your Wi-Fi:

The first sign that your Wi-Fi network has been compromised will probably be a general decrease in internet speeds. The more people connected to your network, the more problems you will have loading webpages or streaming videos

If you notice anything strange happening on your network, you must investigate. The first thing to check will be the Wi-Fi router itself.

Was Darwinism Banned from Nazi Germany? - Evolution News & Views

Was Darwinism Banned from Nazi Germany? - Evolution News & Views: universities embraced Darwinism before the Nazis came to power, but the Nazi regime continued to appoint Darwinists to biology and anthropology professorships. Karl Astel, whom the Nazis appointed professor of human genetics and later promoted to rector (equivalent of president) of the University of Jena, was an avid Darwinist. He was also an SS officer who wanted to turn the University of Jena into a fully Nazified university. In order to accomplish this goal, he received Himmler's help in recruiting the biologist and SS officer Gerhard Heberer as a professor of human evolution at the University of Jena. Nazis appointed many other Darwinian biologists and anthropologists to professorships, too.

Malcolm Gladwell: The reason people dislike Hillary Clinton is simple — she’s a woman

Malcolm Gladwell: The reason people dislike Hillary Clinton is simple — she’s a woman: Hillary Clinton's unpopularity boils down to one issue, journalist Malcolm Gladwell says in an interview with CBC News: Sexism.

"She's a woman," the best-selling author and staff writer for The New Yorker explains.

"People had a preexisting mental notion of what a female candidate would look like, and she doesn't look like it. She is being penalized for having a series of traits that people find unacceptable in a woman."

The Big Split

The Big Split: The utter indifference of the DNC to the suffering of vast chunks of the U.S., and the indifference of the smug supporters of Hillary who stigmatized and tried to shame third party candidates and those voting for them, came back to haunt them. They couldn’t imagine why everyone didn’t support their privilege. The logic of lesser evilism became an accusatory intolerance with opinion differing from their own. That they seemed more concerned with Trump’s pussy remarks than with Clinton’s cackling at her orchestrated assassination of Qadaffi, or her planned coup in Honduras, or the CIA led fascist coup in Ukraine began to be noticed. Many people who voted for Trump did so not because they like Trump, but because they fucking hated the privileged white bourgeoisie that was constantly scolding them and ridiculing them.

The Political Compass -- US Election 2016

The Political Compass:

Despite most polls indicating that Bernie Sanders would fare significantly better than Clinton against Trump, the party clearly wanted Hillary. This surely suggests that when push comes to shove, the Democratic establishment would prefer Hillary to lose the presidency than Sanders to win it.

They lied about Iraq and Libya: Do you trust them now about Russia? -- Puppet Masters -- Sott.net

They lied about Iraq and Libya: Do you trust them now about Russia? -- Puppet Masters -- Sott.net: Just as President George W. Bush deceptively painted Hussein's supposed WMD as a danger to Americans and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dishonestly portrayed Gaddafi as "genocidal," U.S. officials and pundits are depicting Putin as some cartoonish villain or some new Hitler.

And, just as The New York Times, Washington Post and other mainstream media outlets amplified the Iraq and Libyan propaganda to the American people - rather than questioning and challenging it - these supposedly journalistic entities are performing the same function regarding Russia. The chief difference is that now we're talking about the potential for nuclear annihilation. [See Consortiumnews.com's "The Existential Madness of Putin-Bashing."]

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Andrew Bacevich: 'Christian realism' for foreign affairs | NewBostonPost

Andrew Bacevich: 'Christian realism' for foreign affairs | NewBostonPost: Describe your approach to foreign policy.

Andrew Bacevich: If I had to assign myself a label I would call myself a ‘Christian realist.’ Christian realism is a foreign policy perspective that originated with Reinhold Niebuhr, the famous moral theologian and public intellectual who was really a titanic figure on the American scene from the 1930s into the 1960s. The essence of Christian realism—which is very much at odds with anything that smacks of utopianism—is to appreciate that there is evil in the world to which we must respond but also to appreciate that our own motives are likely to be less pure than we may fancy them to be. It’s not simply that the motives of the other guys are suspect but we ourselves should always be mindful of the extent to which our own motives [may] be subject to question. That’s the outlook that I tend to adhere to when I look at the world and the way it works.

How Facebook’s news feed algorithm works.

How Facebook’s news feed algorithm works.: And yet, for all its power, Facebook’s news feed algorithm is surprisingly inelegant, maddeningly mercurial, and stubbornly opaque. It remains as likely as not to serve us posts we find trivial, irritating, misleading, or just plain boring. And Facebook knows it.

IASC: The Hedgehog Review - Volume 17, No. 3 (Fall 2015) - We Have Never Been Disenchanted -

IASC: The Hedgehog Review - Volume 17, No. 3 (Fall 2015) - We Have Never Been Disenchanted -: The Hedgehog Review: Vol. 17 No. 3 (Fall 2015)
We Have Never Been Disenchanted
Eugene McCarraher
The Hedgehog Review
The Hedgehog Review: Fall 2015

(Volume 17 | Issue 3)

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“Beautiful demon of Money, what an enchanter thou art!”
—Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age

One of the stories modernity tells about itself is titled “The Disenchantment of the World.” Friedrich Schiller coined the phrase while lamenting the demise of the gods of Greek antiquity, but it was Max Weber who turned it into melancholy shorthand for the modern condition of secularity.1

15 Hacks For A Water-Smart Garden - Hobby Farms

15 Hacks For A Water-Smart Garden - Hobby Farms: January 18, 2016

Drought is a cyclical part of life in the American West, and water conservation—no matter where you live—should be an ongoing concern of every savvy gardener. A well-designed, water-wise landscape that incorporates H2O-saving devices and techniques can still be a lush and inviting place without the water waste. Here are 15 tips to get you through the summer with minimal irrigation.

ANC not arrogant, self-serving, says Ramaphosa | IOL

ANC not arrogant, self-serving, says Ramaphosa | IOL: African National Congress deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said, unlike what many South Africans think, his party was not an arrogant, self-serving political organisation.

“The ANC, as opposed to what many people may believe, they think we are arrogant, self-centered, self-serving and I would like like to dispute all that by saying we are a listening organisation,” Ramaphosa told a scrum of reporters at the ANC desk in the IEC’s results operations centre in Tshwane.

Email Marketing for Authors: Best practices for building, managing and measuring your email list - Written Word Media

Email Marketing for Authors: Best practices for building, managing and measuring your email list - Written Word Media: Back in our 10 Trends in Publishing Every Indie Author Needs to Know post this past January, we talked about the importance of email marketing for authors. That trend has stayed true throughout the first half of the year, and email marketing remains one of the most effective tactics for driving book sales. Are you ready to join in on the trend? Keep reading for a primer on email marketing for authors, and learn how you can use it as an effective tool to sell more books.

Slobodan Milosevic, 64, Former Yugoslav Leader Accused of War Crimes, Dies - The New York Times

Slobodan Milosevic, 64, Former Yugoslav Leader Accused of War Crimes, Dies - The New York Times: As he rose and then clung to power by resurrecting old nationalist grudges and inciting dreams of a Greater Serbia, Mr. Milosevic became the prime engineer of wars that pitted his fellow Serbs against the Slovenes, the Croats, the Bosnians, the Albanians of Kosovo and ultimately the combined forces of the entire NATO alliance.

By stirring a dormant but incendiary nationalism, he succeeded in rallying support for himself in the late 1980's, at a time when Communism in the rest of Eastern Europe was in its death throes.

E

Hlaudi and the return to the Bantustan | City Press

Hlaudi and the return to the Bantustan | City Press: Watching the goings-on at the public broadcaster, it is hard not to see the similarities between those buffoonish tinpot dictators and the autocratic dolt who reigns supreme there.

The man with the Napoleon complex and bloodshot eyes, who sits at the helm of the SABC, is a perfect example of the perils of giving power to the feeble-minded.

What usually happens is, when dim-witted individuals are given a shot at power, they grab it with both hands and use it destructively.

The Secret Auden by Edward Mendelson | The New York Review of Books

The Secret Auden by Edward Mendelson | The New York Review of Books: By refusing to claim moral or personal authority, Auden placed himself firmly on one side of an argument that pervades the modern intellectual climate but is seldom explicitly stated, an argument about the nature of evil and those who commit it.

On one side are those who, like Auden, sense the furies hidden in themselves, evils they hope never to unleash, but which, they sometimes perceive, add force to their ordinary angers and resentments, especially those angers they prefer to think are righteous. On the other side are those who can say of themselves without irony, “I am a good person,” who perceive great evils only in other, evil people whose motives and actions are entirely different from their own. This view has dangerous consequences when a party or nation, having assured itself of its inherent goodness, assumes its actions are therefore justified, even when, in the eyes of everyone else, they seem murderous and oppressive.

| National Review

| National Review: Hillary Clinton believes that “religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” to expand access to abortion.

Clinton said today that it’s not enough to legalize the procedure. “Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth, and laws don’t count for much if they’re not enforced,” she said Thursday, per the Daily Caller. “And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.”

The Disenchanted World | Glory to God for All Things

The Disenchanted World | Glory to God for All Things: A very apt word for the world we live in is: disenchanted. It was first used by Max Weber and a number of others to describe a certain aspect of the modern world – the absence of the sacred. Where people of earlier eras and other cultures have experienced the world around them as charged with divine power (of various sorts), we simply experience the world as inert. There is nothing there.

The disenchanted world is doubtless a major source of modern atheism. When someone says they do not believe in God, they are quite likely simply relaying accurately how they perceive the world – that the world they see is simply disenchanted. This experience is captured by Tolkien in his hints of the end of Middle Earth. The “Elves are heading West,” leaving the world of Middle Earth. The Age of Elves is coming to an end and the Age of Men is beginning. There is something of a hint that with the Elves, the world of magic and wizardry is leaving as well. The new dangers will simply be the will and work of men rather than larger, darker forces.

About SouthFront

About SouthFront: SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence is a public analytical project maintained by an independent team of experts from the four corners of the Earth focusing on international relations issues and crises and working through a number of media platforms with a special emphasis on social networks. We focus on analysis and intelligence of the ongoing crises and the biggest stories from around the world. The project provides military operations analysis, the military posture of major world powers, and other important data influencing the growth of tensions between countries and nations. We try to dig out the truth on issues which are barely covered by the states concerned and the mainstream media.

Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve racked up prizes — and completely misled you about the Middle Ages - Vox

Stephen Greenblatt's The Swerve racked up prizes — and completely misled you about the Middle Ages - Vox: The Swerve doesn’t promote the humanities to a broader public so much as it deviously precipitates the decline of the humanities, by dumbing down the complexities of history and religion in a way that sets a deeply unfortunate precedent. If Greenblatt’s story resonates with its many readers, it is surely because it echoes stubborn, made-for-TV representations of medieval "barbarity" that have no business in a nonfiction book, much less one by a Harvard professor.

Scholars have spent the past several decades upending the old myths that the Middle Ages were intellectual stagnant, emotionally repressed, and merely masochistic. Unfortunately, The Swerve heartily embraces those myths. In its insistent representation of what Greenblatt wanted the past to be like, instead of what the evidence suggests, it exemplifies that dire trend of "truthy" nonfiction books that present One Theory to Explain Everything. It represents the importation of Malcolm Gladwell–esque yarn-spinning into the academy.

How a colonial blunder grew into a part of the War on Terror | Aeon Essays

How a colonial blunder grew into a part of the War on Terror | Aeon Essays: The Durand Line has consistently proven ineffective as the basis of territorial delineation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, its division of Pashtun tribal lands a point of contention to this day. As recently as May 2016, the portion of the line between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Torkham checkpoint was shut down, stranding thousands of people and cargo trucks. Pakistani military forces installed barbed wire; Afghanistan, which does not recognise the legitimacy of the border, responded to this as a hostile act. Escalating tensions, well-known to either side, led to a shutdown of the Torkham border post. It was only after high level diplomatic meetings that the post could be opened again.

When will Labour’s tribal warfare come to an end? | Maya Goodfellow | Opinion | The Guardian

When will Labour’s tribal warfare come to an end? | Maya Goodfellow | Opinion | The Guardian: Labour failed to capitalise after the referendum when the Tories were thrown into a crisis of their own creation. Instead they created their own mess with a poorly executed coup. MPs, understandably panicked by the referendum results and worried that Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t doing well enough, paired up with those who had – as Peter Mandelson advised – been waiting for the last nine months for a moment of weakness to overthrow their leader. At a time when Labour should have been attacking the Tories and standing up for people experiencing xenophobic abuse, they were embroiled in a feud.

Athonite Fathers call for Rejection of Cretan Council and Cessation of Commemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople / OrthoChristian.Com

Athonite Fathers call for Rejection of Cretan Council and Cessation of Commemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople / OrthoChristian.Com: OVER 60 Hieromonk and monks, with a disciple of Saint Paisios, Elder Gabriel of the Kelli of St. Christodoulos (Holy Monastery of Koutloumosiou) at their head, have written an open letter to the Holy Community of Mt. Athos calling upon the Abbots to reject the Council in Crete and stating their intention to cease commemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople on account of his leadership in the "false council" at which the pan-heresy of ecumenism was given a green light and bolstered in word and deed.

We were made for these times

We were made for these times: My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.



You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.

Reported rape of dead Muslim woman evokes anger, revulsion amongst Indian Americans

Reported rape of dead Muslim woman evokes anger, revulsion amongst Indian Americans: The reaction of Indians around the world over the continuing attacks on the dignity and basic freedoms of India’s religious minorities as well as Dalits (lower-castes), has been eloquently expressed by former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Ramdas, in a recentopen letter to the President and Prime Minister of India. Drawing the attention of the highest offices in the land to the “threats to our shared heritage,” Admiral Ramdas unequivocally separated Hinduism, the faith he was raised in, from “Hindutva, that seems to be fanning the flames of division and fear across the country.”

KING: ISIS terrorists aren’t Muslims — they're just evil men - NY Daily News

KING: ISIS terrorists aren’t Muslims — they're just evil men - NY Daily News: Maybe you missed it since “pray for Baghdad” didn't trend on Twitter and Facebook didn’t give you the option of overlaying an Iraqi flag on your profile picture, but something truly horrific happened there Sunday morning. A suicide truck bomb tore through a busy shopping district in Baghdad. ISIS has already claimed the attack as their own.

A rational nation ruled by science would be a terrible idea | New Scientist

A rational nation ruled by science would be a terrible idea | New Scientist: “Scientism” is the belief that all we need to solve the world’s problems is – you guessed it – science. People sometimes use the phrase “rational thinking”, but it amounts to the same thing. If only people would drop religion and all their other prejudices, we could use logic to fix everything.

Last week, US astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson offered up the perfect example of scientism when he proposed the country of Rationalia, in which “all policy shall be based on the weight of evidence”.

Assasination By Drone: America's Fatal Fallacy

Assasination By Drone: America's Fatal Fallacy: Endless hopes were pinned on Pres. Barack Obama when he entered the Oval Office in 2009. Hardly anyone back then seriously considered it possible that Obama would trump the belligerence even of Pres. George W. Bush who was seemingly hated the world over and would bomb nearly twice as many Muslim countries as his unspeakable predecessor.

US Options in the Ukraine: Trigger a Religious War? - The Unz Review

US Options in the Ukraine: Trigger a Religious War? - The Unz Review:



The AUOC-MP is the biggest of the three. It is self-governing, but not fully independent. It is probably the biggest of the three churches and it is in full communion with all of the other “official” (read: “state approved”) Orthodox Churches out there. The AUOC-MP is viewed as the “hand of the Kremlin” by the nationalists.



The UOC-KP was founded by a former Bishop of the Moscow Patriarchate, Filaret Denisenko who created a “schism” (a unilateral separation in contradiction to the Canons of the Church) from the Moscow Patriarchate (which is ironic since Filaret was a former “deputy” (locum tenens) to Patriarch Pimen I of the Moscow Patriarchate and even considered a front-runner to succeed him). Even by Soviet standards Filaret was always known to be an exceptionally immoral, corrupt and unprincipled man, but the Moscow Patriarchate only excommunicated him when he broke-off from the MP to create his own “church”.



The UAOC is basically a 1921 creation of the Ukrainian National Republic of 1917 (just as the Moscow Patriarchate is a 1937 creation of the Bolshevik state of 1917) and it represents the “non-Soviet” version of Ukrainian Christianity, with several of its clergymen have been persecuted by the Soviet state.

#SafetyPin: The simple way you can show solidarity with the UK's foreign-born population

#SafetyPin: The simple way you can show solidarity with the UK's foreign-born population: Vote Leave's campaign was tainted by accusations of racist dog-whistling: a poster unveiled by Ukip featuring an edited photograph of refugees came under particularly heavy criticism for its likeness to Nazi propaganda.

And sadly, as Tory MP Simon Hoare put it in the Commons yesterday, a "racism genie" appears to have been let out of the bottle as a consequence.

The National Police Chiefs' Council said on Monday there had been a 57 per cent rise in reports to an online hate crime reporting site between Thursday and Sunday compared to a month ago.

Don't blame Brexit on working-class anger - it's more worrying than that

Don't blame Brexit on working-class anger - it's more worrying than that: Brexit was a rejection of British multiculturalism. That is the real take-home message of the Ashcroft polls. Of those who see themselves as "English not British", 80 per cent voted to Leave, irrespective of social class. Those who see themselves as "British not English" voted 60 per cent for Remain.

This is Cyprus...: Cyprus, the EU and Brexit

This is Cyprus...: Cyprus, the EU and Brexit

Mbeki's chilling warning in 2007: A virus is eating up the ANC from the inside | Politics | RDM

Mbeki's chilling warning in 2007: A virus is eating up the ANC from the inside | Politics | RDM: I would like to cite a vitally important observation our Secretary General made in his Organisational Report to our 51st National Conference, five years ago.

He said: "We have also reported to the NGC (held in 2000), on the challenges being in power has on the structures of the movement. We found that the issues dividing the leadership of some of our provinces are not of a political nature, but have mainly revolved around access to resources, positioning themselves or others to access resources, dispensing patronage and in the process using organisational structures to further these goals.

"This often lies at the heart of conflicts between (ANC) constitutional and governance structures, especially at local level and is reflected in contestations around lists, deployment and the internal elections process of the movement. These practices tarnish the image and effectiveness of the movement.

"The limited political consciousness (among some of our members) has impacted negatively on our capacity to root out corrupt and divisive elements among ourselves. For the movement to renew itself as a revolutionary movement, we have to develop specific political, organisational and administrative measures to deal with such destructive elements."

Nelson Mandela also drew our attention to this challenge when he opened our 50th National Conference in 1997. Among other things he said: "One of these negative features is the emergence of careerism within our ranks. Many among our members see their membership of the ANC as a means to advance their personal ambitions to attain positions of power and access to resources for their own individual gratification.

"Accordingly, they work to manipulate the movement to create the conditions for their success.

Profiling house robbers – why a dog beats electric fences – HomeTimes

Profiling house robbers – why a dog beats electric fences – HomeTimes

The Top 100 Books Referenced by Noam Chomsky | ChomskyList.com

The Top 100 Books Referenced by Noam Chomsky | ChomskyList.com: The Top 100 Books Referenced by Noam Chomsky

Google is Recording Everything You Say — Here’s How to Hear It, Delete It, and Stop It | The Daily Liberator

Google is Recording Everything You Say — Here’s How to Hear It, Delete It, and Stop It | The Daily Liberator: Thanks to a function of their search software, Google could have years worth of your conversations recorded, and you can hear it for yourself. Your cringe-worthy history can be heard and viewed along with a list of all your searches, at your personal Google history page.

Notable.ca | Big Surprise: Harvard Study Shows that Sarcasm is Actually Good for You

Notable.ca | Big Surprise: Harvard Study Shows that Sarcasm is Actually Good for You: Data from a recent study entitled, The Highest Form of Intelligence: Sarcasm Increases Creativity for Both Expressers and Recipients, suggests that the delivery and deciphering of sarcasm offers psychological benefits that have been largely underappreciated and long overlooked.

When Being Pro-Life Did Not Mean Being Conservative | Religion & Politics

When Being Pro-Life Did Not Mean Being Conservative | Religion & Politics: Most of the pre-Roe pro-life activists were Catholics with liberal political sympathies shaped by their Church’s social justice teachings and the New Deal. They viewed their campaign to save the lives of the unborn as a human rights cause, which is why much of their rhetoric closely paralleled the language of the civil rights and anti-war movements.

The Heavy Anglo-Orthodox: The war in Iraq was a war on truth

The Heavy Anglo-Orthodox: The war in Iraq was a war on truth: The Iraq War was a hubristic demonstration, a demonstration of the Antichrist, that the truth itself is something that must be subjected to the human will, that it is human will that shapes reality and not the other way around.

How Charles Williams combined the occult with Christian faith | The Christian Century

How Charles Williams combined the occult with Christian faith | The Christian Century: Shadows of a saint

Charles Williams’s magical Christianity
May 12, 2016 by Philip Jenkins

In 1963, W. H. Auden reported his weary experiences on a lucrative U.S. lecture tour in the wry poem “On the Circuit.” It was grim maintaining a smiling face while meeting so many gushing strangers, but occasionally there was “a blessed encounter, full of joy . . . With, here, an addict of Tolkien / There, a Charles Williams fan.” The number of devotees of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis proliferated enormously over the following decades, and that boundless enthusiasm spilled over to any and all of their associates, including Williams. A rising tide lifted all Inklings

Louis van Gaal says 'it's over' with Jose Mourinho tipped to take over at Manchester United | Football News | Sky Sports

Louis van Gaal says 'it's over' with Jose Mourinho tipped to take over at Manchester United | Football News | Sky Sports: United have no plans for a victory parade in Manchester, and the club are believed to be angry that news of Mourinho's potential appointment has overshadowed the club's first FA Cup win since 2004 and first piece of silverware since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Community stands against farm attacks | Vryheid Herald

Community stands against farm attacks | Vryheid Herald: FOLLOWING the brutal murder of Billy Van Rooyen and his father in law Ronnie Lombard, the community members of Zwathi took to the streets saying ‘enough is enough’.

These members of the ward 4 community headed down to the Gluckstadt Police Station to hand over a memorandum regarding their concerns over the rise in crime in their area.

The main issue raised in the memorandum was that of the killing of farmers, which in turn has a negative influence on the community’s infrastructure as many of those working on the farms lose their jobs.

He Carefully Places Sponges Inside His Fridge… The Reason? This Is Pure GENIUS!

He Carefully Places Sponges Inside His Fridge… The Reason? This Is Pure GENIUS!:

• How to quickly and easily peel a lot of garlic cloves by shaking them in a container
• Keep your vegetables fresh by keeping sponges in your refrigerator vegetable drawer
• Cleaning your shoes with toothpaste
• Disinfect your cutting board while eliminating odor with a vinegar solution
• Speed up the drying of your laundry by adding tennis balls to your load

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems | Books | The Guardian

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems | Books | The Guardian: So pervasive has neoliberalism become that we seldom even recognise it as an ideology. We appear to accept the proposition that this utopian, millenarian faith describes a neutral force; a kind of biological law, like Darwin’s theory of evolution. But the philosophy arose as a conscious attempt to reshape human life and shift the locus of power.

Neoliberalism sees competition as the defining characteristic of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency. It maintains that “the market” delivers benefits that could never be achieved by planning.

Distributism from the East

Distributism from the East: Distributism premises its economic principle of subsidiarity with the ethical principle of solidarity; as such an exploration of what economic justice is to the Orthodox is needed in order to see if it aligns with Distributism’s views. Saint Basil the Great has much to say on the topic of economic justice. For instance, he says in his homily “I Will Tear Down my Barns” that the rich “have been made minister[s] of God’s goodness, a steward of your fellow servants”2 and as such should not hoard what they have but use the money to help others. He further ties justice and economic activity together in his homily “To the Rich” when he says that wherever the rich man turns he will “behold the apparitions of [his] evil acts … the tears of the orphan, there the groaning of widow….”3 driving home that one’s economic actions have both real victims and spiritual consequences. The fact that St. Basil humanizes the poor and gives them identities (orphans and widows) is remarkable for a time period where the poor where generally viewed as a faceless mass for the rich to dump their excess wealth on if they decided to practice charity. In modern Capitalist countries the economic realities often make it easier to see the poor in the later manner, but in a Distributist society with its focus on subsidiarity and solidarity, we would be better able to see them in the former light.

Five Things You Need Know About the Attacks From a Peace Activist in Brussels

Five Things You Need Know About the Attacks From a Peace Activist in Brussels: “We are going to go after them,” Obama said a couple of hours after the terrorist attacks. Really? When?

We know, for example, that the real people fighting ISIS at the moment are the Kurds in Kobane and other cities. We know that helping and supporting them, while cutting the route of ISIS’s oil to Turkey, would deal a huge blow to the so-called Islamic State. Are we doing it? Not at all.

Supporting Turkey, a crucial actor in this whole story with Machiavellian policies on the ground, is a major factor in the ongoing violence.

Theology and Racial Justice with J. Kameron Carter

Theology and Racial Justice with J. Kameron Carter: Get a deeper understanding of racial justice by examining its theological roots. In this course, theologian and author J. Kameron Carter reveals and explains many of the theological underpinnings of racial injustice.

The journey toward racial justice in North America cannot be fully undertaken without a grasp of the theological implications underlying both its origins and development.

South Africa's rising tide of racial profiling | Politics | RDM

South Africa's rising tide of racial profiling | Politics | RDM: Black thinkers need to prick the bubble of black triumphalism if South Africa wants to progress. Afrikaners should prick their hedonism bubble and confront their history of violent submission of black people and land grabs, and English speakers need to understand that their jingoist monolingualism, which is as exclusionary as the worst Afrikaner racism, will only deepen the inequality already bedevilling our common future.

The Geography of Trumpism - NYTimes.com

The Geography of Trumpism - NYTimes.com: When the Census Bureau asks Americans about their ancestors, some respondents don’t give a standard answer like “English” or “German.” Instead, they simply answer “American.”

The places with high concentrations of these self-described Americans turn out to be the places Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has performed the strongest.

You really, really have to stop correcting the grammar of racists ranting about 'Muslins' on Facebook | Voices | The Independent

You really, really have to stop correcting the grammar of racists ranting about 'Muslins' on Facebook | Voices | The Independent: Fighting racism is virtuous; making someone feel bad because they don’t know about apostrophes is not. It is the same instinct that drives racism: the instinct to dominate, to denigrate, and to attack people rather than ideas.

Internet changing face of theology schools

Internet changing face of theology schools: Journalists, taxi drivers, musicians and motels have all had their economic apple carts upset by the Internet. Theology professors are discovering they too are not immune from the game-changing, democratizing effect of the world wide web.

Ever since the Council of Trent mandated seminaries to train priests, the only way to become theologically literate has been to enrol in a university, faithfully attend all the lectures and seminars, write the papers, debate with fellow students and pass the final exam. All of this had to happen in a classroom, on a campus.

No more.

Chant Matters - Compline at St Mark's Cathedral, Seattle - What is in Kelvin's Head?

Chant Matters - Compline at St Mark's Cathedral, Seattle - What is in Kelvin's Head?: That service breaks almost (and that almost is important, as we shall see) rule in the How to Attract Young People Big Book of Church Growth.

The building is as close to hideous as makes no odds.
The choir sing from behind a pillar and can’t be seen.
You don’t get a service sheet on the way in. You don’t in fact get anything.
The service is uncompromisingly old fashioned.
The service is based around Plainsong Chant.
There are no guitars. Not one.
It is unaccompanied by anything.
You don’t get to do anything.
You don’t sing.
You don’t speak.
You don’t engage.
You don’t form community.

And still they come. Hundreds of them. Every week they come.

The Return of Public Vulgarity

The Return of Public Vulgarity: It may appear that this disintegration is counteracted by the growth of political correctness, which prescribes exactly what cannot be said; however, a closer look immediately makes it clear how the "politically correct" regulation participates in the same process of the disintegration of the ethical substance. To prove this point, it suffices to recall the deadlock of political correctness: The need for PC rules arises when unwritten mores are no longer able to regulate effectively everyday interactions—instead of spontaneous customs followed in a nonreflexive way, we get explicit rules, such as when “torture” becomes an “enhanced interrogation technique.”

The crucial point is that torture—brutal violence practiced by the state—was made publicly acceptable at the very moment when public language was rendered politically correct in order to protect victims from symbolic violence. These two phenomena are two sides of the same coin.

‘We Think the Price Is Worth It’ — FAIR

‘We Think the Price Is Worth It’ — FAIR:

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?



Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price–we think the price is worth it.



—60 Minutes (5/12/96)

A Comedy of Terrors: When in Doubt, Bomb Syria

A Comedy of Terrors: When in Doubt, Bomb Syria:



Sanders’ policy on Syria is na�ve to the point of doltishness. But Hillary’s Syrian war plan—shared by most of her Republican rivals—borders on the pathological. Having not missed a minute of sleep haunted by the corpses of Libya, Mrs. Clinton is now stumping for the dismantling of Syria, using the carefully cultivated domestic anxiety over ISIS as the pretext. The cornerstone of Hillary’s rogue scheme is the imposition of a no fly zone over that embattled country.

Sounds like a relatively benign plan, right? But wait. ISIS doesn’t have an air force. They don’t even a have drone. Russia, of course, is flying daily sorties in Syrian air space, at the invitation of the Syrian government, such as it is, and some kind of confrontation would be inevitable. Still, Hillary doesn’t flinch. She has zealously vowed to shoot down any Russian plane that violated her unilateral ban.

SUNDAY TIMES - From SONA to Zika: 10 things that happened this week you should know about

SUNDAY TIMES - From SONA to Zika: 10 things that happened this week you should know about: The State of the Nation Address may be focused on political topics but with every important event come important fashion moments. From Thuli Madonsela's canary yellow gown to the long gold dress of Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba's wife, Noma, designer Gert-Johan Coetzee dominated the red carpet. Here are our best and worst looks from the night.



SONA 2016 fail | News24:
Watching this #SONA2016 has been the biggest joke, thus far nothing has
come of it, all it's been is a fashion show and a debate on the rules
of the house!

We the people are slave to this joke of a house they call parliament!

For heaven sakes dear lord please help this country and its people cause
we are getting nothing from the people who are meant to better the
country!