Click on the links for a discussion of the war on the Eastern Front. This was Continue reading…
There are a variety of topics in our current discourse, such as racial linguistic reference, and the question of the desirability of integration in church or state, to which our disputants often have a ready argument: “there will be no race in heaven; therefore we should operate as if that were the case now.” As will prove to be the case again and again, both the major and minor premises of modern truisms are generally dubious. Here I wish to analyze a premise that functions as the “minor” in that argument, and is taken as “obvious” even by intelligent people today. Namely, the idea that “there will be no race in heaven.” Continue reading…
Not to be confused with another movie with the same title, this is a documentary about the Battle of Stalingrad which was fought between the German and Soviet armies during the fall and winter of 1942-43. Before making a few comments, a little background about the battle may be helpful. Continue reading…
It is often thought, to borrow from Shaw, that Christianity and Judaism are two religions separated by a common Continue reading…
This quote is from Keith Olbermann on the October 12 broadcast of MSNBC’s Countdown. In a report that featured excerpts from the soon to be released book, Tempting Faith, by the former number-two man in Bush’s office of “faith-based initiatives,” David Kuo, Olbermann reveals what should have been obvious Continue reading…
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.
– Aristotle
In the end, more than [the Athenians] wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free.
– Edward Gibbon
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary
– H. L. Mencken
Since we are well into another tedious election cycle and are subjected to non-stop political propaganda some wisdom concerning an overused and often misused word is refreshing.
“My country, right or wrong” is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying “My mother, drunk or sober.”
– G.K. Chesterton Continue reading…
When encountering adherents to Eastern Orthodoxy, the issue of authority is pivotal. Orthodoxy and Rome agree, at least formally, with Protestants on at least this much: God is the final authority and only he is in a position reveal himself to mankind. Thus if we are to know anything about him –– or, indeed, anything about ourselves and the world around us –– he must reveal himself to us. The doctrine of divine revelation necessarily plays a central role in all Christian traditions. But where is this revelation to be found? The Protestant answer is summarized in the Westminster Confession of Faith:
“Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His Church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which makes the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God’’s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.” Continue reading…
(1) The metric system is statist. It was imposed during the French Revolution. Almost every other country in the world was “forced” to accept the metric system over its indigenous units of measurement.
(2) The Revolutionaries knew what there were doing. They knew that the way a society measures things is very much a religious practice. Look at the attempted calendar reforms of tyrannous governments. The Soviets moved away from a seven-day week. The French revolutionaries did something similar (each 30 day month had three ten-day weeks ending with a rest-day, the decadi). The calendar was revised to begin the year count with the beginning of the Revolution. Look at the use of “CE” and “BCE” in academic literature.
(3) Aside from religious motivations, centralized states used imposed “systems” to rule over their serfs more efficiently. They love numbers and statistics and use these to further enslave their populations. The bureaucratic state must be resisted at every level. Continue reading…
In a previous article I overviewed the history and theology of Eastern Orthodoxy. In this article I shall expose some of the common fallacies that Eastern Orthodoxy apologists commit when arguing for their position.
1. The first it what I shall call the Antiquity Fallacy. This is the fallacy that appeals to the antiquity of a position to prove its truth – the older the position, the better. This type of argument is fallacious because the age of an idea or position is irrelevant to the truth of it. There are innumerable positions that are at the same time ancient and false just as there are many discoveries that are recent and true. And so to assert that one’s theological perspective is true on the basis that it has been around longer than any other view (assuming that it can be factually established) is to use flawed reasoning. Thus even if Eastern Orthodoxy has antecedents that pre-date any other tradition – and this is something that is runs counter to the historical evidence – it does not follow that Eastern Orthodoxy is true. Continue reading…
Today marks the fifth anniversary of 9-11. The main stream news media and talk shows Continue reading…
