We don't want to know

A first-hand report from Egypt.

A recipe for slavery

This reflects a problem across the board, not just with history. Quite simply, proposing the past is just not part of the way most US educational institutions understand themselves. Quite often the curriculum in the humanities is dominated by "pseudo-science" (psicology, anthropology, sociology, social studies, multiculturalism, diversity theory, feminism, all kinds of moralistic fluffiness etc.) Not much education results.

Cultural divide

USA Today reports on the fertility gap between Democrats and Republicans. There is also a link to an article on the "marriage gap."

Dire straits

The saga of string theory is a good example of the predicament of reason in our culture: lots of reasoning, very little observation. Even science cannot survive forever when everybody cares more about their own mental processes than the truth.

Reduced reason

Lee Harris points out (correctly) that the Pope's central concern has been to come to the rescue of reason.

Virtual life, real violence

All that is required to make people crazy is detachment from reality. But what can attract them back to it?

Peculiar survival

The Economist is clearly disappointed that Christianity has not yet completely disappeared in England. It is certainly getting close, for reasons explained by Christian Order (take it with a pinch of salt: in spite of the collapse of the Church in England, it is likely that not ALL British bishops are terminally incompetent and/or corrupt).

New rich

Going for the bourgeois life in China.

Craven is the word

Charles Krauthammer tells it as it is, especially regarding the shameful behavior of the Western media (NYTimes, BBC etc.) Along the same lines see Gerard Baker.

More debate not less

R.M. Gerecht puts together a reasonable overview of the whole Pope/Islam discussion.

Where things stand

A rather informative speech by Bernard Lewis.

More on the Pope

An editorial from the New York Sun. On the same topic, a column for National Review.

We refuse to link it

One among the many pieces on the Pope/Islam controversy.
This one at least quotes some good people (Fr. Samir and Mario Mauro). Unfortunately they also quote today's grotesque editorial from the New York Times...

Why not?

An update on embryo eugenics.

An awakening

As you will recall Melanie Phillips used to be the stereotypical liberal British commentator (and she is also Jewish).

Time to reflect

It is becoming ever more clear that foreign policy today asks for a deep reflection about who we are and what we want.

Full breadth of reason

Today the Pope gave a memorable speech that summarizes the challenge of the Church to our time.

The West has long been endangered by this aversion to the questions which underlie its rationality, and can only suffer great harm thereby. The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur – this is the programme with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time.

NB: "Persian" is an euphemism for "Muslim." The directness of his critique of Islam is also unprecedented.

Take it easy

We hope certain US and Israeli politicians read this.

A moment of truth

Among the many 9/11 editorials, the one by James Carrol does capture a bit of how 9/11 briefly forced people to look at life more truthfully.

So?

This article raises a true question but very much fails to provide an answer.

A thing called philosophy

A report on the Pope's discussion with his former students on evolution.

Back

The Pope's visit to Germany seems very significant.

Dying?

The great Islamic breakdown in the modern world seem to involve at least two factors: 1) traditional Islam seems to have been inextricably tied to a specific culture, which is now at odds with the modern world, and 2) inability to educate.

Final calls

It is a fact that death gives life a beautiful seriousness.

No direction

It is hard to run a university in "the absence of any pronouncement that anything is more important than anything else."

"As dangerous as Osama bin Laden"

Iran and North Korea have one thing in common, they both have had extensive dealings with Dr. A.Q. Khan. Meet the "Father of the Islamic Bomb", a national hero in Pakistan, a nightmare for the rest of the world.