The Wounds of the Twentieth Century

Alexander Solzhenitsyn on the crimes of history in an interview with Der Spiegel: "We should clearly understand that only the voluntary and conscientious acceptance by a people of its guilt can ensure the healing of a nation. Unremitting reproaches from outside, on the other hand, are counterproductive." On Russia and the West: "...one can see a time in the 21st century when both Europe and the USA will be in dire need of Russia as an ally."

What the Celebrities are not Talking About

It is not as fashionable as global warming, but more urgent: Christians in Iraq have become an endangered species. "I realized that 36 of my congregation in that past week had been kidnapped. None of them have been returned."

Presenting the Past

Can a person be at once fully modern and fully faithful to his tradition? Noah Feldman asks this question in this piece about his Orthodox Jewish background. Pope Benedict answers in his letter to bishops about the older form of the Mass: "What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful."

The Seed of the Church

Christians in Iraq have no militias, no political parties. George Weigel brings up the life and death of Fr. Raheed Ganni, murdered on June 3. For more about Fr. Raheed and the precarious situation of Christians in Iraq see the coverage by AsiaNews.

More theory without observation

The poor suffer because of the theories of the rich.

Ideological prejudice

The real question is: why on earth would anyone think that the writer of the book of Jeremiah would have made-up Nebo-Sarsekim? In other words, there is more ground to doubt the reasonableness of some followers of the historical-critical method than to doubt the veracity of most biblical accounts.

Fantasyland

In case you missed it, a progressive dis-education is taking place.

No reality

Michael Gerson on Second Life. It sounds like hell in C.S. Lewis's "The Great Divorce."

Witnesses

An interesting website dedicated to anti-Christian persecutions around the world.

A Pope Speaks to China

"Only the head of the Catholic Church could have written this kind of letter..." writes Fr. Bernardo Cervellera of Asianews.

Reductive

Freeman Dyson is a great scientist with some religious leanings. His view of the future shows two typical features of our time: a) the idea that civilization boils down to material development (no need to address the question "What is a human being?"); b) a naive lack of awareness about the reality of sin .

Rubbish

Ross Douthat appropriately trashes the Hitchens book.

Out of his depth

Why does Tom Cruise sound hilariously miscast as a Swabian Catholic Count who lived in one of the most tragic times in world history?

The Greatest Generation?

“Most kids coming into the Army today have never worn leather shoes in their life unless it said Nike, Adidas, or Timberland. They’ve never run two miles consecutively in their life, and for the most part they hadn’t had an adult tell them ‘no’ and mean it. That’s bizarre,” says an officer in charge of training today's generation of new recruits.

"Miracles are hard to come by in Britain"

During outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to the Vatican Pope Benedict gave him some things to think about, including the lack of miracles in the U.K. ...

Lost

Jeff Jacoby highlights the hypocrisy of those who accuse the president's position on embryonic stem cells of being ideological, whereas they themselves turn "science" into an ideology. The quotes by the Democratic leaders are astounding. The identification of reason with "science" is the current Western way to philosophical nihilism, and its embrace by the Democratic party is more important than how many "Catholic issues" they are willing to support.

Living there

Time on a recent conference in Venice.

A different age

A column on how JFK handled the issue of Catholicism in the 1960 elections.

A private matter?

Apparently, Tony Blair is becoming a Catholic. It would be interesting to understand why, given the apparently absolute separation between his public figure and his private religious convictions.

Chess game

Amir Taheri thinks there is a bigger picture surrounding the Gaza events.