This is not the first “joy campaign” in Modern times. The others did not end well. Continue reading →
Political Correctness
Stella Gets It
Have you noticed the social contagion destroying our private lives? Consider these toxic but all-too-common scenarios: A 19-year-old college student comes home and trashes her parents for their “whiteness.” A 33-year-old son tells his mother, “You’re dead to me,” because she supports . . . Continue reading →
With Presbycast On Cancel Culture And Calvinist Pirates
As always we had a good time on the old Presbycast Hayride, Jamboree, and Barn Dance. Chortles told us the story of the Huguenot Pirates—real pirates, not “piratical” pretenders hitting defense flower vases with baseball bats or setting harmless grass alight—and the . . . Continue reading →
What Happened To The University (And Is It A Safe Place For Rational People)?
As I was driving to Bakersfield last week, it occurred to me that it was thirty years ago this year that I began my academic career as a teacher. In 1993 I was serving as the pastor of what was then Walnut . . . Continue reading →
A Radical Truth Being Silenced: There Are Only Two Sexes
My immediate offense was a tweet criticizing child gender-reassignment surgery, an irreversible act that can permanently sterilize the patient. My criticism was strongly worded, because some things deserve to be strenuously opposed. Children who undergo gender-reassignment surgery are legally unable to consent . . . Continue reading →
Heidelminicast: Orwell Contra “Orthodoxies”
These are some of our favorite Heidelquotes. Something to think about from the Heidelcast. If you are subscribed to the Heidelcast or the Heidelblog (see below) you will receive these episodes automatically. All the Episodes of the Heidelcast How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia . . . Continue reading →
A Kansas Supreme Court Justice On The State Of Free Speech At KU Law
So you will understand why I was disappointed to hear from KU Law students who recently came to me to express concern over administration actions surrounding a lunch-hour event sponsored by the student chapter of the Federalist Society. My understanding, from participants, . . . Continue reading →
New In Print: Stella Morabito, The Weaponization of Loneliness
How Tyrants Stoke Our Fear of Isolation to Silence, Divide, and Conquer
Just out today from Stella Morabito, The Weaponization of Loneliness: How Tyrants Stoke Our Fear of Isolation to Silence, Divide, and Conquer from Bombardier Books/Post Hill Press. The publisher writes, Do you keep your opinions to yourself because you’re afraid people will . . . Continue reading →
Defined By Our Theology, Not Critical Theory
Yet perhaps one of the reasons why so many people—including Christians—have been drawn to forms of critical theory and their activism is that at times they see a lack of love and mercy in the church and abuses by those in positions . . . Continue reading →
The Dynamics Of Conformity Lead To Death
Everybody needs to learn about the dynamics of conformity. Blatant censorship, hostility to free speech, and campaigns to demonize mainstream American views were all unthinkable scenarios for most Americans just a few years ago. But here we are. When we start self-censoring . . . Continue reading →
Lewis On Egalitarian Education: Will It Breed A Nation Which Should Survive?
Democratic education, says Aristotle, ought to mean, not the education which democrats like, but the education which will preserve democracy. Until we have realized that the two things do not necessarily go together we cannot think clearly about education. For example, an . . . Continue reading →
Trueman: Expressive Individualism Is The Third “Great Awakening”
Years ago, Anthony Esolen pointed out that pedophilia and the free and easy attitudes toward sex in contemporary society share a common moral structure: both prioritize the sexual desires of adults over the welfare of children. The difference, of course, is that . . . Continue reading →
When Elite Law School Students Reject Free Speech In Principle And Practice
The people who dominate American public life come from a few elite schools. Yale Law School (YLS) is one of those institutions. Continue reading
Bob Godfrey: What’s Going On Right Now? Sex, Race, Politics, And Power (9) With Bonus Audio
In his next session, Bob Godfrey resumes his talks on what happened to Christendom and how the church should adapt to a post-Christian world. In this series Bob seeks to understand why this contemporary world seems so strange. In this session he . . . Continue reading →
Trueman: What To Do With Dead Sinners Redux?
Cancel culture shows no signs of abatement. The Spectator in Britain ended the year speculating on whether comedy itself will now be a thing of the past. Cancel culture is incompatible with comedy and humor. Meanwhile, the venomous reactions to those who . . . Continue reading →
Religious Liberty And Free Speech Suffers Another Defeat As LGBTQ Lobby Continues To Demand Affirmation Of Gay Marriage
A federal court in New York dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Christian wedding photographer who refused to photograph same-sex weddings. The woman, Emilee Carpenter, filed the federal lawsuit in April, arguing that New York’s nondiscrimination laws forced her to choose between . . . Continue reading →
Shrier: One Need Not Be A Troll To Find Oneself At The Center Of Controversy. One Need Only Refuse To Submit To The Mob
I began writing a few op-eds for our local Jewish paper, one of which was spotted by a Wall Street Journal editor, who invited me to submit to the Wall Street Journal. I did, and in the course of that year, published . . . Continue reading →
Loco Or In Loco Parentis?
Christina Wyman has published an OpEd on NBCnews.com in which she argues that parents who insist on influencing the education of their children do not understand how education actually works. She observes that the latest crisis, focused on the schools in Loudon . . . Continue reading →
Yes, It is In The Schools
The genesis of CRT in education is arguably Gloria Ladson-Billings’s seminal essay “Just what is critical race theory and what is it doing in a nice field like education?” In it, she repudiates the slow progress of the civil-rights movement and concludes . . . Continue reading →
Wilentz: Taking Down Jefferson Is A Symbolic Take Down Of The Declaration
Removal of the David D’Angers statue of Thomas Jefferson from City Hall would be a direct attack on a symbol of the democratic values New Yorkers hold dear. The statue specifically honors Jefferson for his greatest contribution to America, indeed, to humankind: . . . Continue reading →