As cultural and political polarization reaches more and more areas of American life, one still holds out hope that schools can remain a relatively apolitical oasis where children can learn to read, write, and develop skills of socialization. The NCTE insists, however, . . . Continue reading →
Culture Stuff
Audio: Machen’s Testimony Against The Department Of Education
Another Podcast Recommendation: The Black History Fashion Show
I have been reading Lester Cahill for years and and I have been listening to his podcast since it began. Lester is one of my favorite contemporary writers and thinkers because he is independent, intelligent, passionate, and challenging. I always learn something from him. In one of his recent episodes (linked in the post) Lester critiques the recent Netflix series on Madam C. J. Walker and, in another, he introduces us to the founder of an early Black American entrepreneur. Continue reading →
The Coming Attack On Homeschooling And Educational Freedom?
One of the unexpected outcomes of the Covid-19 shutdown/quarantine has been the widespread turn to homeschooling. Parents are being asked en masse to become intimately involved (again) with the education their children. For some parents, it means making sure that their children . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 143: How Churches Are Responding To The Present Crisis
In the spirit of the hour, I am again postponing the series on the doctrine of God, I Am that I Am, to talk about how churches are responding to the crisis before us. Things are changing so quickly that, after we . . . Continue reading →
How Did We Get To Drag Queen Story Hour?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) is a key source, with his provocative notion that human learning—the “arts and sciences” of his First Discourse—is actually that which corrupts us and hinders us being truly ourselves. Uncultured instincts and feelings are really who we are; civilization . . . Continue reading →
Why You Should Not Trust Wikipedia
In my classroom the quickest way to fail an assignment or possibly even the entire course is to cite Wikipedia as an authoritative source. I have been expressing concern about Wikipedia as a reliable source for information for almost as long as . . . Continue reading →
Prozac Nation Was A Warning About The Emptiness of Post-Christian America
…you can grow up with everything and still have nothing. Matt Purple, “Elizabeth Wurtzel, Trad,” The American Conservative February 26, 2020. Warning: Language.
Understanding The Boomers: The 1920s Gave Us The 1960s
There is no law beyond do what thou wilt; every man and woman is a star; the word of sin is restriction.” For some, these three short epigrams heralded the end of Christianity and the dawn of a new age. They certainly . . . Continue reading →
A Smear Memorialized
This is the portion of the trailer for the video By What Standard? released by Founders Ministry in which video, known in the business as “B-roll,” of Rachael Denhollander is used to illustrate the words, “always having the powers, the spiritual powers . . . Continue reading →
When The Culture War Trumps The Gospel
The German expression, Der Kulturkampf (The Culture War), originally referred to the attempt by Otto von Bismarck (1815–98), the German politician who created the modern, unified Germany, to suppress the Roman Catholic Church in Germany because he feared that Romanism in Germany . . . Continue reading →
What Jerusalem Can Do That D.C., Manhattan, And Sacramento Cannot
David Brooks published an opinion piece in the New York Timeson 5 September (2019), in the voice of one of the apparently many angry, bitter, lonely folks who view the world principally through their screen of their phone or computer. He captures . . . Continue reading →
What Was A Comedy Sketch Is Now Daily Life In The USA
Time For Another American Revolution?
HT: Jack Miller
They Are Coming For Your Children
There have been, arguably, three sexual revolutions in the modern period. If we think of the early stages of feminism, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that was part of a sexual revolution that included a loosening of heterosexual mores. . . . Continue reading →
What Christians Can Learn From Drew Carey About Subverting Culture
Drew Carey is an American comedian who burst on to the national scene in 1991, when he appeared on the Johnny Carson Show. I saw that appearance and I am still chuckling. Beginning 1995 he starred in The Drew Carey Show for . . . Continue reading →
Of Razors, Corporate Responsibility, Virtue Signaling, And “Toxic Masculinity” (2)
In the first part of this essay I critiqued the new Gillette ad mainly from nature (creation). There are certainalienable, natural truths built into the nature of things. One of those is that males are biologically, sexually, psychologically, and socially different from . . . Continue reading →
Of Razors, Corporate Responsibility, Virtue Signaling, And “Toxic Masculinity”
Gillette, a subsidiary of the multi-national corporation, Procter and Gamble (P&G), has released a controversial new ad ostensibly exercising the new ethos of corporate responsibility to instruct men as to what genuine masculinity is and how they ought to behave. If the . . . Continue reading →
Millennial Perfectionism And The Social Media Covenant Of Works
If you are a Millennial, relax. This is not another critique. I do spend a fair bit of time with Millennials, however, and I have observed some interesting trends. One of these observations was reinforced recently in an article by Thomas Curran . . . Continue reading →
What Creepy Clowns Tell Us About Social Anxiety
The creepy clown craze caught me off guard. I suppose my earliest exposure to clowns came through the children’s television show Captain Kangaroo, hosted by Bob Keeshan. He himself had played Clarabelle the Clown on the Howdy Doody television program, which was . . . Continue reading →
Fentanyl Nation
Over the weekend came news that the Nebraska State Patrol arrested two men for transporting with intent to deliver enough Fentanyl to kill 26 million people. That is extraordinary. Obviously, we are grateful to the authorities for doing their job and glad . . . Continue reading →