British poet Philip Larkin (1922-1985) was a complicated man, like many poets. But unlike most of them these days, he was politically of the right, at least in some respects. Larkin wrote in forms, which is inherently conservative. But his … Continue reading →
Richard Dawkins has created a bit of a stir by tweeting: All the world’s Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though. And when the usual uproar ensued, and someone … Continue reading →
I often agree with editorials in the Wall Street Journal. But this one seems to hit a flat note, to wit [emphasis mine]: The result [of Morsi’s overreach in Egypt] was political polarization, with the opposition and military uniting against … Continue reading →
…protests against the Morsi government rise to a new level. It’s always somewhat difficult to estimate the strength of demonstrators in terms of how much they can really undermine a government willing to play hardball with them: how tough that … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a re-post of an piece I wrote in 2008. I found it yesterday while doing a search for some information I wanted for a comment, and I thought that, in light of recent news in Syria and … Continue reading →
…making the world safe* for Islamicists. I called it Obama’s Arab Spring, but that’s a bit unfair, because although he has a big role I’m not at all sure that anyone could have prevented this. The Arab world is what … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a sequel to yesterday’s post on prayers during the tornado.] During the Moore tornado, teacher Anna Canady had a prayer [emphasis mine]: She remembered that as the tornado bore down on this school in Moore, Okla., she … Continue reading →
On the thread about the video where the woman found her dog after the tornado, commenter “Randy” wrote: there is a lot of religious blindness on this thread. we celebrate God for answering this woman’s prayer about her dog, but … Continue reading →
Anyone who’s been watching the news knows what’s been going down in Boston. I was up till very late trying to absorb it all, hoping against hope that bomber #2 would be caught. So far, nothing doing on that. Boston … Continue reading →
[NOTE: The following article actually appeared in the NY Times. But since the Times is behind a firewall, I’m linking instead to this copy of the piece. Note also that it is about Rabbi Herschel Schacter, whose last name has … Continue reading →
…to be a latino? That seems to be the burning question of the day. It’s not just a stupid conversation, it’s the sort of identity politics that’s become all-too-prevalent these days and has made race and ethnicity a greater force … Continue reading →
…Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, who has taken the name Pope Francis. Bergoglio is the first Jesuit to be pope and the first pope from Latin America. It had been widely speculated that a new pope might be chosen from … Continue reading →