Wonderful Matters

In the Los Angeles Times this morning there was a feature piece and an editorial of note regarding the origins of life. The Times is pretty set on ridiculing anyone who doesn't buy into the story of evolution*, and today's episode was no different. The interesting thing is that in smugly dismissing those crazy creationist young-earthers, they are indeed revealing the inadequacies of many Christian's understanding of what really happened millions of years ago. All this makes for more fun in the Culture War. The feature article was about the people near Palm Springs who've built some large dinosaur models we can all see from the freeway, and with their expanding "Dinosaur Park" they're making the case that dinosaurs and humans lived together at one time. Again, the entire tenor of the piece is that these people are really stupid for not getting the realtrueactual science of the issue. The editorial is from columnist Rosa Brooks who takes her shot by revealin...

I just put up my latest webzine home page piece about the novel web gallery of all those who "Aren't Afraid" in the face of grave terrorist threats. Click here and it'll take you there.

I am fascinated by the attention Cindy Sheehan is getting. I'm not surprised, because she is the perfect tetherball for both armies in the culture war to slap around the pole. I am reticent to blog about it for fear of getting sucked in myself. I offer just a few additional thoughts on it, only because I believe no one, the least of whom is Mrs. Sheehan herself, knows what it is exactly she wants. In fact I don't believe anyone who is on one side or the other knows exactly what they want. I noted the other day that she wore a t-shirt with "I want the truth" above a peace sign. Does she really want the truth? My conjecture, and please correct me if I'm way off here, is that the truth she wants is to get her grief assuaged after a good scolding of George Bush. She's literally expecting some sort of cathartically emotional massage afterwards. As such, maybe it would be good for her to give Bush a thorough "what's what," because then she will get h...

I was thinking about the situation in the African country of Niger, currently enduring a famine the media typically term a "humanitarian crisis." As I looked at the sparse attention given to it, I noted how much even the most well-intentioned people just don't get it . I'm going to go out on a limb and assert-- I know, this is daring-- that the reason for the abject ignorance is because they all refuse to look in the one place where they'd get it , and that place is in the pages of the Bible. What does the Bible tell us in light of what is going on all around us? It tells us that God put Cain in charge of the World System to mitigate the sin of those who refuse to put their trust in Him. (You can read about it in chapter four of the book of Genesis.) The way Cain and his agents do that is 1. Build a city and command allegience to receive the benefits of its glory. 2. Entice people into destitution in order to rescue them. 3. Gratify the wide demand for violence am...

Who in blazes is Cindy Sheehan? She's exploded onto the news as the woman who's camped outside President Bush's Texas ranch and will stay there until the president meets with her for one hour to explain why her son died during combat in Iraq. And why do we know all about her? The media have grafted the most powerful, muscular legs on the story, and it is now running all over the country. If anyone with any mind thinks about it, though, what exactly is going to be said should the desired conversation take place? It would probably go something like this: Mrs. Sheehan: "Mr. President, why oh why did my son have to die in a war waged with the most deceptive pretense, for a cause that at this point in time is extraordinarily questionable?" The President: "I'm sorry you feel that way and I am very sad about the loss of your son. But we are winning the battle for freedom and democracy for which your son died, and if we stop now the terrorists will win." Is ...

No, really, are you afraid? If so, why? What exactly is it you are afraid of? We all have fears of some things, certainly. But have you ever noticed that someone may be genuinely frightened about things you wouldn't even think of fearing, while you may express great fear about something another shrugs off. The fact is, we are all afraid of some things, and in a very real sense, all of our diverse fears are surface manifestations of those core universal fears. Funny how it's always pointed out that more people fear speaking in front of a large audience than they fear death. But there is great truth in this phenomena: It's not that we fear death, we actually fear something else. We fear loneliness . Really, that's it, that's the core fear. We don't want to be separated from those things that truly give our lives meaning: being with another and liking them and them liking us. The most simple and definitive reason some commit suicide is that they fear the abject p...