Horror. Katie Mason was a nine-year girl visiting a Connecticut summer fair with several of her playmates. Her mother, Joan, briefly left Katie with the other mothers as she crossed the road toward a concession stand. Just then she heard a commotion behind her…

Horror. Katie Mason was a nine-year girl visiting a Connecticut summer fair with several of her playmates. Her mother, Joan, briefly left Katie with the other mothers as she crossed the road toward a concession stand. Just then she heard a commotion behind her…

Innocently blind. On business trips, he would spend several hours praying and reading the Bible each morning, with another round of prayers at midday. As a ship captain, he enjoyed long spells of solitude on deck, keeping a diary and recording that he knew no “calling that… affords greater advantages to an awakened mind, for…

The greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of crime that Dickens loved to paint. It is conceived and moved (seconded and carried and minuted), in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails, and smooth-shaven chins, who do not need to raise their voices.1 Not…

Imagine there’s no Heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky… John Lennon was right – it is easy to imagine no heaven or hell… and no god. Atheists imagine this all the time. And they seem to be enjoying a mild resurgence in popular media.

Twitch. It’s not uncommon for our family to feel the earth move under our feet. Yet we don’t live in California. Our home is in Maryland. The tremors emanate from our pedal-to-the-medal son Stephen. He’s a college sophomore and when Stephen is home on the weekends, we’re entertained at dinnertime by an inaudible rhythm driving…

Acquire and delight. Last week I introduced us to the trivialization of tragedy. We contribute to this calamity when we see maturity as being "poor in spirit" and a race to the bottom. The biblical picture of good fortune and blessedness is satiated sheep. "He makes me lie down in green pastures." When do sheep…

We are going to see a revival in this country; and it’s going to be led by rich people. –Michael Novak Trivial topics. Years ago, on a flight back from Chicago I was seated next a voluptuous young woman. She was excited, having appeared the day before on one of those Oprah-type shows titled “They’re…

Naturally concerned. This past week, Loudoun County High School (Maryland) brought in comedian Keith Deltano to plug sexual abstinence at a school assembly. The ACLU urged school officials to ensure that Deltano didn’t cross church-state lines since he happens to be a Christian. Virginia ACLU director Kent Willis was “naturally concerned that the religious views…

Let’s play word association. When you hear the word heaven, what do you imagine? And when you hear secular, what comes to mind? For most people, when they hear heaven, they think of clouds, far away places, harps, and singing. The word secular makes people think of the Internet, TV, movies and – get this…