New glasses. G. Clotaire Rapaille makes a great deal of money providing a service that the ancient church used to offer. No, he’s not drilling wells for water – although that’s imminently worthwhile. Rapaille travels the globe for corporate clients like Chrysler, Procter & Gamble, Boeing and DuPont explaining what makes a country and its…

A double standard? Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson seems to have a special talent for knocking down straw men. Earlier this year he castigated conservative Episcopalians for rejecting the ordination of a homosexual bishop and the sanctioning of same sex relationships. Meyerson’s spin on the story reminds me of the philandering husband who takes up…

Boring. College and high school students are gearing up for getting away. They’re tired, bored and “need a break.” Yet the catatonic condition so common on campus is exactly what our modern system of schooling is designed to produce. The problem is not that students are overburdened, they’re bored.

Character assassination. Ex-NBA journeyman John Amaechi recently announced he is homosexual. The media was quick to pick up the story, fishing for those who agree with Amaechi and ferreting out those who oppose homosexuality. As we all know, it’s pretty much a minefield if someone tries to put forth reasonable arguments against homosexuality. They are…

Binary opposite? A trio of appellate judges, including former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, is reviewing a lower court’s decision that Prison Fellowship’s InnerChange Freedom Initiative violates the separation of church and state. Inmates at the Newton Correctional Facility in Iowa receive instruction that states: “criminal behavior is a manifestation of an alienation between…

Abstinence and charisma. A recent Time magazine cover extolled Angelina Jolie’s “movie star charisma.” Barak Obama has been christened “The Democrats’ Charisma Doctor.” As his star rises, Hillary Clinton has seen her once formidable lead in several primary states shrink. At the beginning of 2007, several Democratic strategists urged Clinton to unleash a “charisma offensive”…

Wealth and legacy. Over the next 50 years, the United States will experience a massive intergenerational transfer of wealth, with the assets passing from one generation to another estimated at more than $40 trillion. For those on the giving or receiving end, it’s wise to remember Robert K. Merton’s influential 1936 article “The Unanticipated Consequences…

“We humbly suggest you consider doing… both.” With a rapier wit that could devastate opponents in parliamentary debate, William Wilberforce was first elected to Parliament in 1780 at the age of twenty-one, along with his college friend William Pitt. Wilberforce understood what Germany chancellor Otto Von Bismarck keenly observed one-hundred years later – that laws…

“Where’s Jesus?” It’s not uncommon for well-meaning Christians to assume they must mention Jesus’ name and include a steady stream of Scripture in as many conversations as possible – or they have failed the Lord. When Christ’s name is not front and center, they ask: “Where’s Jesus?” One friend put it this way: “Christians talk…

Combustible fuel. Attorneys are expected to finish closing arguments today in a hate crimes case that is roiling the coastal California town of Long Beach. On Halloween night of 2006, an ugly fight involving a group of black teenagers and three white women left all three women badly beaten (one had 12 facial fractures). Long…