Worth Reading - 12/23

in

1. An article at Forbes.com explain why Vermont's single-payer medical system was doomed to failure from the start:

“Last week, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin (D.) announced that he was pulling the plug on his four-year quest to impose single-payer, government-run health care on the residents of his state. “In my judgment,” said Shumlin at a press conference, “the potential economic disruption and risks would be too great to small businesses, working families, and the state’s economy.” The key reasons for Shumlin’s reversal are important to understand. They explain why the dream of single-payer health care in the U.S. is dead for the foreseeable future—but also why Obamacare will be difficult to repeal.”

2. Justin Taylor explains the story behind the Civil War era Christmas song, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day":

“On Christmas day, 1863, Longfellow—a 57-year-old widowed father of six children, the oldest of which had been nearly paralyzed as his country fought a war against itself—wrote a poem seeking to capture the dynamic and dissonance in his own heart and the world he observes around him. He hears the Christmas bells and the singing of “peace on earth” (Luke 2:14) but observes the world of injustice and violence that seemed to mock the truth of this statement. The theme of listening recurs throughout the poem, leading to a settledness of confident hope even in the midst of bleak despair.”

3. The gap of wealth inequality between minorities and whites has grown since the Great Recession, according to recent Pew research:

“The wealth of white households was 13 times the median wealth of black households in 2013, compared with eight times the wealth in 2010, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances. Likewise, the wealth of white households is now more than 10 times the wealth of Hispanic households, compared with nine times the wealth in 2010.

The current gap between blacks and whites has reached its highest point since 1989, when whites had 17 times the wealth of black households. The current white-to-Hispanic wealth ratio has reached a level not seen since 2001. (Asians and other racial groups are not separately identified in the public-use versions of the Fed’s survey.)”

4. Karen Swallow Prior writes about the importance of Mary's consent to bear the Incarnate God, in response to the blasphemous accusations of rape from recent years:

“The literal words in the Bible (across various translations) make clear that the angel Gabriel’s words at the Annunciation convey to Mary what will happen, not what has happened, a future conception not a past one. The Annunciation—which is celebrated in the Christian liturgical calendar nine months before Christmas, on March 25, and has been the subject of countless works of art through the ages—is the commemoration of God’s choice of a woman to bear the Savior of the world and of her willing acceptance of that role.”

Worth Reading - 12/22

in

1. Just like many things, there is another side to the debate over the ecological costs and benefits of raising beef. Here is a pro-beef article from the Wall Street Journal:

“People who advocate eating less beef often argue that producing it hurts the environment. Cattle, we are told, have an outsize ecological footprint: They guzzle water, trample plants and soils, and consume precious grains that should be nourishing hungry humans. Lately, critics have blamed bovine burps, flatulence and even breath for climate change.

As a longtime vegetarian and environmental lawyer, I once bought into these claims. But now, after more than a decade of living and working in the business—my husband, Bill, founded Niman Ranch but left the company in 2007, and we now have a grass-fed beef company—I’ve come to the opposite view. It isn’t just that the alarm over the environmental effects of beef are overstated. It’s that raising beef cattle, especially on grass, is an environmental gain for the planet.”

2. Not surprisingly, employers seem to look with disfavor on individuals whose resumes include religious identifiers:

“According to a study published earlier this year, and co-authored by UConn’s Dr. Michael Wallace, putting any type of religious identifier on a resume minimizes an applicant’s chances of landing a job.

For their study, which was published in the June issue of sociology journal Social Currents, researchers created 3,200 resumes for fictitious job applicants and sent them to prospective employers through a “popular employment Web site.” Each employer was sent 4 different applications containing “varying biographical information but comparable job qualifications.” The only thing that set the resumes apart from each other was the mention of involvement with a particular religious group — for example, “Muslim Student Group” or “Campus Jewish Association.” The religious groups randomly assigned by researchers to the fake resumes were atheist, Catholic, evangelical Christian, Jewish, pagan, Muslim, and a fictitious religion called “Wallonian.” There was also a control group that contained no reference at all to religious involvement.”


Weekend Reading - 12/20

in

1. Huffington Post (of all places) has put up an really neat infographic of the geneology of Jesus. This is worth the click-through.

2. A techno-geek, self-employed programmer and seminary student offers some helpful advice on maximizing productivity:

“This fall, I have had a lot on my plate: building HolyBible.com, continuing to work for Quest Consultants, and doing a pastoral ministry internship. I needed to be more productive—a lot more. Happily, I have been, and it only took three small changes.”

3. Here is my latest post at the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics on the difference between a (relatively) free market and consumerism:

“Greed is a pursuit of personal gain that neglects the common good and places ultimate value on the material prosperity. It results in serving money as a master and excessively valuing possessions on earth, which Christ cautions against (Matthew 6:19–24).Greed and contentment cannot coexist. ”

4. SEBTS professor, John Hammett, writes on the topic of salvation and the mission of God at Christianity Today:

“My own view, which is a multiple intention view of the atonement, goes further to affirm that the atonement of Christ is also intended to, in some sense, reconcile all things to God (Cor. 1:20). Thus my view of the atonement leads me to affirm that God’s mission included making all things new, and is grounded in the cosmic intention of the atonement. Others affirm this aspect of mission, but do not connect it in the same way with a view on the extent of the atonement.”

5. Every year at Christmas-time, Southern Baptists give to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering. This link goes to a video that explains who Lottie Moon is. It is well done and worth watching.

Worth Reading - 12/17

in

1. Blogger Aaron Earls shares ten lessons he's learned from blogging for a decade:

Having blogged for 10 years at the same site doesn’t make me an expert, but it does give me significant experience. Over that decade of blogging here, along with several other personal and professional sites, I have learned some valuable lessons that may help others in the world of online writing.

2. Tim Challies lists his top books of 2014. Not surprisingly, Andy Davis' book, An Infinite Journey is on the list: 

“This book was released at the very end of 2013, but because it was not in wide distribution until early this year, I have chosen to include it as a 2014 title. And it is a very good one! It is a book about growing toward spiritual maturity, but it is more than that; it is also a map for the journey. This makes it something like a systematic theology of spiritual growth and maturity, and one that will benefit any Christian. ”

3. Here is my review from earlier this year of An Infinite Journey that was published in Themelios, the academic journal of The Gospel Coalition:

“An Infinite Journey cuts through much of the ongoing chatter in the law/gospel debate. Davis is a Calvinistic Baptist pastor who, like the Puritans, recognizes the majesty of God’s power both to save and sanctify while still commending the reader to mortify sin through spiritual disciplines. Though there are instructions provided in this book, the process that Davis recommends to foster sanctification is not legalistic and, while elegantly simple, it is not formulaic or trite. Davis avoids the one extreme of merely calling for more grace with little concern for personal holiness. Yet he also deftly evades the other extreme of many books on spiritual disciplines which focus on checklists outlining the basic how-to of Christian living. Instead, An Infinite Journey reflects the mind of an engineer as Davis develops a model that functionally describes how sanctification progresses in the life of a Christian. That is, Davis tells the reader how things work according to the Bible, not prescribing a surefire method for holiness.”

4. A parody of a popular Christmas song, "Vader did you know?":

Worth Reading - 12/16

in

1. From the Economist, there is a new trend of smaller scale terrorist attacks by radical muslims in places that were formerly considered relatively safe: 

“For the most part, it is still the people of the region who suffer most. Jihadist violence has been predominantly directed at non-Muslim minorities, Shias, Sunni tribes that dare resist IS’s rule, as well as fighters from rival armies and militias. Hundreds have been executed by IS as it has extended its caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Beyond, eight Shias were killed in Saudi Arabia last month by suspected IS sympathisers. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has killed scores of Egyptian soldiers in bombings this year.”

2. From First Things, an article on the invention of the so-called wall of separation between religion and public schools:

“The famous phrase “wall of separation of church and state” today enjoys the status of legal precedent, but here’s a curious fact. The phrase comes from the letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Connecticut Baptists who feared that state politicians would suppress them. When the Baptists received the letter, however, they didn’t celebrate and publicize the statement. They didn’t even record it in the minutes of their proceedings. “They pretend it never existed.””

3. William Ross picks up a difficult topic of the nature of the Law and its significance in both the New and Old Testament:

“Someone else knew that man does not live by bread alone, even in his worst suffering and weakest physical moments (Mt. 4:4; Lk. 4:4). Indeed, he himself is the true Word of God (John 1:1). Jesus Christ does not abolish the law, but he fulfills it (Mt. 5:17). In doing so he is the perfect law of God incarnate. And he is the one whose perfect sacrifice and obedience has given spiritual life to God’s people in every age.”
“Environmental ethics is a hot topic in the world, since concerns over climate change have led to arguments, protests and physical violence. The issue is as much economic as it is ecological, and there is an element of political power-seeking from both sides of the debate. As is typical, a Christian environmental ethics does not line up with many voices in the contemporary debate.

This is not a discussion of climate change, capitalism, the Keystone pipeline, fracking, coal-ash spills, or any particular issue. First, these are all extremely divisive and tend to distract from meaningful argument about the principals of environmental ethics. Second, I am more concerned to present a biblical approach to the environment, which will shape the beliefs behind particular decision.”

5. From the creator of the Baptist History rap, we have been given the seminary graduation rap to celebrate her husband's graduation from Southeastern:

Happy Graduation Todd!


Worth Reading - 12/15

in

1. From the Art of Manliness a piece about Winston Churchill's odd but rigid routine:

“A visitor to Chartwell, his home in the English countryside, might have been forgiven for missing this routine, or for thinking it disorderly. Yet while his daily schedule was quite unusual, it was in fact very strict. As one of the researchers who assisted Winston in writing his books recalled, “He was totally organized, almost like a clock. His routine was absolutely dictatorial. He set himself a ruthless timetable every day and would get very agitated, even cross, if it was broken.””

2. From Elise Hilton at the Acton Institute, some thoughts on why "Made in China" may really be saying, "Made by Christian slave labor":

“All of us own something that says, “Made in China.” As the world’s largest economy, China churns out everything from tourist trinkets to sophisticated software. The People’s Republic is “on track to produce $17.6 trillion of goods and services this year,” according to Josh Gelernter at National Review Online. While that may be good news for the global economy, Gelernter says it’s very bad news for many Chinese. They are slaves.”

3. Economist Anne Bradley from the Institute for Faith, Work and Economics offers some perspective for balancing materialism and generosity this Christmas season:

“If the recent trends prove true, material goods will play a large role in our holidays. Many point to capitalism as the cause of this increasingly materialistic attitude toward Christmas.

As Christians, how do we reconcile the tangible effects of capitalism on a season marking one of the most impactful events of all history?”

4. Timothy George writes on Bonhoeffer in Advent at First Things:

“The year was 1943, and another Advent had dawned for Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer loved Advent and had often preached sermons on this holy season of waiting and hope as a metaphor for the entire Christian life. Just one year earlier, during the Advent of 1942, Bonhoeffer had written a circular letter to some of his friends and former students.

’The joy of God goes through the poverty of the manger and the agony of the cross; that is why it is invincible, irrefutable. It does not deny the anguish, when it is there, but finds God in the midst of it, in fact precisely there; it does not deny grave sin but finds forgiveness precisely in this way; it looks death straight in the eye, but it finds life precisely within it.’

Those words took on a deeper meaning in December 1943 as Bonhoeffer found himself one of eight hundred prisoners awaiting trial in Berlin’s Tegel military prison.”

Worth Reading - 12/12

in

1. One entrepreneur is working to turn shipping containers into urban gardens:

“A self-described “hobbyist gardener,” Kuenzi grew up in Redmond, Washington—home to Microsoft—during the tech boom of the 1990s. “At a young age I saw the impact a dedicated group of entrepreneurs could have on the world,” he says. He studied business at the University of Southern California and worked for an early-stage investment group that fostered promising startups in Los Angeles, before moving east to enroll in Georgetown University’s MBA program. He co-founded Local Roots Farms in 2013.”

2. The American Academy of Religion is considering taking a sabbatical by not conducting their annual meeting:

“If the bioethicist Laurie Zoloth, the president of the American Academy of Religion, has her way, she’ll be remembered as the woman who canceled her organization’s conference, which every year attracts a city’s worth of religion scholars.”

3. Here is a post that explains the phenomena of hate watching:

“When NBC aired a live musical last year for the first time in decades, it probably didn’t expect what transpired. Starring Carrie Underwood, The Sound of Music Live was meant to take a beloved holiday tradition and put a new spin on it for a modern audience.

And in the ratings, at least, it was a major success, drawing over 18 million viewers. But if you turned on Twitter while the musical was airing, it might have seemed like all of those people were watching just to mock it.”

4. An illustrated guide to girding your loins:

“Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they’d wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts that provided more freedom of movement. Thus to tell someone to “gird up their loins” was to tell them to get ready for hard work or battle. It was the ancient way of saying “man up!””

5. The virgin birth is the only credible explanation for the incarnation:

“The general thrust of the secular media is often incredulity toward the fact that so many people still believe the Bible’s accounts to be true. This year, the Pew Research Center released a report on Christmas Day indicating that almost 75% of the American people affirm belief in the virgin birth of Christ. Meanwhile, the Public Religion Research Institute found markedly lower levels of belief, with just under half affirming the historical accuracy of the biblical accounts. ”

Worth Reading - 12/11

in

1. Watch the skies of Michigan for rocket-propelled porta-johns:

“Orion, Schmorion. While the supergeniuses at NASA were launching their next-gen spacecraft last week, the Michiana Rocketry club was hard at work launching a porta-potty into the sky.”
“There are three wonderful things about scholarship: it brings to light the hidden glory of God; it gives you joy in the act of digging up the gold that lies hidden in creation; and it grants you the honor of raising the level and well-being of human life. So whatever made you think that you can become a scholar merely by studying and cramming for exams? ”

3. The Smithsonian Magazine is reporting about the discovery of a fish that can camouflage its scent:

“Skilled predators see their prey in more than one way. Whether they’re detecting motion or heat, sensing electromagnetic signals or relying on good old fashioned eyesight, many predators take a multi-pronged approach to finding dinner. Avoiding becoming their next meal, then, means working out ways to hide that foil all of these senses at once.”

4. Hunt with the world's last full-time hunter/gatherers, from National Geographic.

5. Christian hashtags and trolls, the perception and reality:

“But everyone on Twitter is learning that a hashtag cuts both ways — it can be hijacked or lampooned by detractors, and it’s a key way that online activists are pushing back against opposing messages or what some might even call hate speech.”

Worth Reading - 12/9

in

1. A beginner's guide to establishing an online presence, from Gradhacker:

“While it may seem like everyone is connected with all the “musts” of online networking and social media, there are plenty of stragglers who are not there yet. I know, because I recently was one of them.”

2. Can we identify those who will possibly prey on our children?

“Karen was an innocent teenager in a hallway of a local megachurch heading home after a youth event. Sam, a building manager, pulled her into an empty classroom and forced her to have sex. No one else was around, and she didn’t know what to do, so she just gave in to Sam’s demands. He threatened her so that she wouldn’t tell anyone, but it was hard to hide because she cried the whole rest of the day. Sam had a rap sheet. He had been hired because he had friends who worked for the church, and no one had bothered to check into his past.”

3. Joe Carter asks whether the Catholic Church changed its position on Usury. From the Acton Institute:

Usury is the practice of making immoral monetary loans intended to unfairly enrich the lender. But what, for Christians, counts as an immoral loan?

4. The 9Marks Journal recommends a cheerful optimism about Christendom in the present day:

“God is looking for men and women who are glad to be alive; who count as a privilege to be his servants at this moment; who are thrilled to be taking part in the coming of the kingdom of God in this generation.”

Worth Reading - 12/8

in

1. My Post at IFWE on the relationship between the Incarnation and the Mundane aspects of life:

“As we celebrate Christmas, we should celebrate the Incarnation. Not only should we rejoice in the salvation that came through the enfleshment of the Word of God, we should also celebrate the life Christ lived in which he did such ordinary things as eat, sleep, and work.”

2. Over at First Things, Thomas Farr and Hilary Towers think it is time to challenge no-fault divorce:

“High in the catalogue of social pathologies afflicting marriage and the family in America stands our system of family law, the central purpose of which is to enforce no-fault divorce. ”

3. Chelsea Patterson addresses the nature of suffering and why it exists. This is short, but helpful:

“We’re guaranteed to suffer for two reasons. The first is because sin infected everything in our world. When sin entered, nothing in the realm of creation escaped its destroying touch. It ushered in general suffering, such as natural disasters and disease. The second reason is because suffering is a part of being a Christ follower.”

4. Do you need a laugh? Jim Gaffigan's Hot Pocket routine will give it.

Worth Reading - 12/5

in

1. Is a Facebook post worth the death penalty? Some information on the internet censorship in Iran, including the video that earned several individuals a sentence of 91 lashes:

“A 30-year-old blogger and photographer has been sentenced to death in Iran for “insulting the prophet of Islam” on Facebook, drawing renewed attention to the country’s notorious human rights record.”

2. Here is my post at the Institute for Faith, Work and Economics, on how the clarity of Scripture helped return a sense of vocation to all Christians:

“Given the connection between the clarity of Scripture and a return of the doctrine of vocation, it should come as no surprise that the development of the sacred/secular divide in vocation began with a drift in the understanding of the ability for all people to interpret Scripture. ”

3. Liberia has decided to hold its scheduled democratic elections despite the threat of Ebola. This article (and the accompanying NPR interview) discuss that. More significantly, they interview a woman so convinced by the Prosperity Gospel of divine protection, she rejects the notion of being concerned over the disease. This is one of the chief dangers of the Health and Wealth gospel:

“Munah Krah is dancing, too. She is a member of the opposition party, which is sponsoring the event. She says she is not afraid of Ebola.

”Because I know I am protected by God,” she says.

Krah believes even if she weren’t washing her hands, she’d still have divine protection — but, at the same time, she is washing her hands.”

4. Amazon reviews can be helpful. Sometimes they can be hilarious. If you need a belly laugh, check out the reviews of these items in the Amazon market place:

           Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer

           An 85" TV, for $40,000 (with free shipping)

5. The Wall Street Journal has some recommendations for you to stop wasting everyone's time at work:

““A small handful of people are really off the charts,” says Chantrelle Nielsen, head of customer solutions at VoloMetrix. In studying more than 25 companies, VoloMetrix has found executives who consume more than 400 hours a week of colleagues’ time, “the equivalent of 10 people working full-time every week just to read one manager’s email and attend his or her meetings,” she says.”

Worth Reading - 12/3

in

1. A Georgetown student was mugged and explains why he feels he deserved it.

“Not once did I consider our attackers to be “bad people.” I trust that they weren’t trying to hurt me. In fact, if they knew me, I bet they’d think I was okay. They wanted my stuff, not me. While I don’t know what exactly they needed the money for, I do know that I’ve never once had to think about going out on a Saturday night to mug people. I had never before seen a gun, let alone known where to get one. The fact that these two kids, who appeared younger than I, have even had to entertain these questions suggests their universes are light years away from mine.”

2. The latest edition of Themelios, the academic journal of The Gospel Coalition, is out. There are a number of worthwhile articles and reviews within.

3. Even if you don't read the whole edition of Themelios, here is my review of a brief biography of John Chrysostom:

“Sometimes biographers ruin a good story in the telling. They try to cram every detail of the subject’s life into the book and address every theory about his life, conspiracy or otherwise, that has ever been proposed. This approach often leads to biographies that are informative but not enjoyable. Thankfully, Earl Blackburn has avoided that pitfall in his biography of John Chrysostom. The purpose of this biography is to give readers a view of a major figure in church history in a manner which both delights and instructs. This book deserves full marks on that score.”

4. Some cold, hard, awful facts about the pornification of American culture from Ed Stetzer:

“Each second in the U.S. $3,075 is spent on porn. In that same second 28,000 Internet viewers are looking at porn. Even more staggering is the fact that every 39 minutes an adult sex video is being produced.”

5. How is religion passed down across generations? Kevin DeYoung offers one explanation.

“Intact families do better than families with divorce, and religious homogenous parents are more successful than parents in interfaith marriages. Warm, affectionate parents -– the kind kids admire and look up to — do better than cold, distant parents. And these parents do better with the support of grandparents.”

Worth Reading 12/2

in
“Purmort, Aaron Joseph age 35, died peacefully at home on November 25 after complications from a radioactive spider bite that led to years of crime-fighting and a years long battle with a nefarious criminal named Cancer, who has plagued our society for far too long.”
“When linguists talk about the historical relationship between languages, they use a tree metaphor. An ancient source (say, Indo-European) has various branches (e.g., Romance, Germanic), which themselves have branches (West Germanic, North Germanic), which feed into specific languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian).”

3. Trevin Wax shares some of Chesterton's thoughts about the absurdity of injustice.

“In order that men should resist injustice, something more is necessary than that they should think injustice unpleasant. They must think injustice absurd; above all, they must think it startling. They must retain the violence of a virgin astonishment.”

4. Joe Carter explains some of the important info about human trafficking and modern slavery.

“There are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In fact, there are more slaves in the world today than at any other point in human history, with an estimated 21 million in bondage across the globe.”

5. USA Today covers homeschooling. Evidence that it isn't just a fundamentalist movement anymore:

“While home-schooling has its merits, it is not for the faint of heart. There is paperwork to keep track of and it is a major time commitment for parents. Then there is the added expense of providing study materials and field-trip opportunities, none of which are subsidized by the property taxes parents pay.”

Saturday Links - 11/29/2014

in

1. Given C. S. Lewis' popularity, it is easy to forget some of the places his ideas were out of step with contemporary evangelicalism.

2. Are political progressives mistaken in believing the mid-term elections were not really about their policies?

3. Dan Darling from the ERLC comments on making gratitude our first language.

4. Nathan Finn reviews a new book by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Stroble, Beloved Dust, which emphasizes spiritual disciples. Worth a look.

5. In honor of your weekend Christmas decorating efforts, here is Clark Griswold lighting his Christmas lights.

Weekend Reading - 11/28/2014

in

1. Joe Carter points out we should be thankful for low cost food.

2. Dylan Pahman argues that religious freedom and economic liberty are closely related over at Public Discourse.

3. The link between Baptists and the Pilgrims. From Baptist Press. Featuring some quotes from the forthcoming book by Nathan Finn and co.

4. Elise Amyx over at The Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics considers the question of shopping on Thanksgiving day.

5. Another  opinion on the blackness of Black Friday, from Josephe Sunde at Acton. This is an interesting thought and worth a look.

Worth Reading - 11/24/14

in

1. My review of Daniel Heimbach's Book, Why Not Same-Sex Marrriage over at The Gospel Coalition.

2. Time assets and debts. This is a new way of looking at tasks and projects in your life. H/T Trevin Wax.

3. The story of a French atheist becoming a theologian from Christianity today.

4. Time magazine recently published a short article on William Jennings Bryan, who was famous for his role in the Scopes trial. They note that he was largely opposing the logical outworkings of Darwinian evolution, particularly social Darwinism. In the end they don't give him enough credit, but it is a more balanced treatment than he usually gets and it is worth a read.

5. A Saturday Night Live skit on an Executive Order, a play off of the School House Rocks short animated film that covers the life of a Bill.

Weekend Links

in

1. Here are 15 of the worst Christian book covers of 2014.

2. A scene from Trains, Planes and Automobiles in preparation for safe Thanksgiving travels.

3. Continuing with the Thanksgiving/Family theme, here is an old post from The Art of Manliness on establishing positive family traditions.

4. Over at Public Discourse, Elise Italiano considers what education should look like and whether the 1:1 ratio between students and electronic devices is the best way to construct a classroom.

5. Why do successful people seem to wear the same thing day in and day out? Simplicity.

Worth Reading - 11/21/2014

in

1. The Habits of Highly Productive Writers. Some observations in The Chronicle of Higher Education about people that get writing projects done.

2. My post from yesterday at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics on biblical wisdom for dealing with conflict in the workplace.

3. At First Things, George Weigel claims there is a direct relationship between Vatican II and the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is an interesting read tying in theology, history, and politics.

4. Over at the Acton Institute, Elise Hilton comments on some of the issues of reproductive technology in relation to children's rights.

5. Read Russell Moore's take on President Obama's executive order on "Immigration Reform."