A COVID-Free China Still Isn’t Free

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A COVID-Free China Still Isn’t Free

Recently, police in Hong Kong arrested 53 pro-democracy activists for holding a primary election. The Communist Chinese government made the sweep of political opponents under cover of its new national security law. The same day as these arrests, China-based tech firm Alibaba’s stock jumped 30 percent when word circulated that Jack Ma, Alibaba’s eccentric founder, might actually be alive. Ma vanished two months ago after publicly criticizing China’s banking system. Apparently, stockholders had assumed the Chinese Communist Party killed him…

America’s Double Standard

CNN’s Jake Tapper questioned my commitment to Democracy.

I lost two legs for Jake’s right to say whatever the hell he wants, but let’s be clear: that free speech also protects the Republicans he is so eager to condemn for asking Constitutional questions about the election.

Watch it here:

Navigating the News in 2021 from a Christian Worldview

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Navigating the News in 2021 from a Christian Worldview

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A recent headline that isn’t exactly news announced the findings of a recent Gallup study: “Americans Remain Distrustful of Mass Media.” Six out of ten Americans trust the media either “not very much” or “not at all” when it comes to reporting the news fairly and accurately.

Truth be told, I’m among those six. I’m tired of bias, of opinion pieces masquerading as reporting, of buried leads, and hysterical fearmongering. Apparently, many Americans are tired of these things, too. Last year, a major news network flashed this caption, “Fiery but mostly peaceful protests after police shooting,” as its reporter stood in front of buildings that were burning to the ground. Last week, America’s paper of record ran a glowing piece on freedom in China, where people may not have freedom of religion, speech, or assembly but enjoy going to nightclubs thanks to their dictator’s handling of COVID. And don’t get even get me started on the news coverage of the events this week…

What if What We Saw Yesterday {1/6} at the Capitol Is Us?

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What if What We Saw Yesterday at the Capitol Is Us?

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In the introduction to his book The Content Trap, author Bharat Anand asks readers to consider what caused The Yellowstone Fires of 1988, which lasted for months and destroyed over 1.3 million acres of the world’s oldest, and one of our nation’s most treasured, national parks. The traditional story places the blame on a worker who dropped a single, still-lit cigarette. Anand disagrees…

C. S. Lewis and the Coronavirus

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A LOOK BACK AT A COUPLE TOP STORIES FROM 2020

C. S. Lewis and the Coronavirus

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What Do We Do with Critical Theory?

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Healing the Relationships Broken by 2020

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Healing the Relationships Broken by 2020

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I’m ready to make a prediction about the 2020 election. I realize it’s a bit late, though I am comforted by the fact I cannot be more off than the polls were. For the record, this isn’t a prediction about whether or not President Trump will concede the election or succeed in returning to the Oval Office, or even about what will happen in the very important Georgia Senate run-offs…

The Case for Accepting Refugees

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The Case for Accepting Refugees

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Among the commitments made for his administration’s first 100 days in office, Joe Biden has promised to reverse Trump-era policies on the admission of refugees into the United States. Specifically, Biden has promised to raise the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. during his first year in office to 125 thousand, a significant increase from the current levels of around 25 thousand per year.

Cashing in on Psychedelics

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Cashing in on Psychedelics

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In 1967, ex-Harvard professor Timothy Leary famously coined one of the slogans of 60’s counter culture when he told hippies to “turn on, tune in, [and] drop out.” Psychedelics like LSD became a vital part of what Leary would later call the “graceful process of detachment from involuntary or unconscious commitments.”

Advocating for psychedelics made Leary an academic pariah and a target of the FBI. Had he come along fifty years later, he may have landed a lucrative consulting gig with venture capitalists.

On November 3, Oregon became the first U. S. state to legalize “magic mushrooms” for therapeutic use, following the lead of a few cities like Denver, Oakland, and Ann Arbor. Almost immediately afterwards, articles appeared advising investors how to “take full advantage of this $100 billion (USD) market potential.”

Culture/Institutions,
Drugs,
Politics & Government,
Religion & Society,
Worldview,

A Fancy Dinner Isn’t a Moral Failure

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Colson Center for Christian Worldview

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A Fancy Dinner Isn’t a Moral Failure

JOHN STONESTREET WITH MARIA BAER

Earlier this month, when celebrity chef Thomas Keller was interviewed by NPR about his new cookbook, his interviewer wasn’t all that interested in the recipes. Instead, he wanted to talk about the $850-per-plate price tag at Keller’s recently reopened San Francisco restaurant.

With so many people struggling financially due to the pandemic, asked the reporter, is it really “fair” to charge that much per plate? Or is it, to use his words, “tone deaf.”

That an interview, which was likely intended to be a puff piece, turned into a social justice diatribe is further proof that worldview affects everything.

To be clear, I cannot imagine ever spending $850 for a meal, but the reporter’s problem had nothing to do with prudence or financial stewardship. The problem with the price tag, according to the reporter, is not that some people would not have access to food, but that everyone would not have equal access to Thomas Keller’s food. In other words, his was a problem with the free market. And, of course, having a problem with the free market is all the rage these days…

The Problem with Talking about Right and Wrong

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The Problem with Talking about Right and Wrong

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Colson Center for Christian Worldview

JOHN STONESTREET WITH ROBERTO RIVERA

Perhaps the most helpful framework I know of in wrestling with moral issues comes from T.S. Eliot. Before we can know what to do with something, we must know what that something is for. For example, before we decide what we should do with human life (whether we should take it, make it, or remake it), we should know what human life is for.

The opposing sides of contemporary debates around bioethics, i.e. abortion, doctor-assisted suicide, in-vitro fertilization, and other assisted reproductive technologies, often proceed from very different beliefs about what it means to be human and, therefore, what it means for humans to flourish…

Tag: Politics & Government