A few items from the web for your weekend perusal. A few were already on my Facebook, so apologies for any redundancies.
1) James KA Smith, philosophy professor at Calvin College, wrote a solid piece on the potential Democratic nominees and student debt, which can be found here. I would suggest that you pair it with some American Vision pieces on the costs (financial/material and otherwise) of higher education today.
2) This piece on the idea of "shadowbanning" should demonstrate why I believe there is reason to fear the end of the era of free speech in the West. It would behoove all of us to keep an eye on who is being appointed to regulate what in the arena of social media.
3) CNN ran a story on the Pope and his waffling on the "lesser evil" of contraceptives in the face of (yet another) thing that makes it uncomfortable to be both a humanist (and a humanist Bergoglio certainly is) and an opponent of contraceptives, namely the Zika virus. Irrespective of my views either of artificial contraception or the Pope, this is both fresh evidence of his worldview inconsistency, and the fact that said inconsistency is not entirely self-generated. The post Vatican II milieu, and the oddly discordant hardline stance on artificial contraception occurring at the same time have increased the number of objects kept in the air by the papal jugglers more than once.
4) For those interested in the history and background of traditional dispensationalism, or for John MacArthur fans interested to find evidence that his views are not generated by a life of isolation in the theological woods, Louis Sperry Chafer's tract on dispensationalism is available at Amazon for 99 cents. It is not a pretty edition, in fact it defines the expression "no frills", but at that price, who can complain?
I conclude with two pieces from "The American Conservative" relevant to the (increasingly disastrous-looking) Presidential election cycle, one of which reflects statements I made a number of weeks ago in regards to the "Rise of Trump".
5) The first describes the element of American politics behind the Donald (and other aspects and personalities of this election) that can be described, in some sense, as "fascistic". One of the things appreciable about this piece is that it is at least partially clinical/analytical. Winners, writing the history as they do, "fascism" has been relegated to the domain of ad hominem, such that a logical fallacy has been created to designate "an appeal to Hitler", whereas "socialism" is not only a term with a meaningful dictionary definition in the American political consciousness, but a badge certain holders of public office wear with pride. Ironically, the American unwillingness to analyze the fascist boogeyman (which stems allegedly from abhorring it), has made some Americans unable to identify it. (This may be a theme deserving of stand-alone posts).
6) The second is a political tactics post about the Rubio campaign. I'm mostly linking to it because it combines two of my favorite things: in-depth discussion of Presidential campaign strategy, and Napoleonic metaphor.
Until next time, may we all continue to grow up in the Head, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
~JS
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