Month: April 2015

An Agenda at the Clinton Library

  

I conducted research at the Bill Clinton Library this week for my project on spiritual advisers to presidents. In the documents, I found what I expected to find, namely that some of those spiritual advisers were decidedly liberal in their theology and politics, thereby giving “cover,” so to speak, for the policies Clinton put forward, including his agenda for the acceptance of homosexuality in our society as normal. The research room staff was professional and nice to work with. The… Read more »

Normalizing Cuba?

  

President Obama has now met with Raul Castro and begun the normalization of relations process with Cuba, thereby reversing American policy that has been in effect for more than 50 years, ever since the Castro brothers and their chief lieutenant, Che Guevara, ousted what was admittedly a corrupt Cuban government. However, replacing a corrupt government with a totalitarian Marxist regime that routinely rounds up “enemies” of the state and executes them is not an improvement. Allowing the old Soviet Union… Read more »

Lewis on the Welfare State

  

One of C. S. Lewis’s longtime American correspondents was Vera Gebbert, who had written plays with some success in the 1940s. Their exchange of letters had a personal side throughout the years, as Lewis gave advice on her writing career, a painful divorce, and the raising of a son as a single mother. They also commented on the political/governmental issues of the day. Here’s an excerpt from a chapter in my upcoming Lewis book: In one of his first letters… Read more »

Tocqueville’s Prophetic Word

  

Alexis de Tocqueville was a Frenchman who visited America in 1831. He traveled extensively, made many notes of what he experienced, and wrote them down in a massive tome called Democracy in America. It is a classic, and is still being used today in university political science courses. It points out both the strengths and potential weaknesses he saw in this new nation. It is obvious Tocqueville liked much of what he witnessed in this country, but he also wrote… Read more »

Judge Not?

  

President Obama uses the occasion of Easter, at a White House prayer breakfast, to insinuate that he’s very concerned about Christians who use “less than loving expressions.” Mr. President, I’m concerned about that, too. I always have been. But it all depends on what one’s definition of “loving” may be. For Barack Obama, not endorsing same-sex marriage is unloving. For Barack Obama, not allowing abortion on demand is unloving. For Barack Obama, giving medical attention to a child born alive… Read more »

Lewis & the Hams

  

I keep writing my C. S. Lewis book. The chapter I’m currently working on highlights some of the regular American correspondents Lewis had for the last decade and half of his life. Warfield M. Firor was one of those. He was fairly famous as a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins. A Chair in Surgery has been established there in his name. Firor, after WWII, was not only an admirer of Lewis’s books, but one of his most faithful contributors during the… Read more »

My Ideal President

  

Let’s talk about an ideal world, where we have someone residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. that we can trust. Having the right president is not the solution to our national problems; those problems go much deeper, since they are spiritual in nature. But it can make a difference who the chief executive is. What am I looking for in this ideal president? I’ve been thinking a lot about this as I’ve surveyed the field of candidates for 2016. Here are… Read more »