Yes, we’ve been out of pocket for a few weeks now. After returning from family matters, work (yes, I have a real job) was a bit overwhelming for many reasons. At any rate, we hope that the new year will provide us both more opportutnity to share daily thoughts and to begin expanding the focus of The Conservative Reader to more principled discussions.

Tonight and tomorrow many of us will be visiting our local churches to share in celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our family will be worshiping this evening.

Three things to share today.

The First Amendment

Thank God for the freedom in our society, as declared by the wisdom of the founders of our country, to worship freely as we see fit, or not to worship at all. I’m sure that some of the motivation behind this right comes from the surprising amount of diversity and infighting among different groups (denominations) who all profess to worship the same Christ, and the history of violence of government against those who do not worship the government’s official “church”. And yet I’m also confident that the generation that established our Bill of Rights also perceived the need to protect any who chose to worship other than the norm, including Jewish, Islam, Native American religions, Oriental religions, or none at all.

This is a precious freedom, and one of a handful that if we ever [...]

Sarah Palin had her first big interview (6 parts) this week since being selected as John McCain’s running mate.  Paul F. Villareal made the video’s available at YouTube.
Of course, ABC played it for as much air time as they could… including repeating sections of the interview on 20/20 last night.
Let’s see, Thursday “World News”, Thursday [...]

The wife and I finally got time to see Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
We were aghast.
Dr. Bob Stouffer did a great job reflecting on this movie.   But it still did not prepare me for what I witnessed.
It was haunting.
There were three things that impressed themselves upon me.
First, that in the world of Academia the idea [...]

My good buddy Bithead made passing mention yesterday of yet another of Westboro’s (the “church” from Topeka Hell) planned outings, this one to Heath Ledger’s funeral.  He rightfully calls them the “slugs” they are, but then says (to Westboro):
You’re in the business, in the end, of changing minds.
Sorry, my friend, they’re not in that [...]

So, Christmas morning 2007 started with a bright sun on a cold, snow-less ground.  We are staying with family and enjoying a pleasant and relaxing morning.  Gifts were handled last night.  My niece started off the time last night with a reading of the Christmas Story from the Gospel of Luke, followed by a brief [...]