Author: Sheila Marler
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Christian Grace
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIt’s disconcerting to talk about Christian grace in a blog like this. You think about it later and worry about how you phrased it, or how others might take it. There is the fear that it will be misunderstood in the context of common assumptions about what is required to be…
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Prophecy and Other Inconveniences
Reading Time: 2 minutesIsaiah was encouraging in chapter 58. He addresses the same people in chapter 59, but with a marked difference. Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquites have separated between you and your God, and your sins have…
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Republicans Don’t Want to Reverse Roe v Wade
Reading Time: < 1 minuteRoe v Wade has been a gift to the Republican Party. A candidate can be a war monger, a corporate puppet, and eat puppies and kittens for breakfast, but if he or she is pro-life none of that will matter to conservative voters. Another candidate can have a great plan…
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What’s a Nice Guy Like You Doing in a Place Like This?
Reading Time: < 1 minuteI’m pretty sure that when you chose your vocation you were an idealist. How long was it, I wonder, before you realized they had groomed you to keep their wealthy donors happy? And that’s not even the worst of it. They expect you to make nice with a bunch of silver-tongued…
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The Conservative Internationalism of Neo-Conservatives
Reading Time: 4 minutesrealism versus liberal internationalism The traditions of American foreign policy that most people are familiar with are realism and liberal internationalism. Realists are usually conservatives or Republicans, for example Eisenhower and Ford, while liberal internationalists are usually liberals or Democrats, for example Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and Carter. But these divisions broke down…
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The Seducer State and the Free Labor of Mothers
Reading Time: < 1 minutePaul Ryan told American women in a televised speech that they must bear more children. Because this speech closely followed the passage of the scandalous tax bill that reduces taxes for the rich and therefore endangers funding for social programs that help mothers, Ryan’s proposal demonstrates the connection between the seducer…
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Richard Dawkins and the Sadducees
Reading Time: 3 minutesRecently, a video of an old debate between Cardinal George Pell and Richard Dawkins appeared in my YouTube news feed. (Please see the video below.) I had to watch it twice to be sure I understood what I was seeing, but you can guess my impression of the debate from the title…
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Catholic Conservatives and Their Prodigal Brothers
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA recent interview on YouTube reminds me that the main concern of Catholic Conservatives is not so much the sex abuse scandal but the Church’s teachings about marriage. I don’t have a stake in the marriage debate but this interview reminded me of certain realities that I have come across in…