Thank God for Fred Phelps. That’s what I say, of the controversial, hate-mongering founder of the Westboro Baptist Church. But something tells me Fred Phelps already thanked God plenty of times for Fred Phelps, given the two were on such apparently close terms. After all, it was Phelps who so graciously enlightened the rest of Read more
Sarah started using heroin when she was 16, and soon after that she left home to live with her dealer. Heroin was one of the ways he had power over her. He was older than her, and often unfaithful. Over the three years that they were together, they frequently fought, sometimes violently. She would end Read more
Near the opening of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(1916), James Joyce’s alter ego Stephen Dedalus opens the flyleaf of his geography textbook and examines what he has written there: Stephen Dedalus Class of Elements Clongowes Wood College Sallins County Kildare Ireland Europe The World The Universe Most of us will, no doubt, remember Read more
We are halfway through the season of Advent, when Christians look forward to the return of Jesus Christ and also start celebrating Christmas, his first time on Earth. Unfortunately, according to the 2011 Census results just released, there are more than four million fewer Christians celebrating now than ten or so years ago. It seems somewhat Read more
The late Steve Jobs helped create a selfish “i, i, i” consumer culture that has only brought unhappiness, the Chief Rabbi has claimed.
Lord Sacks said that advertising only made shoppers aware of what they did not own, rather than feeling grateful for what they have.
He insisted that a culture in which people cared solely about themselves and their possessions could not last long, and that only faith and spending time with family could bring true happiness.
The Chief Rabbi’s comments are likely to raise eyebrows because he singled out for blame Jobs – the co-founder of Apple who died last month – by likening his iPad tablet computers to the tablets of stone bearing the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses.
Read the article...Richard Beck recently set the religion blogosphere atwitter with a post entitled, “How Facebook Killed the Church.” Beck argues that rather than replacing face-to-face relationships with so many digital doppelgangers, “Facebook tends to reflect our social world,” extending and enriching established friendships rather than, by and large, inviting the development of new ones that take Read more