The Atlantic Makes the Case for Church Attendance
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The Atlantic Makes the Case for Church Attendance
By: Paul Batura
Writing in The Atlantic this past weekend, Daniel K. Williams, senior fellow at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, makes a much-welcomed admission — and counterintuitive declaration by the standards of most leftward-leaning advocates: Church attendance is not only beneficial for the attendee — it’s also the best way forward culturally and collectively if we’re to live at peace in a pluralistic society.
“Though churches have a reputation in some circles as promoting hyper-politicization, they can be depolarizing institutions,” Williams acknowledges. “Being part of a religious community often forces people to get along with others — including others with different political views — and it may channel people’s efforts into charitable work or forms of community outreach that have little to do with politics.”
In other words — the Christian church being the Church, as it has been known and has operated for two thousand years.
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Remembering J.R.R. Tolkien
By: John Stonestreet
Fifty years ago on September 2, one of the most important authors of the twentieth century passed away. While most today know his amazing works of fantasy and fiction, J.R.R. Tolkien was long recognized in academic circles as a brilliant philologist and scholar of medieval literature. For example, his essay on Beowulf, written in 1936, reshaped scholarship around the poem and remains highly influential today.
It was in the following year that the world was first introduced to Middle Earth. The Hobbit was quickly recognized as a wonderful children’s book. But The Lord of the Rings series that followed initially earned a mixed reception. C.S. Lewis and W.H. Auden, among others, quickly saw its genius, but many critics dismissed it as an overblown fairy tale, a contribution to a literary genre out of favor among modernist critics who favored “realistic” literature that dealt with the angst of the mid-twentieth century. Tolkien, however, believed that the world, and Britain in particular, needed something else.
Over the last few decades, Tolkien studies have blossomed into an important field. His popularity soared with Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, and more significantly, people have been exploring the philosophical ideas behind Tolkien’s legendarium. The full scope of Tolkien’s vision has been made available thanks to the indefatigable work of his son Christopher, who analyzed and edited the many manuscripts Tolkien left behind. We now have a fuller picture of his writing process and the creative vision behind Middle Earth, as well as the intellectual influences that informed Tolkien.
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Madi Prewett Braves Social Media Scorn to Preach Biblical Purity
By: Emily Washburn
The Bachelor alumna Madison Prewett is glad she waited for marriage to have sex — and the internet has lots of opinions.
The author and influencer reflected on the pursuit of purity and God’s design in an Instagram post Friday to promote her new book, The Love Everybody Wants.
While Prewett discusses her experience practicing abstinence until her marriage to minister and speaker Grant Troutt, she notes purity is about more than forgoing sex. “It’s what your eyes see, and what your ears hear. It’s how your fill your time … It’s the music you don’t listen to and the words you don’t say.”
Her pursuit of purity has resulted in “peace, confidence, joy and even freedom from things that have tried to cause me shame,” says Prewett, who reminds readers that God’s commandments aren’t “a list of reprimands and rules that take away from [a person’s] individuality,” but a way to protect our hearts.
“God is not trying to withhold any good thing from you, it is exactly the opposite. Contrary to popular belief, pursuing purity gives more than it takes. God asks these things of you to protect you and your heart.” Prewett’s post resonated with many, but rankled others. Here are some of the most common complaints:
Purity is a Personal Choice
Many commenters equated Pruett’s post with judgement of those who haven’t practiced abstinence. They feel purity is a personal choice — and that God — in His infinite love and grace, will forgive our sins.
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Single-Sex Catholic Colleges in Minnesota to Admit Students Based on ‘Gender Identity’
By: Zachary Mettler
Two single-sex Catholic colleges in Minnesota have decided to admit students based on their chosen “gender identity.” The College of St. Benedict and Saint John’s University recently updated their “Non-Binary Admission Policy” to permit men who believe they are women to attend St. Benedict’s (the women’s college) and women who believe they are men to attend St. John’s (the men’s university). The colleges formulated the policy “in recognition of [their] evolving understanding of gender and gender identity.”
“We support every student’s right to self-identification,” the policy reads, adding, “we are dedicated to creating spaces that allow women, men, and those who do not identify within the binary including transgender, non-binary, gender-fluid, and gender-nonconforming individuals to matriculate and thrive.”
Both colleges now admit students based on “the gender and gender identity they present to us without further substantiation.”
John Grabowski, professor of moral theology and ethics at the Catholic University of America, told Catholic News Agency (CNA) that the policy represents “a flawed and problematic anthropology that’s at odds with the Catholic faith itself.”
Indeed, Catholic teaching on the dimorphous nature of human beings is clear. The policy does not align with the Catholic — and Christian — belief that God made human beings as two distinct, complementary sexes: male and female.
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Florida Shows the Way on Protecting Parents’ Rights and Children’s Minds
By: Paul Batura
Score one for students, parents — and the positive impact and importance of pro-family legislation.
More than two dozen obscene books were ordered removed from Florida’s Indian County schools this past Monday night after moms, dads, and concerned citizens read aloud from them.
Each of the recitations were abruptly halted by the board chair, triggering the books ordered withdrawal.
Under a Florida law passed earlier this year, anytime the chairperson shuts down a public reading, the featured books are required to be taken off the school shelves.
After one such public reading incident on Monday, Indian River County School Board member Jacqueline Rosario said, “We have a rule here. Nothing obscene.”
After another, chairwoman Dr. Peggy Jones shared a similar sentiment.
“We are adults and if there are children out there, we don’t want to be reading that aloud.” The impressive showing was planned and orchestrated by Jennifer Pippin, a local mother who heads up the area’s chapter of Moms for Liberty.
Moms for Liberty is an excellent and impressive non-profit organization co-founded in 2021 by Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, former school board members who are trying to “stoke the fires of liberty.”
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