Marvin Olasky from Creators Syndicate

Two Cheers for the Bush Administration and Religious Freedom for 10/04/2007

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Reasons to be sad about the Bush administration abound. But here's a happy note: Team Bush has repaired its mistake on religious freedom that I and many others complained about last month.

The problem then was the Federal Bureau of Prisons' "Standardized Chapel Library Program," which created lists averaging 150 allowable items for each of 20 religions or religious categories. ...

Updated: Thu Oct 04, 2007

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New York, America, the West: Prodigal Sons for 10/11/2007

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Who's for the gospel-infused best of Western culture? Korean Christians are. The Museum of Biblical Art is.

At the beginning of October's first week, Korean evangelist Ock Soo Park spoke at Madison Square Garden, where homegrown evangelist Creflo Dollar often tells listeners to grab as much prosperity as they can. Park examined the New Testament's parable of the son who scorns his dad, s ...

Updated: Thu Oct 11, 2007

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Leaping Before We Looked: The Clinton Administration's Bosnian Failure for 10/18/2007

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

With Hillary Clinton surging in the polls and Democrats knifing Bush's foreign policy and praising Bill Clinton's, it's time for a reality check on a supposed triumph: Team Clinton oversimplified a complex situation in Bosnia and ended up aiding and abetting Muslim extremists.

That's the conclusion of John Schindler, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College and a former National Securit ...

Updated: Thu Oct 18, 2007

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Darwinism; Too Old-Fashioned To Be True for 10/25/2007

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times columnist John Tierney recently offered a materialist version of "intelligent design": All of us are actually characters in a computer simulation devised by some technologically advanced future civilization.

Fanciful to the extreme, sure, but the growing number of such theories — life comes from the past (Mars, when it was theoretically livable) or future ( ...

Updated: Thu Oct 25, 2007

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For Female Reporters, All the Red Sox and All the Saints for 11/01/2007

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0700

When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series on Sunday evening, I (born and raised in Massachusetts) read story after story about the victory. Here's a braggadocio sampling from The Boston Globe's male writers:

— Dan Shaughnessy: "The Boston Red Sox have emerged as hardball monsters of the new millennium."

— Gordon Edes: "A minute that used to recur like ...

Updated: Thu Nov 01, 2007

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Lenin's Revolution Vs. Luther's Reformation for 11/08/2007

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Yesterday (Nov. 7): the 90th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's Communist Revolution. Last week (Oct. 31): the 490th anniversary of the beginning of Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation. That numeral 4 indicates a key difference between the two: The 490 glorified God, while the 90 attempted to deify man — and some men in particular.

Luther was a theological revolutionary but not a p ...

Updated: Thu Nov 08, 2007

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Democracy Without Liberty Is Not the Answer for 11/15/2007

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Pro-American dictator or anti-American democracy? That's the choice in Pakistan now, where President (and top general) Pervez Musharraf has suspended his country's constitution, fired the country's chief justice and shut down nongovernmental television stations. He said had he not acted, Islamist extremists would have taken over the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conti ...

Updated: Thu Nov 15, 2007

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Thank vs. Thank You for 11/22/2007

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Many of us are giving thanks today, but are we thanking God, thanking our friends or throwing into the air an undirected thanks?

I thought about the direction of our thankfulness after spending a weekend with a successful writer who is an atheist. (Call him Ahab.) We debated basic theology on Saturday and had a good time. But on Sunday, we had a rancorous time when discussing today's big ...

Updated: Thu Nov 22, 2007

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Who's Your Favorite? We Should Not Choose by Voting Record Alone for 11/29/2007

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800

After voting for Republican presidential candidates eight times in a row, this is the year I've been listening to Democrats. Sadly, though, every Democratic candidate supports the killing of unborn children and the massive killing of Iraqis that would take place if the U.S. gives up now. So it looks as if I reluctantly will deliver a ninth straight GOP ballot.

I'm not supporting any part ...

Updated: Thu Nov 29, 2007

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Ignorant Journalists and Evangelical Voters for 12/06/2007

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

As voters ask questions about religion, some journalists are challenging records for theological illiteracy. For example, on Nov. 29, Chris Matthews complained that a YouTube questioner asked GOP presidential candidates about their views of the Bible: "If there was a Jewish fellow up here, an Arab fellow up here, a nonbeliever, he'd have to say, 'I don't believe in the Bible.'"

Updated: Thu Dec 06, 2007

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Atheists vs. Grace for 12/13/2007

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

On the roller coaster of history, we're seeing a hands-in-the-air moment as atheistic books soar onto best-seller lists. Some Christians are alarmed at the furious flurry, but there's no need to be: This, too, shall pass.

Atheistic authors see themselves as avant-garde, but they merely are echoing the riffs of 19th-century scoffers who predicted the imminent demise of Christianity. Gilde ...

Updated: Thu Dec 13, 2007

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Seeing Beyond Politics for 12/20/2007

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

It's important to care about politics. It's even more important not to care deeply. As Gutenberg College professor Charles Dewberry notes, "If politics can fix a problem, then Christianity is a lie."

Christianity isn't about politics. It's about a miracle. "Rejoice! Rejoice!" the Christmas carol declares. "Emmanuel shall come to thee, O captive Israel."

...

Updated: Thu Dec 20, 2007

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Good News at Year's End for 12/27/2007

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

After a rocky year, evangelicals have received three pieces of good news over the past two months.

One came in headlines like this top-of-Page-One surprise in The New York Times: "Scientists bypass need for embryo to get stem cells." The Times, which had previously led the rush to pluck stem cells from tiny, tiny humans, killing them in the process, noted that because of new di ...

Updated: Thu Dec 27, 2007

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Wanted: Sam Adams Republicans for 01/03/2008

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Humorous Mike Huckabee has become the sum of all fears for many members of the GOP establishment. Some of the attacks arise out of plain old Christophobia, and Huckabee can't do much about that. But some come from concern that he's a Christian-only candidate: On these matters he can take lessons from Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry.

Adams failed as an 18th-century brewmaster but mastered ...

Updated: Thu Jan 03, 2008

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No Separation of Church and Screen for 01/10/2008

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

New hits in politics and film all tell the same story: America is still a land of religion. The candidates, particularly Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee, are displaying their beliefs. Each of three big new movies — "I Am Legend," "There Will Be Blood," and "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" — is showcasing its own kind of faith.

The action flick ...

Updated: Thu Jan 10, 2008

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Is Huckabee conservative? for 01/17/2008

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Some GOP conservatives worry that a President Mike Huckabee would be like George W. Bush in domestic policy, not using his constitutional power to restrain government spending; and like Jimmy Carter in foreign policy, not using military power to restrain anti-American forces.

Despite big jumps in spending, President Bush did not veto any bills during his first six years in office — ...

Updated: Thu Jan 17, 2008

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Uniting Christians and Libertarians for 01/24/2008

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Mike Huckabee has not been able to pick up much support beyond his evangelical base, but there's a way for him to do so. He needs to show that Christian conservative views and small government views logically go together.

The key is realizing that growth in governmental "human services" has come in part through the recognition of real problems. When a guy and a gal shack up, it ...

Updated: Thu Jan 24, 2008

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Changing Africa, One Village at a Time for 01/31/2008

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

CHISAMBA, Zambia — It's 7:15 Monday morning in a cement-block house near this country's major highway, the paved, two-lane Great North Road. Supervisor Peter Phiri, who helped to build that road during the 1990s, is speaking to 40 employees starting their workweek in a country where AIDS, unemployment and corruption are all rampant. They sit on planks held up by cement blocks in the build ...

Updated: Thu Jan 31, 2008

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We Can Make Room for 02/07/2008

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The conservatocracy is up in arms over whether John McCain, purportedly a "liberal," will be able to hold onto conservative voters concerned about immigration. A less-asked question is how he will fare with those evangelical voters also concerned about immigration, but in a very different way.

Evangelicals tend to recognize the need for compassion for the poor, to the unborn, t ...

Updated: Thu Feb 07, 2008

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A Valentine's Day Goodbye for 02/14/2008

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

It's Valentine's Day, so what better day to give a present to my fans (you in the balcony, I see you) and my critics.

The gift is one that will no longer keep giving in this space: After seven years of syndicating — 370 columns, every week since January 2001 — this is my last Creators piece. I feel a little sad, because it's part of the American Dream to become either a syndi ...

Updated: Thu Feb 14, 2008

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