A View from the Right Science, POLITICS, & Religion

Part 10: Scarecrows, Decoys, and Invisible Elephants We get three lessons today, boys and girls, as we head into the home stretch for this series (sort of)! Straw Man Everyone has heard of this one. You don’t have to be involved in debates and discussions on controversial topics for long before someone accuses someone else […]

Those of us interested in such things sometimes talk about the negative consequences of allowing illegal immigration, but it isn’t always easy to articulate the problem. People need to understand how it might affect them directly. If they can understand how the system currently gives unfair advantages to the illegal immigrant over the legal resident […]

“Water is the driving force in nature.”  — Leonardo da Vinci We often hear claims that the human body is “mostly water”, even as high as 90%. But the truth is a bit more modest. According to Dr. Anne Marie Helmenstine,  “The average adult human body is 50-65% water, averaging around 57-60%. The percentage of […]

Did you see this? Even if you read the same stuff I do, you may have missed it last month amongst all the holiday prep and the Obamacare/Healthcare.gov mess. It seems the anti-religionists at the ACLU have found another target for their “righteous” wrath: a church-run archery class. The controversy began when a reporter for […]

That’s right, this is a list of lists. But, don’t worry — it’s relatively short. I didn’t actually read a lot of year-end lists, but these three were among the best I came across. They sort of go together, and I (obviously) felt they were worth sharing. Unfortunately, they (mostly) constitute a sad commentary on […]

OK, something rather less weighty or theologically-oriented this year. This Christmas post has little to do with the biblical Nativity and more to do with Christmas traditions in general. (Maybe I should do another one someday with just Christian-oriented things?) But, I think you may find it fun and informative, anyway. It’s a sort of […]

Part 9: Apples, Oranges, and Character Assassination “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”  — Socrates Only two fallacies on the docket today, but they are biggies! Category mistake/error I’m sure you have heard the term, “It’s apples and oranges.” Maybe you have used it, yourself. When Person A says this […]

A young Facebook friend (and fellow Christian) posted a status the other day, expressing his frustration with some legalistic Christian brothers who were giving him grief, telling him he was going to Hell because they deemed some of his speech and musical taste as unredeemably “unChristian”. One of those who (eventually) came to his defense […]

In previous years, I’ve reproduced and commented on Thanksgiving proclamations made by George Washington (1789) and Abraham Lincoln (1863). They are perhaps the two best-known such proclamations and very notable in what they have to say, particularly considering the difficult times that Americans were going through. I encourage you to check them out. If there […]

I know what you’re thinking. No, I didn’t stutter when I wrote the title of this post. You’ll see what I mean…. As an orthodox Christian, I obviously have many “problems” with Islam, and not just the violent, extremist version(s). Today, though, I specifically want to look at those addressed in Alex McFarland’s book 10 Answers […]