Most theologians, I suspect, do not do math well. But it appears that one of the biggest challenges to the many religious explanations of theodicy (Why do bad things happen? Why do good things happen?) may the basic normal probability distribution. I’m not trying to be sacrilegeous here. However, if I must describe this in theological terms, I prefer a… Read more »
“God made Florida a swamp, and God wants it back.” (unknown) I cast my lot with the Greek Fates on some good odds regarding Hurricane Ian and we survived pretty much unscathed. Next time, though, I will probably leave if I have the ability to do so, even with the same odds.
The American zeitgeist concerning the Covid pandemic has, from the outset, flirted with a school of morality I have long termed “Sucks to Be You” Ethics. Back in March of 2020, I wrote about how President Trump was convinced that he had Covid confined to one arriving cruise ship, and in a real-life application of “Lifeboat Ethics,” he decided to… Read more »
Two and a half years after all our lives were upended by Covid-19 it is critical that we look forward and ask ourselves, “How will America respond to the next pandemic?” Because we “failed the math part of exam” so badly with Covid-19, I fear that we will do much worse the next time out. The anti-math contingent of Americans… Read more »
“For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” — Jesus, quoted in Luke 16:1-13 NIV Everyone knows the punchline of this joke… Read more »
I have no great love of the Internal Revenue Service, but the current criticisms from people like Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who is trying to convince people that that 87,000 IRS agents are headed to Iowa carrying high-lethality weapons have zero basis in reality. Grassley needs to be retired by the voters. However, I am going to tell you how… Read more »
Note: This is a cross-post from the Iowa blog Bleeding Heartland. A Kentucky circuit court recently granted a temporary injunction to halt the implementation of Kentucky’s “trigger law” that would ban abortion in response to the recent Dobbs Supreme Court decision. The judge spelled out perhaps the clearest rationale to date why the most extreme of the anti-abortion laws are… Read more »
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” — Isaiah 53:6 KJV A sample of the classic musical form of this passage from Handel’s Messiah: Here is the “thought experiment” of the day: Hundreds of ordinary Americans over 18 years… Read more »
Although the U.S. dollar is worth significantly less today than a year ago if you are buying gasoline in Des Moines, American currency looks a lot different if you are living in Europe or Japan. They, as well as us, have seen their own domestic prices for staples shoot up (which, Republicans insist, must somehow be Joe Biden’s fault as… Read more »
It always helps when your wedding anniversary coincides to an historic event that the news media will remind you of in advance. A big 50th anniversary is coming up. On the pleasant Saturday afternoon of June 17, 1972, I got married in a short ceremony followed by ham sandwiches in a Grand Rapids church basement, and then the two of… Read more »