When I became a Christian in 1980, I immediately disavowed my evolutionary leanings. How could I believe in God, and still believe in ape men? Well, 20-plus years later, you could say I’ve evolved. One cannot discuss the issue of evolution without broaching the world of science — which leaves the lay person at a clear disadvantage. The plethora of [...]

Poll: Majority Reject Evolution — that’s the headline on CBS.com. Most Americans do not accept the theory of evolution. Instead, 51 percent of Americans say God created humans in their present form, and another three in 10 say that while humans evolved, God guided the process. Just 15 percent say humans evolved, and that God [...]

Having recently written about Melody’s pregnancy — and our first grandchild — it’s ironic that I must now write about death. But such is life. This week, my father-in-law, Leon, passed away from Alzheimer’s. He was 68 years old, just three years out of retirement. The disease struck him hard, quickly stripping him of memory and [...]

The Wittenburg Door (WD) has been poking fun at Christendom’s quirks since 1971, and they’re still going strong. Well, they’re still going. They describe themselves as “The World’s Pretty Much Only Religious Satire Magazine,” a rather pompous claim for such a sophomoric bunch. Nevertheless, they’ve blazed a trail into the once hallowed halls of evangelicalism, [...]

WorldMag Blog, in an article entitled Religion is for Religious People, illustrates once again why education and brains are not synonomous. Psychology prof Steven Pinker, in response to Harvard’s new “Report of the Committee on General Education,” expresses concerns about the report’s suggestion for a new “Reason and Faith” requirement at Harvard: [T]he juxtaposition of the two [...]

Thanks- giving is my fav- orite holiday, and this year, I’ve got something special to give thanks for. The person glowing in the pic above is my oldest child, Melody. She is carrying someone very special. It is my grandson, Theodore Jacob Fredricks. Little Theo (as he’s already dubbed) is due to make his grand [...]

I recently finished Stephen Koch’s The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop, and absolutely loved it. It’s one of the best books about writing I’ve read since Stephen King’s, On Writing. I moved Koch’s book to a more accessible location on my desk (and, with the mess I’ve got going these days, that was not easy). I highlighted many great [...]

My thanks to Captain Fantastic for another illustration of the disjunction between talent and brains. Since when did being a musician automatically increase one’s IQ? Speaking at a special “gay edition” of The Observer newspaper’s Music Monthly Magazine, Sir Elton John shared his views on several controversial issues. Most notable, however, was his opinions regarding organized religion: I [...]

I started an account at MySpace about a year ago, and forgot all about it. The other day, I popped in and discovered I had a Friend. I don’t know the guy, but it appears our Interests are the same. We like hiking, philosophy, Radiohead, Apocalypse Now and the erhu. MySpace, like many online communities, is built [...]