Readworthies VIII

A handful of interesting, informative, and insightful articles.

News, editorials, columns, essays, et al.

Two Popes, One Leader, a house editorial @ The National Catholic Register (ht):

Now we know.

Now we can better understand what God had in mind when he gave us Pope John Paul II. He had Pope Benedict XVI in mind.

First of all, make no mistake about it: The election of Pope Benedict XVI is first and foremost an indication of what God wants for the Catholic Church. Don’t let the public reaction fool you — or even the reaction of some in the Church.

As critics pile on Pope Benedict in the days to come — and they will, like we’ve never seen — we need to remember that the papacy was established by Christ for a Church guided by the Holy Spirit. Since God is the one guiding the Church, we can look at these two popes he has given us as signs of his will....

Bible Illiteracy in America by David Gelernter @ The Weekly Standard (ht):

A report just issued by the Bible Literacy Project (more on this later) suggests that young Americans know very little about the Bible. The report is important, but first things first: A fair number of Americans don't see why teenagers should know anything at all about the Bible.

Scripture begins with God creating the world, but there is something these verses don't tell you: The Bible has itself created worlds. Wherever you stand on the spectrum from devout to atheist, you must acknowledge that the Bible has been a creative force without parallel in history....

Doubting Rationalist: "Intelligent Design" Proponent Phillip Johnson, and How He Came to Be by Michael Powell @ The Washington Post (ht):

"The Washington Post is not one of my biggest fans, you know that."

Hello?

The Washington Post reporter has just walked out of a spray of Pacific-borne rain into the living room of a modest bungalow west of downtown. There's a shag rug, an inspirational painting or two and Phillip Johnson, dressed in tan slacks and a sweater and sitting on a couch. He pulls a dog-eared copy of a Post editorial out of his shirt pocket and reads aloud:

"With their slick Web sites, pseudo-academic conferences and savvy public relations, the proponents of 'intelligent design' — a 'theory' that challenges the validity of Darwinian evolution — are far more sophisticated than the creationists of yore.... They succeed by casting doubt on evolution."

The 65-year-old Johnson swivels his formidable and balding head — with that even more formidable brain inside — and gazes over his reading glasses at the reporter (who doesn't labor for the people who write the editorials)....

Brothers, unbeknownst to each other, unite in Iraq by Cpl. John E. Lawson Jr. @ Marine Corps News (ht):

Two Sailors, deployed together to Iraq, made a life-altering discovery a mere two days before departing Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Sean Hurley, an operating room surgical technician corpsmen serving with Surgical Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 2, 2d Force Service Support Group (Forward), lived most of his life in the Virgin Islands with his mother. Raised as an only child, Hurley knew little about his father.

Seaman Albert Hendrick Jr., a sick call and surgical shock trauma corpsman, on the other hand, grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and knew his father.

These Sailors may appear to have a few things in common: their choice to live a life of service in the U.S. Navy, the desire to help people as corpsmen in the medical field, and their unit. But the two Sailors proved to have a lot more in common than they had ever imagined: their blood line....

The "Media Party" is over by Howard Fineman @ MSNBC News (ht):

A political party is dying before our eyes — and I don't mean the Democrats. I'm talking about the "mainstream media," which is being destroyed by the opposition (or worse, the casual disdain) of George Bush's Republican Party; by competition from other news outlets (led by the internet and Fox's canny Roger Ailes); and by its own fraying journalistic standards. At the height of its power, the AMMP (the American Mainstream Media Party) helped validate the civil rights movement, end a war and oust a power-mad president. But all that is ancient history.

Now the AMMP is reeling, and not just from the humiliation of CBS News. We have a president who feels it's almost a point of honor not to hold more press conferences — he's held far fewer than any modern predecessor — and doesn't seem to agree that the media has any "right" to know what's really going in inside his administration. The AMMP, meanwhile, is regarded with ever growing suspicion by American voters, viewers and readers, who increasingly turn for information and analysis only to non-AMMP outlets that tend to reinforce the sectarian views of discrete slices of the electorate....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 05/20/05 07:27:44 AM
Categorized as Readworthies.