Monthly Archives: December 2010

Bart Ehrman: ‘God’s Problem’

Posted on December 31, 2010 by maradanto

I think I’ve read two books so far on the dissonance between faith and suffering that actually made for satisfying reading. Most of the books I’ve read on the subject have been disappointing, to say the least. It seems like … Continue reading →

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When faith means seeing how it’s all put together

Posted on December 31, 2010 by maradanto

What makes you doubt the existence of God? Any person of faith who is honest with herself is going to acknowledge that she is also a person of doubt. For some it’s suffering: their own, somebody else’s, or just in … Continue reading →

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Dreaming of roads not taken

Posted on December 31, 2010 by maradanto

I had an odd dream Wednesday night. Do you remember me talking about Elizabeth? We never actually dated, because of the distance, but if she’d been closer, I would have asked her out, and I’m fairly positive she would have … Continue reading →

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The party of fiscal responsibility isn’t the GOP

Posted on December 30, 2010 by maradanto

It wasn’t long ago that the president and congressional Democrats were derided as tax-and-spend liberals. Such liberals are a marked improvement over the past three Republican administrations, whose spend-without-taxation approach has been horribly irresponsible. It has left us with a … Continue reading →

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FOX needs a new outrage playbook

Posted on December 29, 2010 by maradanto

Note to FOX News: If your hosts and commentators are going to identify as Christians on their shows, please encourage them to gain at least a basic understanding of what that faith entails. This stunning unfamiliarity with the teachings of … Continue reading →

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Fight media bias by engaging with the media

Posted on December 28, 2010 by maradanto

Several years ago when I was the editor of the Hallertown Beacon, I was paid a visit at the office one Thursday by one of the most powerful people in town and his three sons. Bruce Clifford was the owner … Continue reading →

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Hearing the call of AFS

Posted on December 20, 2010 by maradanto

I just got an e-mail that knocked me into a thoughtful mood, as e-mails sometimes do. It was from AFS Intercultural Programs, and started off like a typical fund-raising spiel, until I reached the second paragraph, where it dropped this … Continue reading →

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‘O Holy Night’: A Christmas remembered

Posted on December 19, 2010 by maradanto

The mythic Christmas is a white one, but one of my greatest Christmas memories involves weather that was easily fifty degrees above freezing. In December 1993, I was teaching middle school English at Cradle of Life Christian School midway between … Continue reading →

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War on Christmas lost amid the ‘War on Christmas’

Posted on December 18, 2010 by maradanto

So, as has been reported on MSNBC, the “war on Christmas” may finally be coming to an end, with conservative groups claiming a victory. For those who have missed it the past several years, there has been a lot of … Continue reading →

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The Troll of Tridstak

Posted on December 18, 2010 by maradanto

Not many years ago in Eastern Europe, there lived a group of people in a village who were known as the Trids. Neither counted among the wise, nor numbered among the mighty, the Trids were a people marked more by … Continue reading →

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