A reply to Pastor John Ortberg I’m sorry I missed the original publication on 8/13/2012 of “Six Surprising Ways Jesus Changed the World” by Pastor John Ortberg of the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. But the arguments are old ones, they haven’t gotten any better in three months and they deserve a thorough debunking. Again. Did …

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I can’t say that I ever saw her at her best. To me, she was always mildly befuddled, having left half her personality behind her in better times, when she still had a husband and still recognized her children. I did see her worst: as she lay there, eyes closed, simulating sleep. But this was …

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Alabama Governor George Wallace once famously said, “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the Republicans and Democrats.” If you look at the polling numbers between President Obama and his challenger Gov. Mitt Romney, it’s hard to escape that conclusion. How can that be, you ask, if the 2012 election sounds so contentious? I …

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When I was in public grade school, if there ever was any problem between my teachers and me, my parents – without the slightest hesitation – took the side of my teachers. I didn’t like it at the time, but, with the clarity of hindsight, I know they were right: my unionized teachers really had …

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I hate to put this in religious terms, but there is a kind of American creed: “Freedom and liberty for all” might sum it up. Our leaders remember the tune, but they forget some of the words. I was reminded of this after observing the Republican National Convention last week. On display was a national …

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My wife has a 17-year-old who loves playing video games on his computer. He’s not much different from a typical teenager in this decade: he relishes the chase. He loves the total destruction of an ugly monster, a magic demon, or even a human soldier. Even if he gets killed, he can regenerate! What’s not …

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As I mentioned in last week’s “Week in Freethought History,” Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw was known to quip, “Christianity might be a good thing, if anyone ever tried it.” Whatever we might think of the relative merits of the dominant religion in the United States, its got a lot of promise. I’m reminded of …

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The professor interviewing him before a student audience demanded a human moment of TV anchor Will McAvoy. He got one: a five-minute diatribe, laden with statistics, on just why the U.S. is not “the greatest country in the world.” The way that explosive philippic is set up in the first episode of HBO’s “The Newsroom,” …

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The following is a commentary in an ongoing series of “Reflections” by John Mill. John Mill is the radio persona of Ronald Bruce Meyer and can be heard on “American Heathen.” “The American Heathen” Internet radio broadcast is aired, live, on Saturday nights from 7:00pm-10:00pm Central Time (8-11pm Eastern Time) on ShockNetRadio.com. Whenever I think …

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The following is a commentary in an ongoing series of “Reflections” by John Mill. John Mill is the radio persona of Ronald Bruce Meyer and can be heard on “American Heathen.” “The American Heathen” Internet radio broadcast is aired, live, on Saturday nights from 7:00pm-10:00pm Central Time (8-11pm Eastern Time) on ShockNetRadio.com. She stood in …

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