Our elected officials have denounced cigarette smoking as a health hazard and a drain on the nation’s healthcare system. They tell us that even second-hand smoke can kill you. To get people to stop smoking, laws have been passed to increase the tax on a pack of cigarettes at the federal, state, and local levels. The federal per pack tax is 39 cents. The highest combined state-local tax rate is $3. [...]

So the LORD gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; [...]

Events in Israel are viewed by millions of evangelicals as a sure sign that the rapture is near. Again! Jerry Falwell, who stated on a December 27, 1992, television broadcast, that he did “not believe there will be another millennium . . . or another century,” has written on July 23, 2006: It is apparent, in light of the rebirth of the state of Israel, that the present-day events in the Holy Land [...]

On Wednesday, I spoke to a group of 22 men and women in Detroit, Michigan, on the subject of economics and how to account for the fundamentals that make markets work, especially private property and laws against theft. There were some atheists in the group with only a few Christians present. Most would call themselves Libertarians. We agreed on the particulars, but we disagreed on the basis by whi [...]

The Bible begins with two uncontested presuppositions: First, God exists, and, second, He is the Creator of “the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). A third presupposition logically follows from the first two: “The earth is the LORD’s and all it contains” (Ps. 24:1; see 1 Cor. 10:26). Not only the land, but the stuff of creation also belongs to God: “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattl [...]

William Goldman, author and screen writer,[1] sums up the problem of attempting to be certain about the success of a film—“Nobody knows anything.”[2] Goldman was not saying that Hollywood types are stupid. He was pointing out that they are not omniscient. They don’t have enough knowledge about people and their tastes to know whether a film will be a success. For example, Disney executives sold off [...]

The word economics is derived from two Greek words: oikos, meaning “house,” and nomos, meaning “law.” Almost all modern definitions of economics, like contemporary definitions of “government,” assume that the State, civil government, is the starting point in understanding economic theory and practice. To understand economics, so the argument goes, the role of the State must first be considered. On [...]

Many German Christians adopted a sideline strategy similar to the one advocated by James L. Evans, and Adolf Hitler took advantage of it. Martin Niemöller, however, reacted strongly against passivity on the part of the clergy or the people: “We have no more thought of using our own powers to escape the arm of the authorities than had the Apostles of old. No more are we ready to keep silent at man’ [...]

There are some Christians who take themselves out of the battle over worldviews. They believe the Bible teaches that Christians should stay above the fray of social involvement. I’ve dealt with this and many other similar arguments in Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths.[1] James L. Evans, pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church, writes in an editorial that appeared in the religion section of The Decatur D [...]

Gutzon Borglum, the genius and drive behind the Mount Rushmore sculpture in the Black Hills of South Dakota, made particularly famous by Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, wanted to include an entablature to be placed alongside the presidents. It was to have been inscribed with a brief history of the United States. Without it the monument would have abo [...]

“It is hoped that but few will think the subject of [this sermon] an improper one to be discoursed on in the pulpit, under a notion that this is preaching politics, instead of Christ. However, to remove all prejudices of this sort, I beg it may be remembered that ‘all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’ Why, then, should [...]

“Even the most wicked men sometimes tell the truth or reason correctly.”[1] If you are about to lose a debate, call your opponent a Nazi! Such a charge brings all subsequent argumentation to a screeching halt. Calling someone a racist is almost as effective. The reductio ad Hitlerum, as University of Chicago Professor Leo Strauss named the fallacy, takes the following form: “Adolf Hitler, or Nazis [...]

Millions of elementary school students have been taught that the first voyage of Columbus was conceived by the intrepid explorer to prove the earth was round. The story goes that the scientists and cartographers of the fifteenth century were still under the illusion that the earth was flat because that’s what the Bible taught. Religion was an impediment to scientific discovery. Columbus stood up t [...]

Most Americans, many of them Christians, have had their worldview shaped, for good or ill, by information gathered through pop culture channels. There is nothing new in this phenomenon. Like electricity that follows the path of least resistance, pop culture makes its way into our homes through easily digestible media like newspapers, comics, novels, radio, films, television, music, sports, graphic [...]

The new Superman movie comes to the big screen on June 28th as Superman Returns. Continuity has been established with the earlier movie version that saw Christopher Reeve play the title character by sticking with but enhancing the original musical score and using archival footage of Marlon Brando who played Jor-El, Superman’s father from Krypton. Superman is an American icon. He is probably one of [...]

For most clear thinking people, the story of Sodom in Genesis is a clear condemnation of homosexuality . Let’s look at the tra ditional interpretation for some background to the story. Two male visitors (actually “angels” who take on human form and act as God’s “messengers” of judgment and redemption: Gen. 18:22; 19:1) “came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.” Lot inv [...]

In an interview on CNN, Katharine Jefferts Schori, the new bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, had this to say when asked if she believed homosexuality is a sin. “I don’t believe so. I believe that God creates us with different gifts. Each one of us comes into this world with a different collection of things that challenge us and things that give us joy and allow us to bless the world around us,” [...]

Today’s entertainment, political, media, and religionist propagandists have, in the words of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “defined deviancy down” so that what was morally shocking twenty years ago is acceptable, or at least tolerated, behavior today. Robert Bork, no stranger to moral degradation, having been “Borked” on national television and entered the dictionary as a verb, explains the phenomenon: [...]

Archimedes (287–212 B.C.), the Greek mathematician and physicist who yelled “Eureka!” as he ran naked from his bathtub at the discovery of the principle of displacement (Archimedes’ Principle), once boasted that given the proper lever, and given a place to stand, he could “move the earth.” But upon what would Archimedes stand to accomplish such a feat? Certainly not on the earth itself. Archimedes [...]

One way to keep Christians out of the public arena, especially politics, is to claim that there is a separation between Church and State. The argument is based on the assumption that in biblical times Church and State were merged, and in modern times the First Amendment separates the two institutions. Supposedly, under biblical law, priests ruled over elders, judges, and kings. If this is the case [...]