I don’t remember when it happened, but I remember the shock I felt when I first encountered the idea that God cannot change—as an idea I was supposed to believe as an evangelical Christian. It was probably sometime during seminary, but it may have been before in some college religion class. I’m almost certain I never heard it growing up in my evangelical church—except as an expression of God’s faithfulness to himself and to us (viz., that God cannot become... Read more

I recently watched a British limited TV series entitled “Humans.” It’s about a future in which people buy “synths,” synthetic humans, human-like robots, who act very human but are driven by Artificial Intelligence programs. Some of them acquire real human-like abilities, including empathy, deception, and planning. Some commit crimes. Science fiction, right? Well, maybe not. I remember when I was a kid there was a color cartoon series in the Sunday morning newspaper called Dick Tracy. The hero was a... Read more

Two very important American women died very recently (August, September, 2026). Only days apart. Entertainer Dolly Parton and Feminist Gloria Steinem. I am not especially a fan of either one. My concern here is only the disparate attention given them upon their deaths by the major, “mainline,” corporate owned American news media. To me, that is a signal of the degradation of American culture, that Parton received so much more attention than did Steinem. Yes, Parton was a wonderful human... Read more

I recently viewed two TV mini-series about transhumanism. Both are British. One is Years and Years and is on Amazon Prime Video in the US. The other one is Humans and is on HBO/Max in the US. Both deal with futures where transhumanism is real. The symbol that accompanies this post is the universal symbol of transhumanism. Years and Years is the better of the two. It is fiction but raises thought-provoking questions about the future of technology and also... Read more

Long-time readers of this blog will already know that I agree with Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988) that the rise of nominalism in especially Western cultures has been a “catastrophe.” (See several of his many massive volumes but also his brief manifesto entitled The God Question and Modern Man [1967].) According to Balthasar, nominalism led to secularism which in term led to “forgetfulness of beauty” and ultimately the de-humanizing of “man.” In my own The Journey of Modern... Read more

A Pet Peeve Worth Taking Seriously Some people will no doubt claim that this post is just my way of expressing a personal peccadillo, a pet peeve, etc. So be it. I have long believed that American culture is becoming increasingly decadent, decayed, stupid. I think this is serious and worth considering even by those who don’t take it as seriously as I do. A Movie That Feels Like a Prophecy Some years ago, I watched a movie called Idiocracy.... Read more

For those of you not familiar with the Jason Arday affair, which could just as well be called the Cambridge University affair, he was a star professor at Cambridge University. The youngest black professor ever at that university. He was something of a celebrity because of his life story and stellar career from humble beginnings to academic stardom. Earlier this year he was accused of plagiarism and falsifying his biography. And Cambridge University is still being accused of overlooking what... Read more

Not “Anti-Baptist”: Clearing Up the Confusion I guess every religious tradition suffers from some popular misconceptions. “Anabaptist” is often misunderstood as “antibaptist.” I used to have a neighbor who was a county judge. He was a Texas “good old boy.” An Anabaptist community that moved into the country appeared before him to ask for exemption from jury duty. Historically, Anabaptists have elected not to serve on juries because of the New Testament commandment that Christians should not judge others but... Read more

Sociologists of religion have been noting for some time that many Americans are choosing a church to attend based on ideology more than theology. That is, if a person leans heavily to the “right” on the political spectrum, he or she will often choose a church that does the same. He or she will look for a church in which the pastor preaches the gospel of MAGA (Make America Great Again) whether explicitly or implicitly (covertly). If a person leans... Read more

Let’s Stop Calling Them Criminals A political advertisement on TV blasts a candidate for public office for allegedly wanting tax money to support “criminals,” referring to all illegal immigrants. That has become common discourse among those who support Trump and ICE. They are all “criminals.” They Aren’t All Criminals In fact, however, they aren’t. Many, perhaps the majority, of immigrants without legal standing in the US are not criminals. They came here legally with various permissions and overstayed their visas.... Read more