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Author Archives: Walter Olson
“As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God”
Matthew Parris, longtime fixture of center-right British journalism at publications like The Spectator, has been thinking about the intractable problems of Africa: …I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think … Continue reading
“Among the stingiest of the stingy…”
Nicholas Kristof at the Times is calling attention to those Arthur Brooks figures about how conservatives give more to charity than liberals, and religious persons give more than secular: A study by Google found an even greater disproportion: average annual … Continue reading
Ireland, the Middle East and religious strife
Commenter Ploni Almoni chides me for describing Northern Ireland’s Troubles in my post yesterday as an instance of “tribal violence based on religion” when in fact (Almoni says) the strife was “based on nationality, or ethnicity if you prefer”, between … Continue reading
Miscellany, Dec. 19
Christopher Hitchens on Rick Warren’s inauguration role. You know you want to read it, so go ahead. Meanwhile, Heather’s piece yesterday on Warren is getting enormous traffic and made Memeorandum. I seldom (okay, almost never) agree with left-leaning blogger Scott … Continue reading
Religious-employee opt-out rights in health care
This topic, which I mentioned in passing last week, is back in the news with the announcement of an executive order by President Bush extending and entrenching the asserted right of hospital, clinic and pharmacy employees to defy their supervisors … Continue reading
Does religion make you nicer or happier?
Well, it may depend on where you live — which in turn suggests that the answer may be more complicated than many assume, if not indeterminate. Paul Bloom in Slate last month, via Will Wilkinson: Many Americans doubt the morality … Continue reading
“No Evidence Bad Times Are Boosting Church Attendance”
Per Gallup, a trend spotted by the New York Times a few days back may not pan out as much of a trend after all: “a review of Gallup Poll Daily tracking data, in which 1,000 randomly selected people each … Continue reading
Lawsuit: AIG bailout unconstitutionally promotes Islam
The Thomas More Law Center has filed a lawsuit claiming that the federal government is violating the First Amendment’s ban on establishment of religion by rescuing the giant insurer American International Group because, as one sliver of the broad range … Continue reading
Miscellany, December 15
Someone has called us the “world’s most boring blog“. I think not everyone must agree, because in the three and a half weeks since we launched we’ve had more than 100,000 page views and, remarkably, 2,300 reader comments. Confirming the … Continue reading
Washington Christmas display, cont’d
In one of the first posts at this site, Bradlaugh noted the flap in Washington state about how Gov. Christine Gregoire had supposedly — in Bill O’Reilly’s words — “insulted Christians all over the world” by ordering/allowing the adding of … Continue reading