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John Bunyan was born in 1628, probably in the November of that year, since his baptism followed in that month. His birthplace was the village of Elsow, just outside Bedford. His family was a good example of a thing of which there are many examples, and of which there cannot be too many-- a sort of plebian aristocracy, plain and insignificant in ( Read more... )

From the Gospel according to Mark ( Read more... )

There is no such thing as a man (homo sapiens) without religion, unless of course we count the victims of dementia. All human beings have an overall understanding, however tentative, of reality as a whole; a framework, instinctive or reasoned, that allows them to understand how things connect to each other, how they form a whole, what their ( Read more... )

One day after the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the free and united nation of Italy, the European Court of Human Rights voted by fifteen against two that the display of the Crucifix in school rooms does not violate any human right ( Read more... )

This article begins with a stunning statistic.( Read more... )

What just happened in Chile is awesome. The kind of titanic display of advanced technology, high competence and overwhelming organization that not so long ago seemed restricted to places like the USA and Germany has been deployed by a mid-sized Latin American country; little bits of help may have come from here or there, but the whole impulse, ( Read more... )

The High Council of the Judiciary (Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura, or CSM) is a constitutional organ of the Italian state that has no parallel in Britain and America. Presided by the President of the Republic, it is both the professional body and the high governance court for the whole order of judges, from the lowest to the highest level ( Read more... )

Like many American phenomena, the advice of veteran journalist Brit Hume to Tiger Woods, and its fierce by-products, have been heard well beyond the borders of the USA. I have not, however, read anyone, on either side, who actually pointed out what was really wrong, and indeed offensive about Hume's advice. Buddhism, he said, did not give the ( Read more... )

To judge by my f-list and other Catholic bloggers I have seen, Mary Eberstadt's article on First Things about the vindication of Humanae Vitae has made more waves than anything in years. I suppose that is because it goes further than most Christians had been thinking of going. While most people are aware that abortion is at least controversial, ( Read more... )