Agnostic French President Francois Hollande recently announced he would strengthen his country’s commitment to a naked public square by establishing a “National Observatory of Secularism.” Under the guise of non-violence, Interior Minister Manuel Valls told reporters that the observatory was created “not to combat opinions by force, but to detect and understand when an [religious] opinion ... More

Genesis 3:1-71 Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?2And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat: 3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us... More

Why does it not surprise me this is happening in Madison, Wisconsin? A tiny figure of baby Jesus is surrounded by Mary, Joseph and the three wise men in a new nativity scene in the state Capitol rotunda. The conservative group Wisconsin Family Action set up the manger scene on Sunday, and its president Julaine Appling said they plan to display it through the end of the month. But the move angered ... More

Welcome to the Lunchtime Reader, where we assemble important stories to keep your eyes on. The National Journal, a political news magazine that is not conservative, noted that the Tea Party has infused the Grand Old Party with lots of minority candidates like Marco Rubio, Allen West, and Herman Cain. But the Journal noted: “The biggest roadblocks to these challengers often were within their own... More

Ed Mechmann on the HHS and us. (A topic that came up in my syndicated column this week.) ... More

The solemnity of the Trinity. The Father, who eternally begets the Son, the love between them being so radical, intense, real, and self-giving, that it is the Holy Spirit. The fundamental truth of the Christian faith that the modern world must destroy. God is a family. God is a community of committed, mutual, radical, self-giving, life-creating love. God is love. God is self-gift. And all that is ... More

Sometimes a facepalm is the best first reaction. I just realized something about the eeeevil Bible bricks story I posted earlier today. I did some quick math (a skill I learned in school in lieu of learning to spot un-nice-ness and how to put on a condom) and realized that the offending bricks would have been “just another brick in the [walkway]” in a literal sense, but also figurativ... More

Now this is just silly. A school district in California has decided it is a better idea to reject $45,000 in fundraised money than to allow a few bricks with inoffensive verses from the Bible to be included. At this point I don’t really think it matters if it is true anti-Christianity, or just knee-jerk anti-Christianity, because it’s really just silly. I’m quite certain that the... More