Over at the First Things website, Stephen H. Webb reviews David Sloan Wilson’s Evolution for Everyone. Here are his concluding paragraphs: A thoughtful response to Wilson might be that he has strayed from his intellectual niche, but there is another way of looking at his discussion of religion. Perhaps Wilson’s ambition, which lies at the heart of Darwinism, has inadvertently demonstrated how empty evolution is. If it is this trivial when applied outside biology, why would we non-biologists imagine that it is deeper when it is restricted to biology? One cannot help but suspect that if evolutionary theory looks absurd, … Continue reading “An Idiot’s Guide to Evolution”

In a new book, American Fascists, Chris Hedges argues that conservative Christians are. The fascist charge is both cliched and easily refuted. How easily? Read Ryan T. Anderson’s post about Hedges at First Thing‘s blog. Here are the money paragraphs: What really animates Hedges’ anger at religious conservatives, however, is their recent political power and success on the state level at banning same-sex marriage—an issue that has been central to Hedges since his father made him start a gay-rights group at college. According to Hedges, the religious right demonizes homosexuals: “Gays and lesbians, like other enemies of Christ, are not … Continue reading Are American Christians Fascists?

Check out Naomi Schaeffer Riley's review of two books on the evangelical youth movement in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. The books are Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement by Lauren Sandler and Body Piercing Saved My Life by Andrew Beaujon. She pans the former but praises the latter. Continue reading Review of Books on Evangelical Youth