Ventura Art: 3 From Elyane

By Rick Pearcey

The joy of art is one of life's brilliant necessities. Here are three pieces by Elyane, who lives in Ventura, Calif.


Elyane is French.

She specializes in landscapes.


Thank you, Elyane, for sharing your life and your creative gift.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Antony Flew Over America

By Rick Pearcey

I enjoyed reading There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind, by Antony Flew (with Roy Abraham Varghese), on a recent trip to Santa Barbara.

My brother works at UC Santa Barbara as a computer analyst. A lovely campus. The photo above was taken during the return flight back to the East Coast.

By the way, one of the reasons jets fly is because they are intelligently designed. And they're maintained by flight mechanics, not by rolls of the dice nor by impersonal laws that unaccountably popped into existence out of sheer, absolute nothingness.

These kinds of facts give free-thinkers such as myself lots to think about. It's a willingness to think freely about the basic philosophic questions that led me to consider secular, pagan, and biblical data with an open mind.

The atheistic, naturalistic case is just too weak intellectually -- the theory of the world required by the mobilization of its presuppositions does not accurately describe the actual external world in which all people must live, atheist or not. There are no atheists in jets formed out of nothing by chance or impersonal law.

The Flew book itself will help you see why. So will this review essay by Gary Habermas of the philosophy and theology department at Liberty University.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Rick on Chicago Radio at 4:35 p.m. CT to Discuss "No McDonald's Today"

By Rick Pearcey

Chicago Radio host Sandy Rios and I are scheduled to discuss my article "No McDonald's Today" at 4:35 p.m. Central Time today.

Listen live here.

Here's the WYLL-AM call-in number: 847-956-5042.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

How to Have a Race War

By Rick Pearcey

From Frontpage:

If whiteness stands for all that is evil, blackness symbolizes all that is good. “Black theology,” says [black liberation theologian James] Cone, “refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community . . . Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.” Small wonder that some critics have condemned black liberation theology as "racist idolatry” and “Afro-Nazism."

Before you can have a race war in America, you must first set forth an ideology that legitimizes race hatred and keeps that kind of hatred at a boiling point. The theology of Cone seems to be on this path, absolutizing "blackness," which in turn gives the KKK, Aryans, and kindred spirits an excuse to absolutize "whiteness."

The result? Two gods vying for supremacy, locked in mortal combat, with no possible resolution, even if by fire, as some groups seem to want.

For neither god can afford rational discourse by free-thinking individuals who question authority. Such gods rooted in creation place skin color, race, or group hatreds above rationality, evidence, consideration, and discussion. Lost is the Biblical responsibility to ask questions, wonder, examine evidence, subject theology and putative prophets to information from the Creator. Instead, we see a media dash to charges of bigotry and other attempts at verbal terror and intimidation, all of them beneath the dignity of Man.

The only possible outcome of this recipe, if consistently pursued to its logical conclusion, is race warfare.

If you use racism to drive out racism, what you have is not a solution, but a new racism taking over from the old. This is called regress not progress. And it has nothing to do with information given by the Creator about all people having been created in his image and that the dilemma we all face is ethical not pigmentary.

Black liberation theology? White liberation theology? It's hard to imagine a better recruitment tool for fascists of every hue or stripe. Red, yellow, brown, pink -- the entire rainbow.

Related:
* Black Jesus Does Not Exist
* Church of Oprah Exposed

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Nancy's No. 1

By Rick Pearcey

DL, a blogger, writes:

Mrs. Clinton is next on my list of Women Changing the World for Better or Worse!

But the good news is . . . your wife is the first on my list for women changing the world for better. The article is, at the time of this writing, the most popular one on my site and has the potential to be viewed by thousands of bloggers.

Two comments seem in order:

First, DL is clearly a blogger of great insight!

Second, Nancy is No. 1 on my list as well. She officially started changing my world for the better in August 1976.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

No McDonald's Today

By Rick Pearcey

My son and I often stop by McDonald's for a bite to eat after homeschool bowling on Fridays.

But not today.

I first heard about McDonald's in 1963. I was a kid. Kennedy had been shot. I heard the news on the radio in a new white Ford station wagon while crossing a D.C. bridge.

We were returning from having been stationed in Germany. The Cuban missile crisis had come and gone. I saw the howitzers in Gelnhausen, lined up and ready to roll.

Sometime later, stateside, we were in Columbus, Ohio. Twenty-five cents, I think, for a McDonald's hamburger. What fun! A great welcome home!

But not now.

Not today, in light of reports that McDonald's has decided, apparently, to declare war on my family. And to declare war on the civilization of liberty, independence, creativity, and humanity under God that my Dad fought for in World War II.

Reports such as this -- "Pink Arches? McDonald's Buys Into Homosexual Agenda."

And reports such as this: "McDonald's Gives Support to Homosexual Agenda."

And this: "McDonald's Signs Onto 'Gay' Agenda."

For Christians, this is a matter of stewardship and "loving thy neighbor" -- Why spend good money on a morally and socially corruptive business?

For families, this is a matter of child protection -- Why support a business that helps fund organizations that disrespect the heart of family life?

For human beings, this is a matter of liberty under God -- Why help finance groups that turn their backs on the Declaration of Independence, the Founding vision, and the living Creator who holds it all together?

If you say you can do without all of that, then I say we can do without McDonald's.

Why, apparently, those McDonald's people can't tell the difference between right and wrong.

Between the wrongness of discriminating against someone on the basis of his or her beautiful and God-given skin color and the correctness of rejecting trumped-up victimhood and pretend discrimination based on membership in an ethically challenged but politically powerful interest group.

Information from the Creator, not to mention simple lessons in biology, says there's a difference between diversity and perversity, between being pulled over for driving while black and being guilty of sinning while human.

A hamburger's worth giving up and giving in to all that?

Hardly.

McDonald's is now on trial.

The fries are good. Even great. But the worldview they support isn't fit for human consumption.

Maybe we'll stop by Chick-Fil-A instead. It's a little out of the way, but I hear they like families.

Real families -- not ones made up by the ACLU last Tuesday.

And what's an extra mile or two to vote with your pocketbook? One way or another, you always pay for your convictions.

* Update: Chicago radio host Sandy Rios and I are scheduled to discuss "No McDonald's Today" at 4:35 p.m. Monday afternoon, April 7, 2008. More here. Central Time.

** Update: See also, "Faggot" Easy to Defend: Surprising Help From Secular America

*** Update: See also, Rosie O'Donnell's Oppressive Coat

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Modern Secularists Not So Brilliant

By Rick Pearcey

The Founding Fathers understood that human rights are rooted not in the state but in the Creator, in whose image all people are made.

Thus, the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.

The Founders were brilliant in that they understood that a humane balance of form and freedom in society and governance could be achieved if "we the people" as individuals self-consciously built our polity upon information given by the Creator.

Not so brilliant are modern secularists, who reject the truly progressive Judeo-Christian concept of a Creator whose liberating norms speak to all of life, public and private.

Now comes this today from AP, "Clinton promises to expand homosexual rights":

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would defend and expand homosexual rights as president.

Clinton said states such as New Jersey and Massachusetts are extending rights to homosexual couples "and the federal government should recognize that and should extend the same access to federal benefits across the board. I will very much work to achieve that." Clinton's comments came in an interview with the Philadelphia Gay
News that was posted on its website Thursday.

The problem, in a word, rogue government. Rogue, as in "vicious and solitary."

Vicious? Yes, for few things are as savage and destructive and hateful as the "gay" attack on family, freedom, and human nature defined not by the subjective imaginations and pretended "rights" of finite interest groups pushing private agendas, but by verifiable, empirically vouchsafed data from the Creator himself.

Solitary? Yes, for what the Hillarys of the world are pushing is a social order alienated from the Declaration, alienated from community with our true Creator, and alienated from our true selves as amazing creatures male and female created in the image of God. How dark and confining and inhumane is the "light" of secularism.

It demands that human beings reduce themselves to the embrace of genes, groups, genitalia, and skin color under the power construct of an autonomous federal government cut loose from the spiritual-intellectual framework that lifted the U.S. up from the Greeks, Romans, and barbarians not so long ago. Against this human nature properly and necessarily rebels.

Far better to rebel for God, man, and neighbor. Far better to say yes to love, but no to an expanding vicious "rights regime" imposed by a temporary power establishment. Yes to community, yes to humanity, but no to the loneliness of the empty, secular soul.

It's how you keep a republic.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Church of Oprah Exposed

By Rick Pearcey

A friend writes via email:

I think most of you know how I feel about "forwarded messages." This one was so striking, however, that I felt I needed to pass it on. I recommend that, if at all possible, you spend 6 minutes looking at this You Tube video. It is startling.

The video is titled "The Church of Oprah Exposed," and it runs approximately 7 minutes.

In it is an Oprah quote regarding Jesus: "There couldn't possibly be just one way." (She says it, that settles it.)

Oprah discusses "God" with an author of one of her book-club selections: "God isn't something to believe; God is . . . and God is a feeling experience, not a believing experience . . . . If God for you is still about a belief, then it's not truly God . . . " (But what if God is a fact of life -- say, of the sort that could be born in a place called Bethlehem?)

Also noted is Oprah's endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

The YouTube video concludes by pointing viewers to a website that promotes a new book, Don't Drink the Kool-Aid.

Biblically, of course, the data demonstrate that God is a rational, personal, objective being who thinks, acts, feels, and has spoken in history, space, and time so that human beings as thinking people do not have to escape from the facts of reality to affirm meaning in life, the dignity of man, or solid answers to moral dilemmas in an ethical universe.

This is not about big or small churches, big or small TV ratings, mesmerizing gurus, pantheistic celebrities, private belief systems, or private faiths where "God" is no longer in a "box" but can be whatever floats your boat, diet, gender, weekend, or TV show -- whatever you want he, she, it, or all of the above to be, since rational categories no longer apply.

But if rational categories no longer apply, how do we rationally conclude that Jim Jones and his suicidal Kool-Aid theology were wrong? His "god" was out of the "box" and people died. If rationality is irrelevant to spirituality, then we cannot say Jones was "wrong," for the word "wrong" is a meaningful linguistic symbol bound to the box of rationality beyond which certain gods, apparently, live.

Yes, there were warning signs, but the cult leader preached community and "welcomed people of every race and ethnicity," notes a PBS story. Apparently the Kool-Aid reverend did nice things for lots of people before the real world came crashing down upon his private theology and those who drank deeply of it.

The humanness of the Biblical data provides a way out. Here, human beings get to ask tough questions and resist sales pitches. Here we observe a concern for objective truth, fact, evidence, and that which accurately describes the world in which all people must live irrespective of their subjective imaginations, bank accounts, or political affiliation.

"Test everything," says 1 Thess. 5:21. That includes celebrity, religion, prophetic wannabees, presidential hopefuls, "God," etc., etc. It's the Biblical, humane, and wise thing to do.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

We Challenge Chuck Norris

By Rick Pearcey

UC Santa Barbara -- Working on The Pearcey Report today, I'm in my brother Terry's office here at UCSB, where he's a computer analyst.

I read him the conclusion of the Norris commentary titled "Bruce Lee vs. Me."

Says Norris, "So, would I have beaten Bruce Lee in a real competition or not? You'll forgive me for answering with another Bruce-ism: 'Showing off is the fool's idea of glory'."

That answer may be just a bit too humble. In any case, Terry suggests a way to settle the question: "Computer simulation."

That seems doable. And imminently watchable. Video, cable, gaming?

I believe the kick is in your corner, Mr. Norris.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Baylor and PBU -- Tale of Two Universities

By Rick Pearcey

The Baptist Press is reporting that 40% of Baylor University faculty up for tenure this semester have been denied:

An unusually high number of faculty members at Baylor University have been denied tenure this semester, and one former Baylor professor believes the denials reflect the school's decision to turn away from its Baylor 2012 campaign to establish Baylor as both a Christian university and a top-tier research institution.

The former Baylor prof who thinks the university may be rejecting its Biblical heritage for a bowl of secular soup is William Dembski. Dembski is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

As Dembski sees it, "All the junior faculty denied tenure appear to have strongly supported enhancing Baylor's Christian identity, an aspect of Baylor 2012 that many of the established professors at Baylor reject, preferring instead that Baylor become secular."

"This scandal is terrible news for Baylor and the wider Baptist world," Dembski says. "It indicates that Baylor's vision for restoring its Christian identity is on the way out and sends a message to top young scholars not to come to Baylor, because whether you get tenure is based not on merit or Christian commitment but on the whim of a capricious president."

But even as March doubts about Baylor's intellectual and Biblical commitment surface, a February press release from Philadelphia Biblical University (PBU) demonstrates an alternative for thinking Christians.

Newly inaugurated PBU president Dr. Todd Williams "Seeks to Establish Model for a Biblical University" even if that means causing a "positive disruption" to the status quo.

"We must have the fortitude and diligence to cut a new path through the landscape of contemporary higher education . . . to define and establish this model of a biblical university and thereby create a positive disruption in the academy," said the new PBU president in his Inaugural Address.

"We must engage more effectively the broader evangelical and academic communities. . . . Like the apostle Paul on Mars Hill, we must enter the marketplace, and the marketplace of ideas, and speak. If our goal is to elevate the profile of the University -- and it is -- then we must elevate our level of participation."

One indicator of the school's positive direction is that it brought aboard author and thinker (and wife) Nancy Pearcey as professor of worldview studies (she's also a fellow at Discovery). Here's the PBU press statement announcing Nancy's appointment.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Who's Worse? Son of Schaeffer or Obama Pastor?

By Rick Pearcey

In case this is your question: Who's worse, Frank Schaeffer or Obama's pastor Rev. Wright?

Or is this question unfair and totally misplaced?

The younger Schaeffer's columns at the Huffington Post are here. More on Rev. Wright here.

See also: "Francis Schaeffer 'Worse' Than Obama Pastor?"

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Francis Schaeffer "Worse" Than Obama Pastor?

By Rick Pearcey

Is evangelical thinker Francis Schaeffer "worse" than Obama pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright?

Schaeffer son Frank says, yes, according to this report in WorldNetDaily.

"When Sen. Obama’s preacher thundered about racism and injustice, Obama suffered smear-by-association," writes the younger Schaeffer. "But when my late father -- religious right leader Francis Schaeffer denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr."

For background, see:

* Rick Pearcey on "Black Jesus Does Not Exist"
* Os Guinness on "Fathers and Sons"
* Os Guinness on Obama "Better Than His Pastor"
* Douglas Groothuis on "Franky Plays the Schaeffer Card Again"
* Ranald Macaulay on "What Can We Learn From Francis Schaeffer?"
* Rick Pearcey on "Francis Schaeffer: A Student's Appreciation of a Distinct Approach"
* Rick Pearcey on "Francis Schaeffer, Mother, and Monkey Blood"

Finally, light a candle: Buy the Complete Works or other great books or videos by Francis Schaeffer.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Black Jesus Does Not Exist

By Rick Pearcey

Barack Obama says he is "proud of my Christianity," and that he appreciates his spiritual mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. For one thing, says Obama, the reverend introduced him to Jesus Christ.

One does not doubt the sincerity of Obama's feelings. But which Jesus is he talking about?

Rev. Wright preaches that Jesus was a "poor black" man. And yet if we go by the data of the Biblical record, the historical Christ is nothing of the sort.

Poor? As the Son of the Living God, Jesus of Nazareth had and has untold wealth at his fingertips. That he chose not to avail himself of these vast riches says more about his sacrificial mission than about the political implications of his earthly bank account.

In fact, Jesus of Nazareth was and is rich beyond measure. And yet this same Jesus was no sellout to economic greed. Nor to economic guilt. He was not captured by class warfare or by any impulse that smacks of Karl Marx.

But what about a "Black" Jesus? Well, being Jewish, it seems a little more likely that his skin color was olive. Genetics and all that.

But maybe Jesus was "black" culturally, standing in for the weak, the pure and poverty-stricken, the oppressed, the "scum of the earth" who in fact are the apple of God's eye.

I'm not so sure. His message is that moral failure is an equal opportunity society. Or, as Paul put it in an "obscure" verse in the book of Romans, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

Demagogues and race hustlers black or white may be offended by what follows, but this "all" includes rich man, poor man, oppressor and oppressed, Jew, Greek, Gentile, American, and African. Just look in the mirror.

The historical Jesus transcends religion, elections, and personal theologies. He stands as an objective phenomenon before all humanity and all subjective "faiths," unshackled by the dictates of group identity, race politics, liberation theologies, church cultures, and class warfare.

It is true: Power elites will "employ malleable symbols of religion and politics to manipulate money and masses towards results that overturn the original content of words and action rooted in history" (more).

But we don't have to play along. We can resist the myth. We can shock the world and say out loud: Jesus of Nazareth is the biological son of Mary, the adopted son of Joseph, the begotten Son of God, born of a virgin, verified in history, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords.

This Jesus is no victim, he needs no liberation, and it is the height of idolatry to try to reduce him and those who trust him to pigmentation, class, race, or any other kind of category that excuses the worship of the creature instead of the Creator.

I wouldn't blame Mr. Obama if he wanted a reintroduction.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Juan Williams React: Did Obama Pass the Test?

By Rick Pearcey

Juan Williams reviews what Obama did and didn't do in today's speech (video): "I think he had to take responsibility . . . that's what he didn't do."

It's a question that goes to Obama's "judgment and character."

Fox: "Is the damage done and that's it?"

Williams: "It goes on."

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Os Guinness -- Obama "Better Than His Pastor"

By Rick Pearcey

When asked on C-SPAN yesterday about the legitimacy of Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright as a campaign issue, author and social critic Os Guinness said that, from what "I know of Obama," the Democratic presidential hopeful is "better than his pastor."

The question arose as part of a more general discussion on religion, politics, and the culture war in relationship to Guinness's new book, The Case for Civility.

A few areas Guinness addresses during this program:

• Jeremiah Wright as a legitimate campaign issue
• The strengths and weaknesses of the Religious Right
• The meaning of the 1st Amendment

Quote: Civility is a "standing or falling issue for the American republic."

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Spitzer's Daughters

By Rick Pearcey

Speaking of the Bible, prostitutes, and the NY Governor, Cal Thomas asks:

"Shouldn't there be a law against the injured wife appearing with her husband at these media events?"

But if the humiliated wife is expected to show up, let us ask: Why not the children? That, at least, might have a positive impact on Dad in the days that come.

Seeing pain and injury in their downcast eyes might remind a hard-charging father and governor of who he is supposed to be.

Basic realities matter.

Being a father is more important than being a governor.

If he forgets that, not much else is worth remembering.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Spitzer Dominoes?

A reader comments --

Now that we know the name of the organization -- Emperors Club -- I hope the investigation broadens (pardon the choice of words) to see who else has poor judgment and probably shouldn't be in power.

Free Thought on Darwin at Union-Tribune

By Rick Pearcey

There's an uncivilized outbreak of intellectual freedom re Darwin over at the San Diego Union-Tribune.

A guy with two science degrees has a column explaining why "Darwinists confidently assert there is no controversy over evolution: They actively shut down such scientific debates from taking place."

Nice work, if you can get it funded.

Clearly, this fellow is a danger to the public peace, secular agenda, last Saturday's living Constitution, and the post-American way.

Union-Trib editors ought to be praised. But are they ready for the 3 a.m. materialist knock at the door?

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Remembering Larry Norman

By Nancy Pearcey

I had been a Christian only a few months in summer 1971, so I knew nothing about the young man a few feet away plucking his guitar except that his name was Larry Norman.

Tall, lanky, with sweeping blond hair, Norman was in town for a concert and had dropped by the Christian commune where I was staying. No one had invited him.

Apparently he had learned via the grapevine that our little household, known as His House, was the gathering place for Jesus Freaks in Albuquerque.

Only a few of us were in that night, so we sat comfortably on the floor quietly talking, praying, and singing in the soft lamp light.

Norman played a few of his trademark songs like “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” and “We Need a Whole Lot More of Jesus (and a Lot Less Rock and Roll).”

Larry Norman went on to be hailed as the founder of Christian Rock Music (and the owners of His House, Denis and Margie Haack, went on to found a ministry called Ransom Fellowship).

Norman defended his work as a musician by invoking a basic Christian worldview principle: “I think everybody should be a full time Christian, even if they work on cars or sell insurance” (quoted in American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon).

When Norman died last Sunday, the obits began pouring in. Here are some links:

* From Steve Turner, Guardian
* From Chris Willman, Entertainment Weekly
* From Mark Joseph, Huffington Post
* From Charles Norman, Brother, LarryNorman.com

Update: Larry Norman on Youtube.

HT: Mark Joseph; photo: amazon

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Nancy Pearcey is editor at large of The Pearcey Report.

Examiner.com: Tribute to the Empyreal Buckley

By Rick Pearcey

Examiner.com today has published my tribute to William F. Buckley, Jr.

WASHINGTON -- "In St. Louis in the late 1970s, my wife Nancy and I were students at Covenant Seminary. Nancy was still in her 'feminist' stage, and when a fellow student gave her a copy of William F. Buckley Jr.'s magazine National Review as a source for a paper she was writing, she was too embarrassed to be seen carrying such a 'reactionary' publication. She hid it among her school papers. . . ."

To see the entire commentary at the Examiner, go here.

Novelist and son Christopher Buckley: Father died "with his boots on."

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Plagiarism: Pretend People, Fake Work

By Rick Pearcey

White House aide Timothy Goeglein has resigned over admitted plagiarism.

The links below contain facts and may suggest a few whys and wherefores:

* White House Aide Resigns Over Plagiarism
* Blogger Spots "Copycat" Goeglein
* Goeglein Column: "... Honesty of Reflective Thought"
* Goeglein: "I Am Entirely at Fault"
* WPost: 20 Out of 38 Columns Tainted
* NYT: "Familiar Figure" to "Evangelical Christians"

Meanwhile, a passage from this February 28 tribute to William F. Buckley seems apropos. Regarding Buckley:

"In several respects one is reminded of Francis Schaeffer and C.S. Lewis -- deep, quick, sharp, but also humane in their brilliance, also caring for the human being next door, also real people doing real work. The contrast with the opportunistic 'mover and shaker' of Big Government, Big Celebrity, or, sadly, Big Christianity, encourages us to push forward to a higher calling,
a nobler practice, a loving dream awalk in the world."

Here are two dreams -- doable, humane, inspired by God: 1) Real work by real people, 2) Market the truth truthfully. Trot them out at the next big meeting of marketers, publishers, ghosters, blurbers, fundraisers, and other affiliates of Big Name, Inc. Then duck.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Tony Snow to Radio Factor

By Rick Pearcey

Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow will be joining the Radio Factor as Bill O'Reilly's permanent fill-in host.

First Program: Today, Friday, Feb. 22, 2008. There's more at the O'Reilly blog.

Blog Reax:

* LoRiseAntlers over at Huffington Post digs deep: "It's really too bad there's no such thing as Hell, because these two morons would definitely have a special place reserved for them."

* Limpidglass at DailyKos is thankful for little things: "Well, one day of the week without O'Reilly is a start."

* Bigdadgib is glad it's snowing again.

* A humane being showed up over at Chickenhawk Express: "Thrilled . . . great to see him doing so well after his cancer treatment."

Photo: paul morse

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

McCain Helped by NYT Attack

By Rick Pearcey

Sen. John McCain may want to thank the New York Times for its attack story "For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk." The story hit the net last night and the papers today.

I have read the Times report and watched coverage of this story by Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, as well as the response of McCain lawyer Bob Bennett on Hannity & Colmes.

The explosive charge of a possible romantic relationship between McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman is not substantiated, in my view.

This does not mean it didn’t happen; it does mean the Times has taken an unfair swipe at McCain and thereby justly suffers another blow to its credibility.

Click here to continue reading "McCain Helped by NYT Attack."

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Jai and Rene's Baby Shower

By Rick Pearcey

While Obama was making it 10 in a row over Hillary last night in Wisconsin, I was in northwest Washington, D.C., for a baby shower in honor of Jai and Rene, who have little Isaiah on the way.

Jai and I are soccer teammates on 2 indoor teams. He was born in Ghana and educated in England and the U.S. (Atlanta), where he played on a championship high school soccer team. I have gotten to know sweet Rene through Jai, and both attend nearby Howard University.

Here they are, holding an autographed copy of what I've heard is a pretty good book. We await a review from young Isaiah.

On the wall above Jai's piano and next to the kitchen:

My 3 soccer amigos, all of Howard U. Left to right: Derrick (from Trinidad), Kyle (from Trinidad), and Jai.

A wonderful time with friends old, new, and yet to arrive.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Movable Type Expert Wanted

By Rick Pearcey

If you are an expert in Moveable Type, please contact us at The Pearcey Report.

Email: pearcey@thepearceyreport.com.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

Why Con Men Live in Fear

By Rick Pearcey

Why con men live in fear, even if they have a lifetime of records, resumes, PR, and "good friends" to back them up.

Here's the story from AFP:

"A 70-year-old Italian man who had been pretending to be blind for 40 years to get an invalid's pension was arrested as he drove his car, Sky TG24 television said Thursday . . . ."

More here.

He had everything going for him but the truth.
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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Pro-Abort Ad Helping John McCain?

By Rick Pearcey

Gary Bauer says McCain is pro-life. So does Planned Parenthood. Here's the pro-abort group's radio ad, just in time for today's Potomac Primary.

"With enemies like this, who needs friends?," asks an "Embed Producer" over at the Fox News blogs.

The only thing missing: "I'm John McCain, and I approved this ad."
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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Nancy Pearcey Speaking at Philadelphia Biblical University

By Rick Pearcey

Nancy Pearcey will be speaking at Philadelphia Biblical University this Wed., February 6.

Her talk during the 10 a.m. chapel is part of a series of events and activities celebrating the inauguration of Dr. Todd J. Williams as the 5th president of the university.

For a schedule of PBU inaugural events, driving directions, and additional information, please go here.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

The Coulter Gambit

By Rick Pearcey

Yesterday author and commentator Ann Coulter upset the political world by asserting on “Hannity and Colmes” that she would “vote for” and “campaign for” Hillary Clinton if the former First Lady wins the Democratic nomination and the GOP picks Sen. John McCain as its standard-bearer for President in the November elections. Coulter argued that Clinton is more conservative than McCain in several respects.

What to make of this? Go here for the rest of the article.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Radio Alert: Nancy Pearcey on "Prime Time America"

By Rick Pearcey

Interviews with Nancy Pearcey will air on Moody Radio’s "Prime Time America" this week Monday-Friday, January 14-18.

These interviews are scheduled for broadcast at 4:46 p.m. Central Time.

To listen live or locate a local station on the Moody Broadcasting Network, please visit this page. Audio archives are here.

Nancy Pearcey is author of Total Truth, editor at large of The Pearcey Report, and professor of worldview studies at Philadelphia Biblical University.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (articles).

The Most Manipulative Time of the Year

By Rick Pearcey

"The joyous Christmas season has become increasingly secular, religious, and fragmented, helping make the most wonderful time of the year perhaps also the most manipulative. We celebrate, and that is good, even healing. And given the hectic pace of life in America, there is much to admire in our ability to rise to the occasion of Christmas festivity every December.

"But on a deeper level, the awe and cheer that attend a Holy Night and a Christmas Day seem more than ever to rest upon cultural understandings weak and eroding. Consider how fact today is alienated from meaning, “faith” from life, spirit from matter, and wonder from the real things of life in a searching, troubled world. The optimism of a new beginning in a New Year fades when we lose touch with secure points of reference by which to measure hope and find comfort in progress. Power elites employ malleable symbols of religion and politics to manipulate money and masses towards results that overturn the original content of words and action rooted in history.

"There is a remedy for this, and it is found in the humane and concrete realities of the events that started it all some 2,000 years ago. . ."

For more, please see my "Christmas Spirit in the Dirt Means Good News for New Year," at The Pearcey Report.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Groothuis Reviews "Crazy for God" at The Pearcey Report

By Rick Pearcey

"Those of us deeply touched by the life and writings of Francis and Edith Schaeffer may be interested in Crazy for God, a memoir by their son and youngest child, Frank (formerly Franky), who is now in his mid-fifties," writes Douglas Groothuis in a review of the new book. Groothuis is professor of philosophy at Denver Seminary.

"Given my interest in all things Schaeffer," Groothuis continues, "I found the book in turn fascinating and infuriating. I first learned of it by reading a cynical and sneering review in The Nation, a secular leftwing publication. The reviewer took the book to be a repudiation of evangelical faith, the Christian Right, and an expose of the hypocrisy of many Christian leaders, most notably, Francis and Edith Schaeffer.

"That review outraged me, but also piqued my curiosity. What had become of Franky Schaeffer, the producer of two significant film series featuring the ideas of his father -- How Should We Then Live? and Whatever Happened to the Human Race? -- and a man whose own books I had read in the early 1980s? Could Frank offer some insights into the life of his family and about the evangelical world he left behind?"

To see how Groothuis answers these questions, read the entire review of Crazy for God here.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Nancy Speaking at Princeton

By Rick Pearcey

Nancy is speaking at Princeton University this Saturday, November 10, at a conference on "The Christian Worldview and the Academy."

Here is the schedule and lineup of speakers. The conference is hosted by the Witherspoon Institute.

For more information, please contact Partrick Hough at 609-688-8779, ext. 310 (email: worldview.conference@gmail.com).

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Guinness Blasts "Crazy" Journalism in "New Statesman" Schaeffer Article

By Rick Pearcey

In "Holy Fools," New Statesman writer Jeff Sharlet describes Francis Schaeffer and L'Abri Fellowship in ways that are perhaps unrecognizable to many. You might even say "crazy," to borrow a word from the title of a new book, Crazy for God, by Schaeffer's son, Frank (aka Franky).

"I lived with Francis and Edith Schaeffer in their home for five years, and with Frank too for much of that time," says author and lecturer Os Guinness in a reader comment at the end of the article.

"What you have written is a tissue of falseness, distortion, and unchecked allegations -- in short of shoddy journalism. Write if you want a more accurate account."

The New Statesman article is here. It contains vulgar language. Also, don't miss the reader comments by "JimBerkley" and "mmarc."


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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Chattanooga Nancy at Bryan College

By Rick Pearcey

Nancy is honored to participate in the Distinguished Speaker series this Friday, October 26, under the auspices of Chattanooga Matters.

Here's the announcement from the Chattanooga Matters website:

"Nancy Pearcey, the acclaimed author of Total Truth, is the next in our Distinguished Speaker Series.

"She will appear at a Chattanooga Matters event being held on Friday, October 26th at 12 Noon on the campus of Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee. Nancy will speak and then take questions over lunch.

"The cost is $12 per person so please join us for this rare opportunity to hear from one of the leading Biblical Worldview speakers in the nation today. Seating is limited so make your reservations today at: info@chattanoogamatters.org."

For more information, contact Chattanooga Matters at 423-756-0410. Or visit the website.

Speaking of Bryan College, Nancy will also deliver remarks this Friday at the college chapel (11:00 a.m.) as part of the International Leadership Forum.

Go here for a review of Total Truth that appears on the Bryan College website. The main Bryan phone number is 423-775-2041.


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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

New Chancellor, President at PBU

By Rick Pearcey

On Sept. 5, 2007, we announced Nancy's new position as scholar for worldview studies at Philadelphia Biblical University (PBU).

There are continuing developments at PBU, which now announces the appointments of a new chancellor and president.

"The Board of Trustees of Philadelphia Biblical University is pleased to announce the appointment of President W. Sherrill Babb as Chancellor effective January 1, 2008. Succeeding Dr. Babb as President will be Dr. Todd J. Williams, Sr. Vice President and Provost of the University since 2005," says the university.

“The appointments of Dr. Babb as Chancellor and Dr. Williams as President were confirmed by the Board in recognition of the gifts, experience, and leadership acumen they will each bring to their new roles,” says Mel Nace, who is chairman of the board.

“These transitions are very timely and appropriate as the University seeks to further define and establish itself as a premier institution offering a distinctive biblical worldview education,” says Nace (emphasis added).

"Dr. W. Sherrill Babb served as President of PBU for 28 years," says PBU. "He became the University’s 4th President, assuming the role when the institution moved from Center City Philadelphia to Langhorne in September 1979 . . . . During his tenure as President, Dr. Babb conferred degrees upon 5,823 graduates. One of those was Todd J. Williams, a cum laude graduate of the Class of 1992. . . .

"Dr. Williams has inspired students and faculty with his passion for an enlarged academic vision that includes scholarly endeavors such as the newly established Center for University Studies and appointment of Worldview Scholar Dr. Nancy Pearcey, graduates who demonstrate an ability to engage in the cultural discourse of the day, and pursuit of academic rigor and curriculum that will establish PBU as a premier institution of Christian higher education that is distinctly and intentionally biblical in its approach."

The full announcement is here.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Generation Next: BBC Interviews Young Co-Authors of "Conspiracy of Calaspia"

By Rick Pearcey

There's a delightful "Generation Next" BBC radio interview with the two young co-authors of a new work of fantasy titled Conspiracy of Calaspia. This is Book One in a planned series of six called the Insanity Saga. The BBC program includes readings, an overview of the book, and background on the co-authors.

Speaking of which, they are Suresh and Jyoti Guptara, a set of twins from Zurich. Their collaboration is a 21st century phenomenon, with Suresh attending school in England (with designs on Oxford), and Jyoti a freelance journalist in Switzerland.

I read aloud a portion of the book last night to our son Michael -- and we both look forward to completing it. Michael's review: "It's good."

Readers of The Pearcey Report may recall "Koran Does Not Forbid Images of Muhammad -- What's Really Going On?," by the twins' father Prabhu (website).

To learn about a writing contest based on the book, go to the Conspiracy of Calaspia Literary Competition.

The twins' website is here. More about the book at Amazon, here.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

PBU Releases Nancy Pearcey News Advisory Via ChristianNewsWire

By Rick Pearcey

ChristianNewsWire has published a media advisory from Philadelphia Biblical University regarding Nancy's new position as professor of worldview studies at the school's Center for University Studies.

"Over 900 public policy groups, government agencies, PR firms, religious organizations, think-tanks, watchdog groups, advocacy groups, coalitions, foundations, colleges, universities, activists, politicians, and candidates use Christian Newswire to distribute their press releases," says the newswire's website.

Here's the announcement.

For a list of search engines and news outlets reached by ChristianNewsWire, go here.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Does God Ordain Evil?

By Rick Pearcey

Udo Middelmann's new book The Innocence of God: Does God Ordain Evil? is due to go on sale Oct. 10, 2007, at Amazon.com.

Having read through most of an uncorrected proof of the manuscript, I would highly recommend this book as a creative and thoughtful engagement of issues such as the sovereignty of God, the significance of man, and resistance to evil, with special attention to the kinds of determinism that emerge from secularism, paganism, Islam, and hyper-Calvinism.

Amazon lists the publisher as Paternoster, which is a division of STL (Send the Light). What follows is from the publisher's website:

*About the Book: "The Bible teaches us that God is sovereign over all. Does that mean in his sovereignty and foreknowledge, all events are determined? What about evil and the choices of man to disobey God or not to believe in him at all?

"What a choice! Between a good but weak, or bad but strong, God. The sovereignty of God, the existence of evil, the responsibility of man: How do these work together to explain human history and the reality of the world around us?

"Belief in the sovereignty of God has led to extreme forms of determinism, while a rejection of God's sovereignty has resulted in an openness view of history, which assumes the idea of a God with limited power and knowledge.

"In The Innocence of God Udo Middelmann critiques both positions and demonstrates the continuing battle of a good and powerful God for his creation. God admonishes us to seek justice, goodness, and mercy in the continuing struggle against evil. The truth of God's patient, yet powerful battle for redemption is absent when everything has already been determined."

* About the Author: "Udo Middelmann was born in Germany and has lived in Switzerland for over thirty years. He is a university lecturer by special invitation in various countries, a consultant, and principal speaker on 'Ethics for a Civil Society' for the Russian Ministry of Education, and is currently president of the Francis Schaeffer Foundation in New York and Switzerland."

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Humane Truth: Trinity as Model for Human Social Life

By Rick Pearcey

A blog entry over at "Hanz" is titled "Christian Social Theory: The Trinity as a Model for Human Social Life."

First sentence: "Nancy Pearcey's Total Truth is to today as Francis Schaeffer's books were to 20 years ago."

What follows at "Hanz" is a brief excerpt from Total Truth, here.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Nancy Pearcey Speaking in Tampa Area

PBU Professor of Worldview Studies Dr. Nancy Pearcey will speak next week at the Cambridge Study Center, Lakeland Christian School, and Berean Academy, all three located in the Tampa, Fla., area.

* Cambridge Study Center: She will speak under the auspices of the center in Lakeland, Fla., Thursday and Friday, September 20-21. For more information, see the website here or phone 863-686-4862. The Cambridge announcement is here.

* Lakeland Christian School: The venue of the Thursday evening September 20th event is provided by cohost LCS (website). For additional details, see the school announcement "Award-Winning Author and Speaker to Appear at LCS"; phone: 863-688-2771.

* Berean Academy: Nancy will speak at the academy in Tampa, Fla., Friday and Saturday, September 21-22 (website). For more information, see the academy announcement page here or call 813-932-0552.

An updated bio on Nancy is available here. Press announcements concerning Nancy's recent academic appointment are located at The Pearcey Report and this PBU "News and Events" page.

Warning -- Fascist Robots Reading Nancy Pearcey, C.S. Lewis

By Rick Pearcey

A website alerts readers that the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) is up to no good.

The first paragraph sets the tone: "The Minnesota Family Council is a spawn of Dobson (it's got 'family' in the title, so you know it's got to be evil), and it's usually one of those organizations that lobbies to get legislative support for their hatred of women and gays. They are not nice people. If you're ever in this state and want to see some splendid examples of calcified brains, this is the group you want to track down."

2nd paragraph: "They're starting a new training program: the Minnesota Worldview Leadership Project. It's the weirdest thing. Apparently, it's a seminar and discussion series that is supposed to turn you into an even more fervent theocrat, ready to shape the United States into a more Christian nation. And, as you might guess, they don't like evolution."

To make matters worse: "They're reading Nancy Pearcey" (formerly an agnostic and still a free-thinker) and, next paragraph, C.S. Lewis (formerly an atheist and still a free-thinker).

I know nothing about this MFC program, but I highly recommend the writings of Nancy and Jack. Some secularists know whom to fear.

The Minnesota Family Council website is here. More insights from a self-described "godless liberal" are here.

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).

Nancy Pearcey Accepts Scholar for Worldview Studies Position at PBU

By Rick Pearcey

We thought you might enjoy hearing about the latest in Nancy's work. What follows is from the press statement, released today, on her new position as "Scholar for Worldview Studies":

Sept. 5, 2007 -- The Pearcey Report is pleased to announce that editor-at-large Dr. Nancy R. Pearcey has accepted a position as Scholar for Worldview Studies with the rank of professor at the Center for University Studies at Philadelphia Biblical University (PBU), based in Langhorne, Pa.

Dr. Pearcey is the “first-ever faculty scholar to be appointed to the Center for University Studies, which PBU established to advance scholarship and cultural engagement,” says a soon-to-be-released press statement by the university. She will teach, speak, and write on the relevance of the Judeo-Christian worldview as a humane and verifiably true alternative to secular, pagan, and humanistic philosophies set forth in the academy, politics, society, and popular culture of today.

“Her distinguished education – which includes studying under the late Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer of L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland – and her extensive work in bringing Christian worldview perspective to important issues of the day make Dr. Pearcey uniquely qualified for this position,” says PBU Provost Todd Williams.

The entire press release appears here. PBU's website is here.

Updates:

* "Dr. Nancy Pearcey Named Worldview Scholar at PBU's Center for University Studies" (PBU)
* "Hats Off to Nancy Pearcey" (Alex Chediak)

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Rick Pearcey is editor and publisher of The Pearcey Report (archives).