Eyeless in Gaza
Thu 24 Jan 2008 by David Aikman
In case you didn’t know it, “Eyeless in Gaza” is the name of a British, post-punk New Wave musical duo who chose the name of their band from the novel by the same name by British writer Aldous Huxley. Huxley’s novel, which has nothing to do with the Middle East, was first published in 1936. Its title is borrowed from a line in Milton’s poem, Samson Agonistes, portraying the fate of the Biblical character Samson, who finally achieves revenge on the Philistines by pulling down the temple of Dagon with the last remains of his strength, and killing, in his dying act, more Philistines than he slew when he was a strong young man.
But less than two months after the much-publicized one-day conference in Annapolis, Maryland, hosted by President Bush to re-launch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, “eyeless in Gaza” might well be an appropriate subhead—to use journalistic jargon—for anyone associated with negotiations over the future of Gaza and of Israeli-Palestinian relations as a whole.
Justice and Civility in the Immigration Debates
Fri 18 Jan 2008 • Responses: 3 • by Luder Whitlock
Meanness adds no value to the decision-making process. It often wounds those targeted by it and such wounds can quickly metastasize into lasting hostility and alienation.
America is a nation of immigrants. Our schools, offices, and neighborhoods now host many ethnic groups with some school districts having more than fifty language groups. My own ancestry, rooted in multiple Northern European countries, bears testimony as well.
Given that, why has immigration become such a hot political issue recently? In some senses it is not new; the previous century saw several immigration flare-ups. Today terrorism, triggering a concern for national security, is undoubtedly a factor, as are the millions of Hispanics who have entered the country illegally and continue to flood across our southwestern border.
A Church in China
Wed 16 Jan 2008 • Responses: 3 • by David Aikman
Independent, But Not Underground
“Sauna City” is a commercial building in the Asian Games district of Beijing that is only a few years old but already is beginning to look distinctly shabby. The main entrance to the building has a sign over it, “Night Club,” and there are advertisements for various kinds of bath-house activity; it doesn’t look like the most salubrious location in the Chinese capital. But as a visitor approaches the right-hand-side front entrance, his attention is captured by a most unexpected sound wafting down from somewhere above: Christian hymn singing.
Those Hard-Worked Chinese Ideologists
Fri 11 Jan 2008 by David Aikman
Poor Chinese Communist leaders! It’s not enough to rise to the top of the largest political party in the world, the Communist Party of China (66 million members in 2002) and rule the world’s most populous nation (1.3 billion). Chinese Communist leaders seem predestined to become brilliant ideological innovators in the opaque mists of Marxism.
Shoring up the Fragments
Tue 08 Jan 2008 by William Edgar
Thoughts on T. S. Eliot’s Poetry
Senior Fellow William Edgar offers an overview of T. S. Eliot’s life and thinking to help introduce readers to his poetry. He also compares the approaches of Eliot and his contemporary and critic C. S. Lewis, to ask some deeper questions about the role of the Christian artist.
Losing Touch with a Friend
Thu 03 Jan 2008 • Responses: 1 • by Peter Sanlon
Do we need God to experience true friendship?
In a tedious meeting I noticed the blinking light on my BlackBerry. Disinterestedly I glanced at the e-mail that had landed in my inbox—the sender’s name evoked memories. Years had passed; we had vacationed together, shared meals, talked of hopes and fears. The e-mail was from a friend I lost touch with. Last I had heard from him he was heading to college, excited but slightly fearful of what the future might hold. It was a joy to discover that he has since graduated and established his own art business, selling his work via the internet.
Cicero asked himself what the most important thing in life is, concluding that, “Virtue (without which friendship is impossible) is first; but next to it, and to it alone, the greatest of all things is friendship.”
Making a Difference
Fri 21 Dec 2007 • Responses: 6 • by Donald M. Bishop
‘Young Altruists’ Need a Broader View of Doing Good
Donald Bishop, a senior U.S. Foreign Service officer, looks at the difficulties faced by some young adults who want to use their careers to make the world a better place. He argues that they leave unexplored real possibilities to do good. It’s time to question the conventional wisdom and consider the possibilities of business, the military, and long-term overseas service as means to help the poor and suffering.
‘Christian America, this is YOUR Columbine’
Fri 21 Dec 2007 • Responses: 2 • by David Aikman
Isn’t this a hate crime?
There is something very perplexing in the mainstream media response to the shootings at a Youth With A Mission center in Arvada, Colorado, and New Life Church in Colorado Springs, seventy miles away. The shooter, Matthew Murray, 24, initially murdered two staffers at the Youth With A Mission training base in Arvada, Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24, shortly after midnight on December 10. Several hours later, he drove seventy miles to the large Colorado Springs church and murdered two more victims, young sisters, Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachael Works, 16, before being shot at by a female security guard, falling to the ground, and then shooting himself.
Professor Putnam and the City on a Hill
Thu 20 Dec 2007 by Pete Peterson
Modeling Diverse Community
Pete Peterson looks at the new report from sociologist Robert D. Putnam and sees some evidence that American churches are living out their faith in ways that will help the country learn to live with its ethnic diversity.
A Second Look at Annapolis
Thu 13 Dec 2007 • Responses: 2 • by David Aikman
A “successful” round of talks?
It is more than two weeks now since the Annapolis Conference on Middle East peace convened by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on the property of the U.S. Naval Academy. The one-day conference could hardly avoid being seen as a huge anti-climax, in spite of the fact that it was touch and go until just before the event that some of the countries invited would even turn up. The invitees were nearly fifty in number, and included the entire Arab League’s 22 members, representatives of the EU, the UN, China and Russia. The central guests of the conference, of course, were Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Conspicuous by their absence—they were not invited—were representatives of the Palestinian political party, Hamas, and of course, the Iranians, who denounced the conference before, during, and after it took place.
