Here’s a great example of backwards thinking: apparently black students in Pinellas County schools are suspended and arrested at a disproportionately higher rate than students of other races. The proposed solution: an agreement has been drafted in which the schools are supposed to be “thinking about options and utilizing those options.” In other words,... »

Time Magazine has published an article on a new Tulane University study that purports to show that children who are spanked leads to more aggressive children in the long run. On the surface, it makes sense—”aggressive” physical punishment leads to more aggressive children. Obviously it would be best then not to spank one’s children... »

The BBC News has published an article on what they are calling “the virginity industry“—(mainly Arab and some Asian) women choosing to get hymen restoration surgery in order to hide their past sexual activity prior to getting married, avoiding the social consequences of not being a virgin on their wedding night. It is indeed... »

It’s been awhile since the last installment of this series (lots more to come), but this one should be fairly straightforward. 2 Kings 2:23–24 tells of the prophet Elisha calling a curse down upon a group of “children” (KJV), “youths” (NIV), “boys,” (NRSV/ESV), or “lads” (NASB), resulting in two bears (she-bears, if you must)... »

This site recently went through a back-end upgrade from PHP 4 to PHP 5, which allows more flexibility and should improve site performance. Unfortunately, the upgrade wasn’t especially smooth, with the process involving quite a few hiccups within the WordPress framework I use. I couldn’t relably add or activate plugins—either getting a blank screen... »

I’ve recently been reflecting on the danger of assuming that having good motives or intentions ensures that what we do is justified. In fact, this notion might be the most dangerous ethical pitfall of all, allowing a person to justify the most egregious behavior without any strain on the conscience. The old saying isn’t... »