Starboard Side Lunacy

Evidently the lunatic fringe is a big tent. Even some erstwhile respectable commentators on the right have wandered under its canopy. Here, for example, is former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and former contributing editor at National Review Paul Craig Roberts waxing delusional about how George Bush will fabricate a pretext to attack Iran with nuclear weapons:

[A] low yield, perhaps tactical, nuclear weapon will be exploded some distance out from a U.S. port. Death and destruction will be minimized, but fear and hysteria will be maximized. Americans will be told that the ship bearing the weapon was discovered and intercepted just in time, thanks to Bush's illegal spying program, and that Iran is to blame. A more powerful wave of fear and outrage will again bind the American people to Bush, and the U.S. media will not report the rest of the world's doubts of the explanation.

There's more evidence of Roberts' slide into nuttery at the link. It's very sad.

Nelson v. Sarkar

Intelligent Design advocate Paul Nelson discusses his recent debate with Sahotra Sarkar on the merits of ID at UT-Austin here. Sounds like they had fun.

Sexual Anarchy

In one of the earliest posts in our nearly two year history here at Viewpoint we argued that gay marriage was greasing the tracks for polygamous marriage and that group marriages would follow hard after. Now comes this report in Newsweek:

Marlyne Hammon, who's involved in a polygamous relationship, is a founding member of the Centennial Park Action Committee, a group that lobbies for decriminalization of the practice. She's among a new wave of polygamy activists emerging in the wake of the gay-marriage movement-just as a federal lawsuit challenging anti-polygamy laws makes its way through the courts and a new show about polygamy debuts on HBO. "Polygamy rights is the next civil-rights battle," says Mark Henkel, who, as founder of the Christian evangelical polygamy organization TruthBearer.org, is at the forefront of the movement. His argument: if Heather can have two mommies, she should also be able to have two mommies and a daddy. Henkel and Hammon have been joined by other activist groups like Principle Voices, a Utah-based group run by wives from polygamous marriages. Activists point to Canada, where, in January, a report commissioned by the Justice Department recommended decriminalizing polygamy.

As we observed in that post almost two years ago, if our courts and legislatures allow efforts like these to go forward there will soon be no place to draw a line, even if anyone should want to. Once the gender of those entering into marriage no longer matters neither will their number. When neither gender nor number matters there will be no logical rationale for proscribing any form of union whatsoever, certainly there will be no compelling argument against group or incestuous marriage nor will there be much stomach for fighting to preserve laws prohibiting sexual relationships between adults and consenting minors.

We are on the cusp of a societal revolution that will usher in a kind of sexual anarchy, and it's doubtful that marriage as it has been known throughout our history will survive the turbulence.

Bush's selection of John Roberts and Samuel Alito is looking better all the time, but, of course, we're sure Al Gore or John Kerry would have made equally wise choices for the bench.

Thought For Today

I got an email from a friend this week and thought I would pass it on to our readers.

Subject: ARE YOU JESUS?

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.

ALL BUT ONE !!!

He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor.

He was glad he did. The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display.

As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly."

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?"

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?"

Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day.

You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Let us live like we are worth the price He paid.