They told Glenn Reynolds that if he voted for John McCain the US would take harsh stands against the developing world, and they were right!A “senior administration official” has told the Washington Post that the Bush administration made such generous concessions to developing countries that the Obama administration can’t make progress on the Doha Round […]

New cuts proposed by Britain’s cash strapped government will reduce the British Army to its smallest size since the late nineteenth century — since the Second Boer War started in 1899, to be exact.At that time Britain ruled one fourth of the earth’s surface and one quarter of the world’s population. A few people are […]

As if life wasn’t hard enough for a rising superpower, China now faces the prospect of a holy war — at least according to Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong.A storm is brewing over the Chinese government’s recent rush to consecrate bishops without Rome’s approval.  Excommunications have been hurled; so far, Hu Jintao has […]

From time to time in Pakistan, Christians have quietly found an opportunity to speak with me about the conditions of their lives.  Many live in constant fear of violence and suffer systematic discrimination and exploitation as a result of their faith.This story about the problems of poor Christians in Lahore matches up well with other […]

Holy Bombers and God mobs have been wreaking havoc across the most populous and second most oil-rich country in Africa.  Worse is to come;  hot religion is on the march.There’s nothing new about God mobs in Nigeria, but globalization enables local movements like Boko Haram to connect with regional and international counterparts like al-Shabab and […]

Nutrition scientists have made a shocking discovery, the paper of record records: we eat fatty foods because — we want to.  Apparently fatty foods spark chemical reactions in our brains that trigger the ‘want’ mechanism, and the next thing you know that whole bag of chips is just gone! The next step has already been […]

News that Michele Bachmann has ended her membership in a brand of Lutheranism that condemns the Papacy as Antichrist is a sign that the forces making America a tolerant country as well as a religious one are still at work.  In national politics, bigots can’t win.The Catholic vote isn’t large enough to elect a Catholic […]

The Washington Post reports that  the “grand bargain” option of $4 trillion in cuts over ten years is reviving as an option.Big deal.The brouhaha over the coming debt meltdown has obsessed the media for the last two weeks. Some of the most talented journalists in the country are trying to get the latest rumors and […]

Famed sociologist (and TAI blogger) Peter Berger is not only one of the best known sociologists of our time but one of the funniest men alive with an near-infinite supply of jokes.  His outsized personality and Truly Giant Brain are on full display in his new book out, called Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist. The […]

The story of rapid Christian growth in China is well known; since the end of the Cultural Revolution tens of millions of Chinese have converted to Christianity; TAI blogger Peter Berger accepts a middle range estimate of 65 million.What’s less known is that India, too, is experiencing a surge in Christian conversions, with some observers […]