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The Long View

The Long View 2006-09-18: The Benedictine Jihad II

A long post on the intricacies of the argument after Pope Emeritus Benedict's Regensburg lecture. After all this time, the thing that strikes me really is that Benedict meant what he said, and said it deliberately, but that his point was a bit softer and more subtle than

The Long View 2006-09-15: The Benedictine Jihad

Pope Emeritus Benedict later gave a speech in Jordan that is sometimes described as an anti-Regensburg speech, but I honestly think he really believed what he said both times. The Benedictine Jihad Guy Fawkes Day came early in the Muslim world, to judge by these scenes of effigies of Benedict

The Long View 2006-09-13: Animal Rights; Surveys; Der Waldzellspieler

As a Thomist, I am also an essentialist. Essences or forms, εἶδος, distinguish different kinds of things from one another. This idea is so rooted in Western thought that even people who oppose it often act as if they presuppose it to be true. When someone genuinely acts otherwise, it

The Long View 2006-09-11: Memorials; Media Via Islam; Evangelism; Thriller Device

I'm back after a nice vacation. Let's jump back into the Long View re-posting project! This is a reprise of Pope Emeritus Benedict's tour of Bavaria in 2006. The tolerance which we urgently need includes the fear of God -- respect for what others

The Long View 2006-09-07: The Court Historian; The Creepy-Crawlies; The Abandoned City

In retrospect, I think I agree with Mohammad Khatami that American policy in Iraq in the first half of the 2000s led to increased terrorism and instability. John Reilly was often harsh on Iran and Iranian politicians in his blog, and this post is no exception. To be fair to

The Long View 2006-09-05: Union Revolt; Bob Roberts; Mead

I had recently been thinking thoughts much like John Reilly's here: if labor unions in the US had real political power again, one of the first things they would do is demand decreased immigration, and effective enforcement of labor laws. Since at the moment neither major US party

The Long View 2006-09-01: The Overthrow of Islam

The politicization of religion is a nuisance. Unfortunately, it is often less than clear what counts as politicization when you get started. The Overthrow of Islam "Taking the turban" was the term that American and European mariners called the practice of formally embracing Islam when captured by Muslim