“I came to the conclusion that the optimist thought everything good except the pessimist, and that the pessimist thought everything bad, except himself."
G. K. Chesterton, quoted on Thinkexist.com
“Few Christian thinkers have so well understood [as Luther] the abyss of despair that is the alternative to the utterly gratuitous love of God in Christ.”
Richard John Neuhaus in First Things January 2004
“Only miracle is plain; it is the ordinary that groans with the unutterable weight of glory.”
Robert Farrar Capon The Supper of the Lamb
In my latest National Post column I remind politicians that John Stuart Mill’s classic defence of free speech applies every bit as much to social media as to the spoken, written or broadcast word.
(You can watch the beginning and hear the rest of my testimony on the subject to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on June 4, as well as that of Mark Steyn and Lindsay Shepherd, on ParlVu (my prepared remarks begin at 9:09).
On June 4 I appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to testify on online hate, and urged them not to censor even loathsome opinions because truth will prevail in a contest of ideas. You can watch the beginning of the session and hear the rest including my testimony on ParlVu (my prepared remarks begin at 9:09).
See also my June 5 National Post column adapted from that testimony.
“Only God can fix prices”
“a hadith attributed to the Prophet” according to Bernard Lewis The Middle East: 2000 Years of History from the Rise of Christianity to the Present Day (although he notes that it was frequently disregarded in practice with bad results)
“the religious worldview conforms to the most successful plot device ever conceived – namely, a happy ending that blossoms from difficulties necessarily confronted and overcome.”
Huston Smith Why Religion Matters
“[T]o be praised by fools, that is the real dishonour.”
A “Buddhist saying” according to a letter from Judy Girard of Ottawa in Ottawa Citizen July 27, 2004