Love Thy Neighbor (Just Keep Him In Canada) La Shawn Barber examines illegal immigration from a Biblical point of view: "It is not “un-Christian” to support restricted immigration into one’s country. It is not “un-Christian” to advocate deportation of illegal aliens. I challenge anyone to find in Scripture where such a concept is even hinted at." (La Shawn isn't one to avoid a controversial topic, is she?)

American Christian = Conservative? British blogger Richard Hall is surprised to find that so many American Christians are politically conservative and wonders, “Is it possible to persuade my brothers and sisters there that Conservative politics and Christian faith are not so intimately bound together as they assume?” Mark Byron explains why that's not likely to happen.

Know Your Influential Christians Church Executive magazine has released their list of The 50 most influential Christians in America. Some obvious choices (#1-3, #7, 8), some odd exclusions (#5 is Sandra Day O'Connor but Justices Thomas or Scalia don't make the list?), and some just odd (#12 Lisa Beamer?). Who did they miss? [Hat tip: Bene (who doesn't like the idea much at all)]

Monkey Mugs Photographer Jill Greenberg has an amazing porfolio that includes shots of models, celebrities, musicians, and children. But nothing is as beautiful as her photos of monkeys. My wife says I look like this charming chimp. I'm flattered. [Hat tip: Who else? My other favorite Monkeys]

Tabula Rasa and Feminism Mike from Blind Mind's Eye takes an intriguing look at the foundational assumptions of radical feminism: "The circular logic of this a priori assumption is astounding because feminists argue that human instinct essentially doesn't exist, but then argue that the course of most societies has been to oppress women. If males had no instinct, or anything analogous to it, then how is that all major first and second world nations are ones that feminists have derisively concluded to be "male-dominated" or "patriarchal?" Does God or nature love coincidence?"

Are Addictions "Diseases?" I must confess that I’ve always been skeptical of the “disease model” of addiction. But Dr. Bob, a Christian physicican/philosopher/blogger, has an interesting series on "Addiction and Judgement" that has caused me to rethink my position. See also "The Downward Spiral" and "There is a Solution".

Email Eater After a number of my friends and relatives have complained that I haven't answered their email (correspondence which I never recieved), I discovered that the problem could have been with a spam filter I've been using. If you've sent me an email over the past couple of months and I haven't responded it is likely that I just never got it. Hopefully, the problem is fixed. I apologize for what must have appearred to be terribly rude behavior on my part.