Ethics- Pagan vs. Christian

Posted on by metroupe

This is one of the most thought provoking articles I have read in a while. It has that effect of putting into words, with citations, the things you were suspecting. The author is not a Christian, and I don’t even agree with the whole thing. Yet, it is still very important to read and reflect on this. This makes me want to read her book “The Case Against The Sexual Revolution.”

Here is a taste:

“There’s a very short and very brutal poem by the Scottish poet Hollie McNish, written in 2019 and titled “Conversation with an archaeologist”:

he said they’d found a brothel
on the dig he did last night
I asked him how they know
he sighed:
a pit of babies’ bones
a pit of newborn babies’ bones was how to spot a brothel

“It’s true, you know,” said the writer and lawyer Helen Dale when we had lunch in London last year and I mentioned this poem, which I chose as one of the epigraphs to my book The Case Against the Sexual Revolution.Helen was a classicist before she was a lawyer, and as a younger woman she had taken part in archaeological excavations of ancient Roman sites. “First you find the erotic statuary,” she went on, “and then you dig a bit more and you find the male infant skeletons.” Male, of course, because the males were of no use to the keepers of Roman brothels, whereas the female infants born to prostituted women were raised into prostitution themselves.”

The idea that all humans have value because of their humanity, regardless of their status or strength is rare in the history of the world, and it is distinctly Christian.

A Little Inspiration From Russian Literature

Posted on by metroupe

A couple of years ago I came across an interview with Gary Saul Morson on Thinking in Public. I loved it so much I looked for some of his other stuff. Just these few conversations have made me want to wade into the world of these Russian authors. Definitely worth your time.

The Abiding Truths of Russian Literature: A Conversation with Gary Saul Morson

‘Wonder Confronts Certainty’ — A Conversation with Professor Gary Saul Morson about the Deep Mysteries of Great Russian Literature

And this article is magnificent. It shows some of the roots of our polarized political landscape. Lenin was a man that thought and acted in absolute ways. If you agreed with him 99%, your 1% disagreement made him your enemy. Read more here: Lenin Think

When Killing Becomes The Most Convenient Option

Posted on by metroupe

Paralympian Claims Canada Offered to euthanize her when she asked for a chair lift.

When you make killing people a legal option for difficult cases, then taking a life becomes the most convenient option. And the truth is there are times where the death of another person is more convenient for other people. You are not supposed to say that, but it is true. So once you open the door to legalized killing, then the person who doesn’t want to comply with the killing appears to be stubborn, committed to a path that is more difficult for everyone else. The history of modern assisted suicide is that it is sold as a compassionate option for the most desperate situations, and then grows into a way to remove inconvenient and suffering people from our lives so that we don’t have to be inconvenienced.

The stories coming out of Canada are shocking. Medical killing will save health care dollars. Medical killing will provide more organ donations. Doctors encouraged to offer this treatment before patients even ask about it. I have a friend that suffers from severe depression. When they reached out for help they couldn’t get a psychiatry appointment for 3 months, but were offered immediate assisted suicide as an answer. (BTW, I have changed a few details in that story to guard the identity of the friend). But the truth is the same. For government bureaucrats, providing healthcare is more trouble than killing the person.

Live Not By Lies

Posted on by metroupe

“Live Not By Lies” is an essay by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. About 7 pages. Definitely worth your time. Written in 1974 Soviet Russia, but relevant in 2022 for the rest of us. We are forging our own chains when we participate in the lies of ideology.  

“When violence bursts onto the peaceful human condition, its face is flush with self-assurance, it displays on its banner and proclaims: “I am Violence! Make way, step aside, I will crush you!” But violence ages swiftly, a few years pass—and it is no longer sure of itself. To prop itself up, to appear decent, it will without fail call forth its ally—Lies. For violence has nothing to cover itself with but lies, and lies can only persist through violence. And it is not every day and not on every shoulder that violence brings down its heavy hand: It demands of us only a submission to lies, a daily participation in deceit—and this suffices as our fealty.

“And therein we find, neglected by us, the simplest, the most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!“

Read it here

Cancel Culture Wants to Threaten You Into Silence. Hear Alan Dershowitz

Posted on by metroupe

Alan Dershowitz is a veritable poster child for the values of the democratic party. At least the Democratic part of the past. A long time member of the ACLU that has fought for civil rights and free speech. He has recently been excommunicated by his group of friends for daring to stand up for the rights of unapproved people. In this podcast he describes listening and mutual learning from debates with political opponents. You may not agree with his principals, but Dershowitz is admirably a man of principal. and it has cost him. 

If you want to gain a greater understanding of the current state of cancel culture listen to this brief podcast interview from First Things.    What stands out to me is that you can be cancelled not simply for advocating unapproved ideas, but for suggesting that people should be treated respectfully.   Quite a few times I have heard the victims of cancel culture say that they are contacted by numerous people that say they agree, but that they are unwilling to speak up publicly for fear of being blacklisted.  Cancel culture thrives when the rest of us stay silent and give into fear. 

All of this seems to be an expression of the idea of “Lenin think.” He views the world as a zero sum game. You are either 100% in agreement or you are a threat. If you disagree 1% with Lenin, you are siding with the enemy and must be destroyed.  Gary Saul Morson explains “Leninthink” here. 

Learning from Monsters How NOT to Think.

Posted on by metroupe

I love finding out about an author or resource that leads to the discovery of other treasures. And so, I came across an old Interview with Gary Saul Morson and was really interested in what he has learned from years of studying and teaching Russian literature. You can listen to that interview here. 

I started going down the rabbit hole of some of his interviews and articles and came across this one called Leninthink. 

You don’t have to have read Lenin to be influenced by him. This article by an expert in Russian literature and history lays out some important things for us to consider in our age of polarization and political pragmatism.  You do NOT want to think and live like Lenin.

This is a longer and rigorous essay. But it is worth reading, probably twice. It is full of original source quotes and historical context. The point is to learn from history so we do not repeat it. 

Among the most interesting elements that I found most relevant for us:

Considering life a zero sum game. Every transaction is either an act of oppression or being oppressed.

That the slightest disagreement from the party line is absolute betrayal. There is no middle ground.

Rejection of any morality or limits against the power of the party/state. They are above accountability. Viewing morality as nothing more than an expression of class (we might say race/sex/gender) struggle.

Promising to maintain the civil rights of the people as long as they do not do anything we disagree with. e.g. You have freedom of speech as long as you don’t say anything we do not like.

Arriving at conclusions on issues, opinions, and incidents without the need for facts or evidence. Having a conclusion beforehand. Insisting you don’t need to understand an opposing view before you denounce it.

Radically changing facts about history or even the position of the party while refusing to acknowledge that any change has taken place.

People eagerly confessing to crimes they have not committed to support the party.

Denouncing family members and friends as an expression of party loyalty.

Justifying any means to advance the cause, even those considered immoral, and that you would condemn others for using. 

Slow Motion Suicide in San Francisco

Posted on by metroupe

This may be one of the most important news articles to read this week. What makes this powerful as an expose, is that it comes from an author that is politically liberal, and one that argues for the decriminalization of drugs.  There is much I do not agree with. What is valuable is to see the full flower of a demonic political ideology that is literally killing people. 

“Over the past two years, more than 1,360 people have died from drug overdoses in San Francisco. That is more than double the number who have died from Covid…

…The people in charge of homelessness and addiction want to bully people into giving up public streets and parks. They want to take your tax money and let your suffering neighbors die gentle, stoned deaths while they watch and call it justice. They think the mothers who want to get their sons out of the jaws of death are suspect. (It’s conservative to want your kid to live, don’t you know?) The city would like a little privacy please. Fentanyl use is an intimate moment between our officials and our addicts…

…The result is that the city is spending roughly $100,000 per year per homeless person, or over $1 billion annually, to maintain a large, unemployed, and very sick addict population in San Francisco’s public squares at the cost of human life and the loss of peace, walkability and livability—the very qualities that have long attracted so many to San Francisco…

Read the whole article hear

Disordered Desires

Posted on by metroupe

One of the most important realizations about humanity in general, and about ourselves is that many of our desires are not only bad, they are bad for us. We love to hear gossip, to avoid taking a costly stand for the truth, to see the misfortune of those we resent. Like children we consume to the point of immoderation, and our own sickness. The list of examples is as long as there are people.  The voices of our culture want us believe that the path to true happiness  is unrestrained indulgence.  Sadly, our longings are so disordered that these are the lies we want to believe.

First Comes Love, Then Comes Sterilization

Posted on by metroupe

This article is from Bari Weiss’ substack My thoughts on the article below.

It is an important snap shot of our current cultural moment. It is sad to me and feels a little hopeless.  This article is NOT really about children. It is about a belief system. This is what happens when you trust secularism to describe and fix your problems. It doesn’t work. The result is an existential hopelessness that leads us to throw up our hands and bury ourselves in meaningless pleasures. This conversation is not actually about children.  It is about an attempt to redefine what it means to be human.

A couple of things come to mind:

The world is really good at evangelism and discipleship. We have a generation that has completely adopted the dogma that has been given to them. And they can repeat the words and phrases handed to them like good disciples.    There is deep irony in all of this. We have a generation sincerely convinced they are victims even though we live in one of the most prosperous and egalitarian moments in history.  There is a cultural and political machine that feeds our victim complex.  And we love it. It makes us feel important.

Historically we mock and despise members of religious cults.  How can they continue to trust the leaders that make so many false predictions? That  gullibility is alive in a generation that gives unfailing trust to the prophets of the climate apocalypse. And that in spite of decades of false predictions.  It is truly impressive. The space ship has not arrived, yet has not weakened their credibility.  “Ideas have consequences, and some ideas have victims.”  Clearly, this apocalyptic vision has consequences. 

For me, I believe the situation is far worse and yet far more hopeful. Why? Because I don’t believe that humans can be the problem and the solution at the same time. Humans are certainly at the heart of the problem, but the answer is outside of our resources or wisdom. My hope is in a king that loves and redeems difficult and demanding humans, even miserable children and self-absorbed adults. He died and rose from the dead and is bringing an everlasting kingdom.

Trauma isn’t the explanation for everything

Posted on by metroupe

I am getting weary of hearing that “trauma” is the explanation for everything.


Periodically the world, and the church, swallows a new perspective that promises to answer all of our problems, explain why our programs aren’t working, and show the way to health and happiness. The winds of these fads blow every 5 to 10 years, sometimes two or three rolling in and out at once. It is not that these topics have no value at all. Sometimes they have some important things to teach us. But they can take on a collective inertia, that leads to a blinding group think. Once these social science fads become popular, they are often associated with weak or shoddy science, a host of buzz words, careless definitions, unwarranted implications, a new army of “experts” to show us the way, and dog pile of lab coats pushing shoddy research that resists any criticism. 

Sadly, in the church this can result in a new hermeneutic that uncritically reads these ideas back onto scripture. I was not surprised to see see an article in Christianity Today calling for “trauma-informed bible reading”. I won’t be surprised if there is a whole study bible devoted to the idea somewhere in the pipeline.


I have been recently reading the book “The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can’t Cure Our Social Ills” by Jesse Singal. The author explains in detail the ways in which many of these social science trends (e.g. the self esteem movement, the implicit association test, positive thinking, the judicial concept of super-predators, etc) have persisted throughout the last 30-40 years in spite of being scientifically discredited. It feels like the current emphasis on trauma is in danger of following suit. I don’t think I had heard about experts on “trauma” before 5 years ago. But recently I seem to hear about them every day, sometimes multiple times a day. I am sure that understanding trauma is important, but also pretty sure that it is not the silver bullet to explain all our unhappiness and insecurities.  When ideas like this become popular there is a greater need for healthy skepticism.

By the way, the author is a science writer for the New York Times. He is obviously really smart, and is politically on the left. He is really adept at pointing out the bad judgment of many of the authors tied to these bad ideas, but he seems unaware of the force of his own political and philosophical assumptions about the world.