A Positive Take on 'Hate Mail'

Novelist William Giraldi, a contributing editor to The New Republic, recently wrote an essay on the modern phenomenon of online hate mail, most often ...

Country Bumpkin Lawyer Surprises His Legal Team

In the 1840s a court case based in Chicago captured the attention of the entire nation. Labeled "The Reaper Case," it centered on the patenting of farm ...

Writer Tries to Live the Old Testament Literally

The nominally Jewish writer A. J. Jacobs spent a year working on an unusual experiment: he tried to put into practice everything he read in the Bible. ...

Judging Others is One of Our Favorite Activities

Like most of us, John Burke (pastor of Gateway Church in Austin, Texas) assumed that he was not a judgmental person. But just in case he was wrong, he ...

Professor Startled by Student's Lack of Ethical Baseline

Dr. Stephen L. Anderson, a professor in Ontario, Canada, had what he called a moment of "startling clarity" while teaching a section on ethics in his ...

Actor Peter Falk Hands an Umpire His Glass Eye

Peter Falk (1927-2011) was an actor who spent his career playing a wide range of roles in comedy and drama. Most notably, he played an eccentric, rumpled ...

Eyes of a Doctor, Eyes of a Judge

Let's suppose that on your way to work each morning, you usually stop at a Starbucks. You tend to get to the store at the same time each morning, ...

When You Can't Trust a Thermometer

Life involves making lots of decisions about right and wrong, and God has given us a conscience to help us make those decisions. Unfortunately the human ...

Desert Father on Self-examination

They who are conscious of their own sins have no eyes for the sins of their neighbors.

—Abbot Moses (10th century)

Whose Consistency?

For the most part, the areas in which we expect others to be consistent are those areas in which we have no trouble with being consistent. If certain ...