Is DEI biblical?

From Ben Kissling on Christian Post.com (Feb. 2, 2024):

Christian academic institutions have fallen on hard times. I get it. I have three relatives/close friends who until recently worked at such institutions. Two of them were laid off. One because his entire college closed its doors for good. The other left her position in part due to the heavy workload she was being expected to handle.

So, I understand in a very personal way why the leaders of such institutions as the one I currently attend, Biola University, might decide it’s a bad time to pick a fight with a powerful state government over Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

When I was in high school, my church went through a split with my family on the losing side in the sense that we had to leave the church that I’d grown up in, a church whose building I literally helped build with my own two hands. For several years, our elders had decided to use volunteer labor to save money on our new building. My dad volunteered more hours on that thing than anybody but the pastor, and I spent a lot of 12 to sometimes 16-hour Saturdays helping him. Long story short, the elders and the pastor split, and the elders were faced with a choice of either taking the pastor to court over the by-laws or leaving the church. They chose to leave because of a single verse in the Bible which said we are not to take our fellow brothers in Christ to court. And just like that, everything we worked for and donated money towards for years was gone because of one verse.

What lessons do you think that taught me as a young believer? Maybe that our faith is worth sacrificing for. 

Is DEI compatible with Christianity? This is a different question than whether it violates some essential doctrine of the Christian faith. Not taking a brother to court is not an essential doctrine either, but I believe it is the right thing to do. The question is not “Can an individual be a Christian and also adhere to DEI?” The question is whether or not over time, adherence to the assumptions inherent in DEI will undermine Biola as an orthodox Christian institution. I believe the answer to the latter question is yes, and in the long run that is a far more serious question for Biola than the current financial situation.

There are some very basic, intuitive contradictions between DEI and Christianity, specifically Christian morality. Christianity is already inherently anti-racist, and as a Christian institution Biola does not need DEI. But it is worse than that, because DEI is not simply benign either. It is not simply an institutional program to combat racism. DEI is a moral system whose foundations are different than Christian morality, and as a result lead to different moral judgments than Christianity does. Once accepted by a Christian institution, DEI will replace the Christian morality of any institution which accepts its premises, which Biola has already done in March 2021 when President Corey instituted the Division of Diversity and Inclusion.

The key difference between DEI morality and Christian morality is simply that DEI flips the worldly, socio-economic standard upside down, while Christianity replaces it with an entirely different, other-worldly standard. In James 1:9-10, we see a clear example of the relation between Christian morality and socio-economic status: “Now the brother or sister of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; but the rich person is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away” (NASB). At first glance, it might seem like James is reversing the socio-economic standard. After all, he says the poor are in a high position while the rich are in a low position, when presumably judgments according to a socio-economic standard would have the rich high and the poor low. But why would James say each one should glory in their respective positions if one is truly high and the other truly low? If the rich actually were in a low position, then they cannot glory in that position. They should rather be ashamed of their low position and seek a higher one! But that is not what James says for them to do. [read more]

DIE is based on Marxism. Marxism is atheistic. So, the answer is no. Good article.

The Chinese Cultural Revolution’s Witch-Hunts

In 1978, the sociologist Albert Bergesen wrote an essay titled “A Durkheimian Theory of ‘Witch-Hunts’ With the Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1966–1969 as an Example.” Bergesen used Durkheim to illuminate the madness that erupted in Beijing in May 1966, when Mao Zedong began warning about the rising threat of infiltration by pro-capitalist enemies. Zealous college students responded by forming the Red Guards to find and punish enemies of the revolution. Universities across the country were shut down for several years.

……..

Bergesen notes that there are three features common to most political witch hunts: they arise very quickly, they involve charges of crimes against the collective, and the offenses that lead to charges are often trivial or fabricated. Here’s how Bergesen puts it:

They arise quickly: “Witch-hunts seem to appear in dramatic outbursts; they are not a regular feature of social life. A community seems to suddenly find itself infested with all sorts of subversive elements which pose a threat to the collectivity as a whole.

……..

Crimes against the collective: “The various charges that appear during one of these witch-hunts involve accusations of crimes committed against the nation as a corporate whole. It is the whole of collective existence that is at stake; it is The Nation, The People, The Revolution, or The State which is being undermined and subverted.”

Charges are often trivial or fabricated: “These crimes and deviations seem to involve the most petty and insignificant behavioral acts which are somehow understood as crimes against the nation as a whole. In fact, one of the principal reasons we term these events ‘witch-hunts’ is that innocent people are so often involved and falsely accused.”

To Bergesen’s list we’ll add a fourth feature, which necessarily follows from the first three:

Fear of defending the accused: When a public accusation is made, many friends and bystanders know that the victim is innocent, but they are afraid to say anything. Anyone who comes to the defense of the accused is obstructing the enactment of a collective ritual. Siding with the accused is truly an offense against the group, and it will be treated as such. If passions and fears are intense enough, people will even testify against their friends and family members.

Source: The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure (2018) by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt.

The Chinese Revolution was truly evil. Then again all communism is.

Sheep binge on 600 pounds of pot: ‘They found green stuff to eat’

From NY Post.com (Sept. 25, 2023):

They’ve been very baaaad.

A flock of sheep near the town of Almyros in Thessaly, Greece broke into a greenhouse and devoured 600 pounds of medical cannabis, reported Newsweek.

The sheep were seeking refuge from flooding after the aftermath of Storm Daniel.

The storm hit parts of the central and eastern Mediterranean, leading to extreme flooding in Libya as well as Turney, Bulgaria, and Greece, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

In spite of the floodwaters, the sheep appeared to have found greener pastures. Although, the sheep were unable to pull the wool over their Shepard’s eyes. The Shepard said that after consuming Mary Jane, his sheep started exhibiting jumping higher than goats

The owner of the legal cannabis plant was dumbfounded by the event.

“I don’t know if it’s for laughing or crying. We have the heat; we lose a lot of production. We have the floods; we lose the rest. And the best: After all this, a herd of sheep, which I don’t know how to get back, entered the facility and started eating what was left,” he told TheNewspaper.gr.

“I don’t know what to say, honestly,” he added.

Farm owner Yannis Bourounis told a local radio producer: “They found green stuff to eat” and “jumping higher than goats, which never happens,” Newsweek reported.

Weed has been legal in Greece for medicinal purposes since 2017 and the country welcomed their first medical cannabis plant this year. While weed can have medicinal uses for humans, it’s dangerous for animals.

Cannabis poisoning among dogs is on the rise — especially in the US. There was an 11% percent uptick in cases last year and a 300% increase in the last five years, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Ever since pot dispensaries opened up in NYC, dogs have been poisoned after eating stoners’ stray joints and edibles. [source]

Jumping higher than goats? I bet. The rumors aren't true that afterwards the stoned sheep wandered into a Frito Lay factory.

Five top takeaways from Trump's high-stakes UN speech to the world

From Fox News.com (Sept. 22):

"A lot has happened since we gathered here last year," President Donald Trump said midway through his address to the United Nations General Assembly.

No kidding. First there was the Gaza ceasefire and hostage return, then Operation Absolute Resolve that removed Nicolas Maduro from power in Venezuela, and, of course, the deployment of U.S. military and economic power to stop Iran’s "mad dash" for a nuclear weapon.

Trump has put American courage and fortitude on display by taking big risks to strengthen the U.S. position—not just for global leadership, but for America’s future. This U.N. speech had its triumphant moments. "Bully no more," Trump said as he touted the battlefield success of Operation Epic Fury. Yet Trump’s serious and formal tone was evidence that this has also been a year that has tested the optimism and tried the patience of both President Trump and the American people.

Here are five takeaways.

1. Iran’s Choice is a Deal or Annihilation. "Just imagine if such a vile regime were ever empowered to carry out large-scale terror attacks from behind a nuclear shield. This was the reality we had to confront—a reality that far too many preferred to ignore," Trump explained on Tuesday.

And the U.N. audience broke into spontaneous applause when Trump vowed again that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. He asked world leaders to stay "united in maintaining pressure" on Iran. But, to no one’s surprise, this speech was also a direct message to the "lunatic clerics" who run Iran, to borrow the phrase from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Iran can make a deal or face annihilation. "I believe we’ll make a deal right after the midterms," Trump said. He’s ever-hopeful, but this is why 50,000 U.S. service members, led by two aircraft carriers, remain in the region under U.S. Central Command. Either way, he said, we "will soon see a world free of the 51-year menace." And indeed, it could go either way.

2. Greenland. Did you see Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen happily nodding during Trump’s remarks? Yes, this agreement that keeps Chinese investment out of Greenland and builds up Pituffik and other Space Force locations was a win-win for American security, Greenland, Denmark and NATO. This deal meant a lot to Trump, and it was smiling faces all around with the president, Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen at the signing ceremony held immediately after his U.N. address.

3. The Cartels in the Crosshairs. Trump’s speech delivered two scorching messages reiterating his commitment to the Western Hemisphere. First, Venezuela and the United States together control roughly 22% of the world’s proved oil reserves. Second, Trump said the "cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere" and decried these "sick, demented adversaries." Put this in perspective: These cartels control more cash than the global jihadis, so expect drug boat strikes to continue. "The United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. And if necessary, we will use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States," Trump warned.

4. Super Intelligence. Not content with renaming lakes, seas and the Kennedy Center, Trump said he wants AI to be called Super Intelligence—or SI. He joked about seeing whether "SI" catches on, but here’s the serious message: The U.S. is ahead of China and will do whatever it takes to achieve supremacy in the global race for tech stack adoption and market share. "Whoever wins SI wins," Trump reiterated. That’s a nice setup for the state visit of China’s Xi Jinping later this week.

5. Melania Trump. Considering how little the U.N. has done with Iran or, for that matter, Ukraine, Trump let it off easy. Trump took a few swipes at the U.N. bureaucracy, but he was also courteous about U.N. Resolution 2817 condemning Iran’s attacks on international shipping. Most of all, Trump took time to acknowledge his wife, Melania Trump. On March 2, 2026, she became the first sitting first lady to preside over a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, leading a discussion on children and technology. During the speech, the first lady was seated with Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. As Trump scanned the audience for her, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer waved to point her out.

This was a thoughtful gesture, but it was poignant as well. For all the courageous tone, President Donald J. Trump has a lot of work ahead of him.

His 2026 U.N. speech may stand as the high-water mark of Trump’s bold efforts to improve international security and diminish the menace of China. [source]

Trump admin orders 270 trucking schools to shutter in crackdown on licensing of illiterate, illegal immigrant drivers

From NY Post.com (Aug. 31):

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy shut down 270 commercial driver’s licensing (CDL) schools Monday for offenses including graduating illegal immigrant truck drivers who can’t speak English or offering subpar training facilities.

“If you’re here illegally and you can’t speak the language and you’re not well-trained, you don’t deserve to be in a big rig, driving American roads, endangering American citizens,” Duffy said at a press conference in Detroit alongside Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and federal prosecutors.

Duffy announced that his department was removing 110 CDL schools from the federal Training Provider Registry, forcing them to “immediately cease all operations.” The schools had been found to have trained 5,000 enrollees later found to be unable to speak English.

Another 160 schools were suspended for failing to meet training facility standards — sometimes claiming a single truck or small parking lot comprised their training center.

States issue commercial driver’s licenses allowing holders to cross state lines, but the federal government sets national standards and has oversight over the roughly 31,000 CDL training schools across America.

“The last administration allowed truck driving schools to self-certify to say that they meet all of the federal standards to be a certified truck driving school. What we found is many of those schools don’t actually meet that standard,” Duffy said.

“We’re not gonna have a problem. We’re gonna have truck drivers,” he added.

“You have to speak English to operate a commercial vehicle. I didn’t create that rule. President Trump didn’t create that rule. That rule has been in place for decades, and we have schools that know the rule and still pass people through their school who can’t speak the language,” Duffy continued.

“And so there’s 110 of them, through our data analysis, that are the greatest offenders. As of today, those schools are shut down. We also have shut down 160 additional schools. These are schools that, in essence, certify that they are qualified to train truck drivers. However, they don’t have adequate space.”

Duffy said 239 people died in crashes caused by non-English speaking truck drivers since the start of Trump’s term in January 2025, with California issuing most of the licenses used by operators involved in the smash-ups.

In attendance at the announcement was Delilah Coleman, 5, who suffered a brain injury in 2024 when Indian illegal immigrant Partap Singh caused a pileup with his 18-wheeler in California. [read more]

Good!  Hopefully, the orders will stop the needless killings by illegals driving semis.

Trump: US Navy Cleared All Mines From Hormuz

From Newsmax.com (Aug. 25):

President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. Navy has cleared all mines from international waters in the Strait of Hormuz and warned Iran that any attempt to mine the vital shipping route again would draw an immediate military response.

"I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump said Iran has been warned that "any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed."

The president added that the U.S. Space Force is monitoring "every square inch" of the strait and said a "Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement" is now in effect.

The announcement marks the culmination of a months-long U.S. effort to clear mines planted by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after fighting erupted with Tehran earlier this year.

U.S. Central Command began a major mine-clearing operation in April after Iranian mines disrupted commercial traffic through the strategic waterway. The Navy deployed destroyers and underwater drones as part of the effort to establish safe shipping lanes through the strait.

The Strait of Hormuz, which separates Iran from Oman, is one of the world's most important energy corridors and normally carries a major share of global oil shipments.

Trump had said last week that the strait was "open and operating" and that its mines had been removed or detonated, even as Iranian attacks on commercial shipping continued.

Trump also said Space Force surveillance extends to "Pickaxe Mountain" and three Iranian nuclear sites he said had already been destroyed. [source]

Great!  Good to know.

6 signs of power hungry leaders

From Joseph Mattera on Christian Post.com (Jan. 26, 2024):

God-ordained public service should never be about a person’s desire for power but should arise out of a servant’s heart to meet the needs of the people they represent.

Jesus modeled this when He washed the feet of His disciples and when He said that the greatest in the kingdom of God are those who serve (John 13; Mark 10:43). Of course, we have power-hungry leaders in every sector of society — not just in politics — and this includes the church.

I believe power-hungry people are the cause of numerous problems and divisions within the marketplace and church, and we need to be honest with them and speak to them when necessary, lest they sabotage great organizations.

Since their drive for power will stop at nothing to achieve their ends, more mature leaders must counter their dangerous ambitions instead of continually feeding into them.

(I believe all leaders, because of our fallen nature, have to deal with some or all of the following issues at times in our lives. But some have totally given in and live out these issues as a lifestyle of choice.)

1. Power-hungry leaders only relate to other ‘power’ people

Power-hungry people are constantly going to social events, parties, conferences and frequently joining boards of powerful organizations that will connect them with the most influential people — irrespective of whether they truly have the time or talents for it or genuinely want to connect with these people on a deep human level.

They are always looking for the next person who can do something to help them climb the social ladders in their spheres of influence, which causes them to use people instead of serving people.

2. Power-hungry leaders constantly drop names to impress

There are certain leaders whom I have heard speak several times, and every single time they have spoken, either to me in private or in public gatherings, they have mentioned prominent academic institutions where they received their degrees or dropped the names of high-level leaders with whom they have access.

After a while, it becomes obvious they are attempting to flout their power and accomplishments so they can receive accolades or respect from others instead of it being a sincere attempt to give their audience context for their life narrative.

3. Power-hungry leaders compete with other peer leaders

Power-hungry leaders are always jockeying for positions, fighting with other leaders they deem a threat to their influence or attempting to marginalize others with faint words of praise or outright gossip and slander.

(Street-wise Christian leaders usually don’t engage in outright slander but tend to marginalize others subtly when in the company of those they don’t know well.)

Essentially, power-hungry leaders will not rest until they become the “big dog” in the organization.

4. Power-hungry leaders are all things to all people

Power-hungry leaders often are like chameleons who adapt to the color of their environment. For example, I have met political leaders who speak as biblical Christians when they are speaking in churches, but when they are with secular humanists, they speak about their antibiblical values.

The only thing power-hungry people value is their own power. When they are with Christians, they speak religious lingo, and when they are with secularists, they speak secular lingo. I don’t think even they know what they truly believe!

Unfortunately, many sincere Christians get fooled by these people’s surreptitious words and believe anything they hear. After such people are elected, these Christians are shocked by what they really stand for!

5. Power-hungry leaders are driven by selfish ambition

Though they may work many hours visiting their communities and churches and being among their people, their ultimate goal is to be in power, not to meet the needs of the people.

This is more obvious when it comes to candidates for an elected office. But pastors and church leaders have also fallen into this syndrome and act this out in the context of their own denominations or congregations.

6. Power-hungry leaders love the praises of men

At the end of the day, power-hungry people live to hear other people sing their praises. They have such low self-esteem that they need to continually feed their egos by being the center of attention in every event, party, and gathering they attend.

Consequently, they are easily insulted when they deem others not bowing down to kiss their rings and can quickly turn on these people. [read more]

Sounds like the elite Left. Definitely the anti-Christ will probably exhibit most of the signs.