Flotsam and jetsam (11/24)

• Peter Singer is at it again, this time arguing that children do not possess full moral status until they are at least two years old.

There are various things that you could say that are sufficient to give some moral status after a few months, maybe six months or something like that, and you get perhaps to full moral status, really, only after two years.

• Techland explains why the best e-reader may be no e-reader at all. I’m curious whether anyone out there does a lot of reading their phone (e.g. iPhone) and, if so, what you think about the experience.

• Koinonia is giving away copies of Tim Keller’s The Reason for God and N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope.

• The interaction between Larry Hurtado and James McGrath continues,as they discuss whether the early church’s worship of Jesus entails that they thought of him as divine.

Let it be clear:  The earliest Jewish Christian believers did not see themselves as departing from full loyalty to their ancestral deity.  They saw their devotion to Jesus as mandatory, in response to God’s exaltation of Jesus as recipient of this devotion.

• David Fitch explains why he thinks that Youth Groups Destroy Children’s Lives. He concludes by saying how important that well-done youth ministry is for the church, but here’s his critique in a nutshell.

I think youth groups often do things that work against the formation of our youth into life with Christ and His Mission. They also soak up huge time and resources in ways that are a detriment to the community life of the church.

• A terrorism task force in New York shut down the Lincoln Tunnel last week because they mistook a dance troupe wearing camouflage for a terrorist group.  Best comment of the day:

it seems fairly obvious that if a squad of terrorists did try to infiltrate Manhattan or any other urban area, they would not dress in camouflage to do it, and would not be sprinting.

• And, apparently mail carriers are more likely to treat a package roughly if you mark as “fragile.”