New issue of Virtue

Yup, our 32nd issue came out yesterday. Some good articles in there. Be sure to check out the featured article. I found it entertaining. *grin* And the one on the Constitution party is insightful, too. And what's more, you can get to it all from the sidebar on the right! You have no excuse not to…

Oh, and the follow-up to my post on Mary is coming. Sometime. In the future. When I get around to it…*flees the angry masses*

Should we lynch Moussaoui?

Moussaoui Evades Death, Receives Life in Prison

As soon as my co-worker found out, he exclaimed, "Oh man! Moussaoui got life in prison!" He was obviously disappointed. At first I was too. A lot of people were hoping for the death penalty. But isn't this just a case of mob psychology? Think about it. The man was brought up on conspiracy charges. No matter what he was conspiring to do, we shouldn't execute people because they were planning to do something.

In my criminal law classes, one of the first things we were taught was that the parts of a crime are mens rea, the thought, and actus reus, the act. You simply can't obtain a conviction without both. The punishment for murder is not the same for thinking or helping plan a murder, nor should it be. I know thousands of people think this man should die for the magnitude of the crime he helped plan. But would they say the same for someone helping plan to murder John Doe down the street?

Make no mistake, I am a proponent of the death penalty in some cases, but this is not one of them. Kudos to the jury on this one.

“Mariolatry”?

Was reading a old back issue of Tabletalk magazine, which is published by R.C. Sprouls organization, Ligonier Ministries. It has a decidedly Presbyterian bent, but I don't think they're explicitly affiliated with them. Anyway, this issue was from 1999 and was about the faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Needless to say, I was intrigued to see what flames…er, that is, comments they had.

I don't even remember what the specific article I was reading was about, but it used the word "Mariolatry". I thought it was an interesting word, and after looking it up to confirm my suspicisions, I found that it means "excessive veneration of the Virgin Mary".

Excessive veneration? Where'd that come from? Sure, we Orthodox pay Mary her due, but I'd hardly call it excessive. Maybe he meant in comparison to the Presbyterians

So I'm going to open what's probably a huge can of worms and ask this question: What do y'all think about Mary? Is she anyone special, and where do you think she fits in in today's Christianity? I'll post my views later, though I bet you can guess what they are…