Blog Entries tagged 'American Culture'

ELEOS BLOG (18): Father's Day Memories

dtzouras@mac.com — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:00:00 +0100

Can Baseball, America's game, have a Greek accent?

Di: Hi Angel sister!

Angel: Hi Di, we have to rush to put in a new blog for Father’s Day.

Di: As usual, we’re on Greek time without a second to lose. But how I long to get on a big ladder and pick the cherries I see from my window and collect the fragrant linden tree flowers from my neighbor’s yard.

Angel: All from the Lord’s bounteous earth. Yet we don’t h [...]

Supporting Protestant Doctrines Using the Church Fathers

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Sun, 23 May 2010 22:00:00 +0100

In an article on Orthodox Biz in May 2010, I predicted the demise of Protestantism. That seemed outrageous to many of my readers, who were not at all shy about sending me emails questioning my sanity. Of the approximate 2 billion Christians in the world today, 648 million or so are Protestants, with most of those being Evangelicals. The idea that hu [...]

Church Fathers Relentlessly Attack Protestantism

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:00:00 +0100

Protestantism in the United States is under relentless, sustained attack. An attack so serious that it threatens to sweep Protestantism, as a movement, into the dustbin of history. Unfortunately for the various Protestant Churches, many of their own Theologians are inadvertently providing aid and comfort to the enemy in this struggle [...]

Good Riddance to Law and Order Conservatism

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:00:00 +0100

Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, “Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.” Even though they talk almost obsessively about the Founding Fathers, this simple truth has been totally lost on Republicans for decades. The trend has accelerated [...]

Torture and the Downfall of American Christianity

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:00:00 +0100

My son is eight. Our normal bedtime routine is to read chapters from great novels and have short discussions on them before turning out the light. We recently finished up Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. The book deals with a lot of grown-up topics, and we used it as a springboard to discuss all kinds of issues, but especially the nature of cr [...]

Learning a Foreign Culture - Evangelicals and Western Civilization

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0100

An Evangelical friend of mine of was complaining about his kid learning Chinese history in school. He was incensed that his son would learn "foreign history" instead of "Western history." I laughed and then infuriated him when I said, "For your kid, Western history is just as foreign."

Nothing brings this to light like raising a cradle Orthodox child. This year Alexander, my seven-year-old son, is learning about the period in history between 300 A.D. and 15 [...]

Politics as Tribe

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:00:00 +0100

When President George W. Bush was in office, I was a flaming liberal. I opposed the Iraq War on a host of grounds, not the least of which was the Constitutional requirement that only Congress (not the president) could declare war.

I was critical of Bushian fiscal policies [...]

Orthodox Christian Network and New Media

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:00:00 +0100

I first started working on Web projects for the Orthodox Christian Network (myocn.net) in late 2006. At the time, OCN had one program – Come Receive the Light. Come Receive the Light was primarily a traditional radio broadcast, airing in many key markets once a week. OCN’s Website [...]

Speeding Tickets Are About Money, Not Safety

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:00:00 +0100

With the economy in the tank, businesses need all the tourist dollars they can get. Which is why local police ruining family vacations with speeding tickets is a bad idea. Unfortunately, with towns and cities hurting for cash, the RADAR gun is getting more use than ever. New evidence proves that speed enforcement isn't about safety, but about making money [...]

What Baseball Teaches About America

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:00:00 +0100

In one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories, the esteemed detective had deduced that the villain was an American. But, all the suspects were purporting to be British. How to figure out which one was lying?

Elementary, my Dear Watson! Holmes tossed the prime suspect a ball. He caught it with his [...]

Pushing the Gay Agenda in the Greek Archdiocese

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:00:00 +0100

Globally, Orthodox Christianity is known to be highly conservative concerning what is frequently referred to as "traditional Christian morality." In Europe, for example, more progressive and liberal elements of society spare no effort in attacking the Church as a bastion of traditionalist repression, especially concerning homosexuality.

[...]

The Only Economic Stimulus That Will Work

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:00:00 +0100

Obama's stimulus plan won't help the economy, and might actually sound the death knell of the dollar. After all, the whole thing is predicated on the idea that you can borrow and spend your way to prosperity. That is just plain nuts, of course. You don't borrow your way to wealth - you produce your way to wealth. Americans are tapped out and swimming in debt, so producing for the domestic market is a tough slog right now. Good thing there is a big world out there, and a good way t [...]

Troy Polamalu - At Last a Good Orthodox Celebrity!

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:00:00 +0100

In the U.S., Orthodox Christians rarely get the opportunity to feel good about celebrities. There are quite a few people who claim to be Orthodox who work in movies, in politics, and in the arts. Unfortunately, almost all of these people are not what could be termed spiritual role models. Nominally Orthodox politicians get busted for corruption, Hollywo [...]

Rod Dreher Understands Populist Anger

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:00:00 +0100

Rod Dreher is an Orthodox Christian and columnist for the Dallas Morning News. He's also a contributor to the Orthodox Christian Network, where his Just Thinking podcast is one of the network's most popular shows. He was also the target of a critical article recently published on a prominent conservative blog site.

Rod wrote an article for his paper ca [...]

Celebrating Christmas with Nothing

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:00:00 +0100

My first Christmas Eve in Poland, I was invited to a friend's house to celebrate. It was 1992, and though I had been teaching in Poland for six months, most of my time had been spent around other ex-pat Americans. This was my first real Polish holiday, and I had looked forward to it eagerly.

My friend, Anna, was a student at the university where I [...]

Orthodoxy and the Religious Right

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:00:00 +0100

Are you an Orthodox Christian with friends or relatives in or around Damascus, Syria? Do you belong to the Antiochian jurisdiction, and so have ties to Syria that way? If so, you might want to notify all your Syrian contacts that Damascus, ancient seat of civilization and the home of the Patriarch of Antioch along with thousands of Christians, is about [...]

Orthodoxy and the Religious Right

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:00:00 +0100

Learning Liturgy in a Frat House

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:43:26 +0100

We got herded into the room blindfolded. We knew that we had gone down some steps into a basement and that it was cool. Other than that, we weren't sure where we were or what was happening.

We heard chanting. Suddenly, the blindfolds were removed, and robes were hurriedly put on us. As we stood there blinking, we found ourselves in a candlelit room w [...]

Global Orthodoxy and American Presidential Politics

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:31:40 +0100

In February 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. This capped off a process which had begun with NATO's airwar on Serbia from 24 March to 10 June 1999. That campaign killed an estimated 5,000 Orthodox Christian Serb soldiers, and wounded an estimated 10,000 more. This is in addition to the estimated 500 innocent Orthodox Christian civilians that were [...]

Dying Without Ritual

webmaster@orthodoxbiz.com — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:43:02 +0100

My ninety-one-year-old grandmother was in horrible pain. As she lay in the hospital bed, dehydrated and unable to even take her own medicines, she repeatedly cried out to God, "Lord, help me!"

My father and I sat at her bedside watching her struggle. "She's praying for healing," I said to my father, "I don't think God is going to answer that prayer. I think he's already rendered His judgment on this, and she's praying the wrong prayer."

A short time later, she suddenly switche [...]