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James Madison on the Separation of Church and State1
- History
- July 19, 2016
It’s not unusual to witness discussions on the topic of whether or not the United States was founded “as a Christian nation.” (Or, worded slightly differently, whether or not America had a Christian founding.) The answer to this question depends largely on semantics. On one hand, the Founding Fathers were overwhelmingly Christian and built a
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Is Western Civilization ‘Superior’?3
- Culture
- July 19, 2016
In many posts, we at Intellectual Takeout have argued that people in the West should know the Western tradition. We say this not only because we believe that Western civilization has made many great contributions to the world that should be appreciated, but also because we believe a knowledge of one’s past is crucial to
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Can the Decline of the West Be Stopped?0
- Culture
- July 19, 2016
In watching the 2016 campaigns unfold, it’s hard not to be depressed. It feels to many like America and the West are in decline. Demographic and economic struggles, threats from parts of the Muslim world, increasing tensions with China and Russia, and racial tensions weigh heavily upon many Americans today. At the same time, it feels
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Are We Blindly Accepting Preschool without Evidence?1
- Education
- July 19, 2016
Last fall we shared a new bit of preschool research conducted by the Peabody Research Institute at Vanderbilt University. The research found that Tennessee’s state-funded Voluntary Prekindergarten program made little difference in giving children a head start in learning. In fact, the time in preschool actually seemed to make children fall behind their peers who
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Yale Dean in 1949: Stop Worrying About Security So Much0
- Education
- July 18, 2016
Recently, while reading an old book about a young man’s adventures at Yale, I came across a speech delivered by the dean of that school, who was speaking to the graduating class of 1949. Periodicals at the time apparently suggested that the graduating class had indicated it was “primarily interested in seeking security,” and the
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What is Distributism?0
- Culture
- July 18, 2016
Distributism is the name given to a socio-economic and political creed originally associated with G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Chesterton bowed to Belloc’s preeminence as a disseminator of the ideas of distributism, declaring Belloc the master in relation to whom he was merely a disciple. “You were the founder and father of this mission,’”Chesterton
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Sword Hunt: Why an ancient ruler confiscated all swords in Japan0
- History
- July 18, 2016
The question of who is allowed to have weapons (and what kind) might seem, to some, like a relatively modern phenomenon. It’s not. Marx and Engels posited that history is primarily a struggle of class, with one class of people (the Bourgeois) seeking to dominate another class (the Proletariat). The people, of course, “do
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Surprised (and Saddened) by Joy0
- History
- July 18, 2016
Out of My Bone: The Letters of Joy Davidman, ed. by Don W. King (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009) I’ve spent the better part of my career as a historian and a writer, reading personal letters, memoirs, and autobiographies. I count it among one of the greatest pleasures in this life to be able to
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Research Suggests Traumatic ‘Memories’ can be Inherited0
- Education
- July 18, 2016
Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta have found promising data showing that it’s possible for certain information to be biologically inherited by offspring, due to chemical changes in one’s DNA. Trials using mice discovered that traumatic and stressful experiences, and the emotions that are felt during them, can be passed down
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