I have pretty much quit reading National Review. Along with the Wall Street Journal, it is (and probably always has been) the propaganda arm of the GOP establishment. That being said, there are still a handful of people who write interesting articles Kathryn Jean Lopez is one of them. Earlier this month she interviewed Rodney Stark in an article titled The Reality of World Religion: God Wins. It is a very interesting article that says some encouraging things and some scary things. The whole article is worth a read. Here is a provocative statement he made toward the end of the article:

The most important things all cluster; the rise of Western civilization was the direct result of Judeo-Christian religion. First is the belief in progress, that our history has an upward slope. In all the other major cultures, including Islam, history is regarded as headed downward. That not only discourages all efforts to improve anything, but justifies the suppression of improvements — both the Chinese and the Ottomans outlawed mechanical clocks.

Betty Blonde #454 – 04/14/2010
Betty Blonde #454
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