On Christianity in Europe and the United States

Mark Steyn, interviewed by John Hawkins:

John Hawkins: In your opinion, why is it that Europe has become so much more secular than the United States, where Christianity is still strong?

Mark Steyn: The short answer is separation of church and state - and I use that phrase as it was intended to be used: The founders’ distaste for "establishment of religion" simply means that they didn't want President Washington also serving as head of the Church Of America and the Archbishop of Virginia sitting in the Unites States Senate - as to this day the Queen is Supreme Governor of the Church Of England and the Archbishop of York sits in the House Of Lords. Most European countries either had de jure state churches, like England, or de facto ones, like Catholic Italy. One consequence of that is the lack of portability of faith: in America, when the Episcopalians and Congregationalists go all post-Christian and relativist, people find another church; in Britain, when Christians give up on the Church of England, they tend to give up on religion altogether.

You can read the entire interview here.

UPDATE: John's first interview with Mr. Steyn can be found here.

Congratulations Are in Order

It has been a big day for my alma mater, the University of Utah. Andrew Bogut was just selected first in the 2005 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. This means that, for the first time ever in the same year, both the number one NFL (Alex Smith) and NBA draft picks came from the same school.

Sweet!

Tired Brains, Tired Bodies

We're now halfway through intensive summer Greek. So far, so good, but the intensive pace works it's mojo on one's mind. At the end of every day, I'm pretty worn out with new verb paradigms, vocabulary, etc. Fortunately, our class led by an excellent professor. Because Greek follows intensive Hebrew, the professor knows that we've developed a keen sensitivity about our progress with the language. Accordingly, he spends a notable amount of time during our lectures putting our minds at ease.

Interesting Greek trivia for today: Unlike English, there are over 27 ways of forming the definite article (e.g. "the") in Greek. The word chosen must agree in case, number, and gender with the noun/adjective/participle it modifies. Herewith is a table of definite articles, minus the vocative case (which we haven't yet learned), yielding 24:

Remember: This is just the definite article. We've been reviewing and incorporating multiple noun declensions and verb forms as well. Whew!