Blog Review: moralhealth.com

I haven't done one of these in a while. Anyway, I just want to recommend moralhealth.com, an excellent blog by conservative black professor Lawrence Thomas. (Thanks to Jeremy for the pointer.) A few highlights...

His latest post denounces the Westboro Baptist Church as blasphemers for hating in the name of God:

Hitler... used the Bible to justify and fuel relentless hatred of the Jew. The Westboro Baptist Church is using the Bible to justify a relentless hatred of homosexuals... It is surely blasphemous to have as a religious conviction the view that God has licensed — nay, ordained — the unbridled hatred of other human beings.

He also has an interesting post on parenting and the Cookie Monster:

[I]n the name of combating child obesity, the Cookie Monster has been given an eating-makeover because is claimed that children are being too influenced by him... He could have such inordinate influence in the lives of children only if something was fundamentally not right in the upbringing of the child. But, of course, it is much easier to blame the Cookie Monster than it is to blame parents for their irresponsibility. And this points to the heart of problem.

Thomas also offers some insightful comments on bitterness and self-respect:

The coin of self-respect, if you will, has two sides. To be sure, one must never be indifferent to the wrongs that one has suffered. No less important, however, is that one should not fail to have a proper appreciation for the gifts that one has and the good that one can do... The bitter person mistakenly thinks that the only way not to be indifferent to the wrong that she or has suffered is to constantly dwell upon it.

(This reminds me of John Perry's excellent discussion of forgiveness, wherein he suggests that appropriate forgiveness is not about forgetting wrongdoing, but simply seeing it in a more objective light -- judging as if it were someone else, not yourself, who suffered. So "forgiveness", thus understood, is consistent with both condemnation and self-respect.)