Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

politics

  • Instead of dealing with the systemic abuse scandalizing the Roman Catholic Church, some are trying to fuel the culture war machine. I’m not Roman Catholic, but I think we should all pay attention to this scandal. Not just the crimes and cover-ups, but the bigger story. Now, I have a rule I try to follow:…

  • A student at a Catholic school was forced to remove a sticker from her computer and the school is oblivious to the irony. Proof we’re totally insane over politics. A student at a Connecticut Catholic school was told to remove a sticker from her laptop. A Catholic student was told by her school to remove…

  • The idea of a Space Force seems absolutely crazy. We should care less about how absurd it is and more about why anyone would want it. Space Force. Even the words make me laugh. It seems like a farce. Like the moonshot gamble of a desperate administration. Mocking it so tempting. And where did it…

  • Many of us get caught in shallow or simplistic arguments about security which don’t match scripture or tradition. Here’s how we can change that. Immigration is always in the zeitgeist. We can’t not talk about it. Some raise it to stoke fear or denigrate our government. But for Christians, immigration is always a pressing political…

  • In the social media era, separating truth from fiction is hard. Here’s one way you can tell the difference between a real argument and a dishonest one. The difference between a simple argument and a simplistic one is authority. Simplistic arguments try to make complex issues bite-sized. They’re like trading a balanced diet for a…

  • Civility

    When a fresh outrage comes, we sharpen knives and loosen vocal cords for the usual conversation around civility, asking as always “why can’t we just get along?” as if this were the whole problem. It isn’t. There’s a lot of talk about civility right now. Whether it’s a conversation on Facebook or serving a public…