We’re having our annual March for Life this weekend here in Birmingham (national March for Life is next weekend). I’ve been getting ready for it, ordered a sign to carry and a shirt to wear that may get here in time. If not, I’ve got others. I bought a Catholic Warrior, Defending the Faith t-shirt and a 100% Catholic t-shirt yesterday up at the EWTN gift shop. Bought a bunch of pro-life bookmarks and some signs a while back from Heritage House. My Saul Alinsky review is still in the works. I left my book bag at home today or I’d post something on it now. But I don’t want to work from memory. Suffice it to say that I’ve added more books to the reading list since the last time I posted. Added more history books and several books on evolution and atheism, including titles by Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Darwin (a hardback volume entitled Evolutionary Writings, containing the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.) Funny, isn’t it, how most editions these days neglect to print the full title: Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of the Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. And I finally got a copy of Stephen Meyer’s Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design.

And that’s not all! I also got other books books and DVD’s about the current state of researches in molecular (cell) biology: (books) Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism, (DVD’s) Unlocking the Mystery of Life, Darwin’s Dilemma. (I wish my sister lived close by; she’s an M.D. who has studied the subject and I’d love for us to be able to read and watch some of this together.) My DVD on the Biology of Prenatal Development (see earlier posts here and here) arrived a while back and I’ve watched it once. It was fascinating, but I want to watch it a few more times before writing it up. Finally got my own DVD copy of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, so I’ll be able to sit down and do a decent write-up of that, too.

Add to that the music I’m working on, the photography projects I have going, and other ongoing writing projects, and you can see why I’m behind…on everything! Oy! So much fun stuff to work on, so little talent and brain. ;) But I should be able to sit down with Rules for Radicals this week and get the next section ready to post in the next couple of days.

Oh, almost forgot. I bought two books by Peter Singer: One World: The Ethics of Globalization and Writings on an Ethical Life.

Never let it be said that I am unwilling to read the works of authors with whom I disagree. I do read them. I’m still reading the books I just got, but I’ve read others and I’ve done searches on the web, and have read articles by them and have listened to their interviews. I read. I listen. I think. I discuss. I may accept some of their ideas and reject other ideas. According to Dawkins, anyone who doesn’t accept Darwinism (apparently, in toto) is either “stupid, ignorant, or insane”; and according to Garafolo, anyone who doesn’t agree with her politics is a racist and a “tea-bagging redneck.”

For the record, I am none of those things. Never have been. Never will be. Although I may attend a tea party one day, I still won’t be a redneck. I was born in Alabama and have lived here most of, though not all of, my life, And no one who knows me, no matter how slight the acquaintance, would ever entertain the fantastic (as in, of or pertaining to fantasy) notion that I am a racist. I have fought against racism and injustice since I was a wee bairn and have gotten into plenty of trouble for it. And I have found racism alive and kicking in every part of the country I have lived in or visited. There is a spectrum of ideas and opinions out there in the world and I, for one, believe in the individual’s freedom to investigate, meditate and cogitate for him- or her-self. Some people may do, think, say or write stupid things, but they are not stupid just because they disagree with me or with anyone else.

I don’t think Dawkins is stupid. But I do think he has said and written some astonishingly stupid things. When I begin reviewing his books, I’ll go into that. And, yes, I intend to read more than one of his books. But I also bought some good solid Catholic books yesterday to keep me grounded while I research and write: In Conversation with God, Volumes Three and Six. I am a Catholic Christian spiritual warrior, after all, and without an interior life, I can’t hope to accomplish anything of worth. I’ve proven that to myself over and over again.

May your own interior life flourish. Peace be with you. And Happy Belated New Year, too! :)

Update, June 11, 2019: I’ll be editing this post today to add Amazon affiliate links to it, but a link is NOT to be construed as promotion or even mere agreement. Many titles in this post are here to expose what our ancnient enemy has been doing and continues to do. We ignore his and his minions’ tactics and actions to our peril and to the peril of those we love.

Links (in the process of adding, first I’ll collect them in a file on my laptop, then I’ll post them here.)