Chinese-made, California-banned, and paid for with a paycheck the revolution would have found suspicious **LOS ANGELES** — A local conservative Christian said he marked Independence Day this week by purchasing Chinese-made fireworks he is not permitted to ignite, in what observers described as a fitting tribute to a nation founded on resistance to taxation, regulation, and distant authority. The man, who identified himself as a Reformed Presbyterian in the broad cultural sense and a tax protester in the practical one, bought the fireworks after expressing frustration at being told not to purchase foreign-made goods while also being encouraged to celebrate a holiday built around imported fireworks and national self-congratulation. “People always say don’t buy things made in China,” he said Thursday while loading several boxes into his vehicle. “But somehow Chinese fireworks are fine. And if they came through Mexico, that only adds to the mystery.” The purchase coincided with the Fourth ...
Both Van Til and Clark Camps Agree: Starting with the Wrong Presuppositions Still Gets You Exactly Where You Planned to Go Steven Spielberg’s latest film is being marketed as a bold intellectual reckoning for Christianity. In practice, it functions more like a polished reassurance that disbelief remains as plausible as ever—provided one begins by assuming it. The film’s argument, such as it is, does not so much arrive at its conclusion as it installs it at the foundation. Divine revelation is quietly set aside, human reason is granted autonomy, and from there the narrative unfolds with a kind of cinematic inevitability. Unsurprisingly, a worldview that begins by excluding God manages, after two hours and a swelling score, to conclude that God is unnecessary. From a Van Til perspective, the film is almost commendably transparent. There is no pretense of neutrality here—only a set of presuppositions doing exactly what presuppositions do. From a Clarkian standpoint, it is equally instruct...