A Series of Inspiring Articles

Many of you know that I have spent most of my later teenage years and early adulthood pursuing the sharpening of what I think is our highest faculty, the mind.  There is no replacement for it, and likewise, there is probably nothing so underdeveloped in our culture. We spend a great deal of time on our self-esteem, our personal pleasure, recreation, and "the pursuit of happiness," but rarely do you hear one say she is ardently developing her critical thinking skills. But critical thinking has been a close companion to me, and I've created this site to inspire that in others.

One such person who always inspires me to better myself, pursue wisdom and clarity, and draw closer to God is Dennis Prager. Most of you hear me talk about him ad nauseum, and that is because he is tremendously significant in my life.

At the beginning of this year, Dennis launched a series of articles that help to explain and defend Judeo-Christian values. C.S. Lewis had his Mere Christianity. Dennis Prager has now his Mere Judeo-Christian values. I've directed readers to one of those articles, but I'm now going to start at the beginning and weekly direct you to that series. I know they will enrich any life, and I hope they will enlighten and inspire you as they have me.

Here is the first of the series called Better Answers: The Case for Judeo-Christian Values. Here is a portion from the beginning. I highly recommend you read it fully; it's really something that will add to your life.

With this first column of 2005, I inaugurate a periodic series of columns devoted to explaining and making the case for what are called Judeo-Christian values.

There is an epic battle taking place in the world over what value system humanity will embrace. There are essentially three competitors: European secularism, American Judeo-Christianity and Islam. I have described this battle in previous columns.

Now, it is time to make the case for Judeo-Christian, specifically biblical, values. I believe they are the finest set of values to guide the lives of both individuals and societies. Unfortunately, they are rarely rationally explained -- even among Jewish and Christian believers, let alone to nonbelievers and members of other faiths.

So this is the beginning of an admittedly ambitious project. Vast numbers of people are profoundly disoriented as to what is good and what is bad. Just to give one example: Take the moral confusion over the comparative worth of human and animal life.