The death of Christopher Hitchens on December 15 was not unexpected, and that seemed only to add to the tragedy.  His fight against cancer had been lived, like almost every other aspect of his colorful life, in full public view. He had told numerous interviewers that he wanted to die in an active, not a passive sense. Then again, there may never have been a truly passive moment in Christopher Hitchens’ life.

Their obituaries may have been published side by side, but — in the truest sense — Gordon Kaufman and John Stott were never on the same page.

Antony Flew’s rejection of atheism is an encouragement, but his rejection of Christianity is a warning. Rejecting atheism is simply not enough.

The death of Dr. D. James Kennedy is yet another reminder of what the hymn writer Isaac Watts saw when he wrote that “time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away.” Dr. Kennedy died this morning at his home in Ft. Lauderdale. He had been out of the public eye since suffering a significant cardiac arrest last December 28.

I withheld my formal comments on the death of Dr. Ronald H. Nash until my statement could be read at the memorial service held in his honor. He was a great friend, and a great friend to the cause of truth.

The death of a man who brought so many, including my own family, so much wholesome laughter should not pass without notice here. Don Knotts was most famous for playing “Barney Fife,” the awkward and nervous deputy to TV’s Sheriff Andy Griffith. The Andy Griffith Show is an important piece of American culture, an iconic monument to television — and to humor that was never coarse and never mean.