Anna Sutherland

In an open letter to Republican Catholics (to be followed next week by a letter to Democratic Catholics), Michael Sean Winters of the National Catholic Reporter describes his sympathy for and his disagreements with American conservatism. As a member of his intended audience, I think he offers a . . . . Continue Reading »

In a time of economic slowdown, social unrest, and high unemployment, what should the government do for the poor and jobless? Should the state guarantee a job for every citizen and give money to the poor, or let the free market move as it will? Can the government provide for the needy while . . . . Continue Reading »

Just days after criminal charges were filed against a rabbi in Germany for performing circumcisions comes major news from Yair Rosenberg in Tablet magazine : America’s leading group of pediatricians is set to endorse the procedure. Rosenberg writes: A leaked copy of the new American . . . . Continue Reading »

Responding to a recent article in Nature on the psychology of climate change,  The Guardian ‘s Andrew Brown argues that combatting global warming will require something beyond carbon taxes, recycling programs, and technological innovation: There may be ways of fixing [the current . . . . Continue Reading »

On the blog of Georgetown’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, Mark Gray  comments on the Economist report  about the Catholic Church’s finances in the U.S. (Matthew Schmitz highlighted the story earlier today .) Gray argues that the piece shows a “lack of . . . . Continue Reading »

As the Acton Institute’s Samuel Gregg points out, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of Michael Novak’s book  The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism . Gregg evaluates the initial reception and ongoing legacy of the book at The American Spectator : From a 2012 . . . . Continue Reading »

“I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail. She makes Mickey Spillane look like Dostoevsky.” -Flannery . . . . Continue Reading »

Even if  today’s shooting at the Family Research Council headquarters was indeed motivated by the shooter’s support of same-sex marriage (or abortion, or anything else the FRC opposes), people should not leap to the conclusion that violent extremism is typical of the political . . . . Continue Reading »

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan has been taking flak for inviting President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to speak at the upcoming Al Smith Dinner. During election years, the gala — an annual fundraiser for the Archdiocese of New York — typically features the . . . . Continue Reading »

Edward Feser has written a long and fascinating blog post on his road from libertarianism to conservatism. An excerpt: At the core of (Robert) Nozick’s and (Murray) Rothbard’s critiques of taxation, and of my own thinking about libertarianism, was the thesis of self-ownership, which holds . . . . Continue Reading »