Nathaniel Peters

Those are not the words of the usual religious conservative suspects. They belong to William Saletan , writing in Slate on Obama’s federal funding of embryo-destructive stem cell research. Saletan stands in the middle on embryos, seeing them as early-stage human beings who are not owed the . . . . Continue Reading »

Our former assistant editor Ryan T. Anderson writes in National Review Online that the solution to the marriage debate is not to privatize marriage because marriage is not just a religious issue. Instead, supporters of measures like Proposition 8 are looking to maintain marriage as the best, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at the Weekly Standard our former colleague Ryan T. Anderson shows how Obama’s recent decision on stem cells is a bad move politically, ethically, and scientifically. He gives a thorough case for why embryo-destructive research is not only unnecessary and more expensive, but less likely . . . . Continue Reading »

One recent vanity is the potential revival of the “Fairness Doctrine,” which mandates that radio stations give opposing viewpoints equal airtime. Fr. Neuhaus noted a previous attempt and the protests of Evangelical broadcasters in the February 1994 Public Square : [Evangelicals’] . . . . Continue Reading »

As we clean up formatting errors in the archives, occasionally we find amusing tidbits. Here’s another one, this time from the August/September 2006 Public Square : This is, I suppose, a Louisiana turn on Hilaire Belloc’s little rhyme: “Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, / . . . . Continue Reading »

Thanks to the New Liturgical Movement , I found a beautiful film called Playing Elizabeth’s Tune—The Life of William Byrd . It tells the story of how one of Britain’s greatest composers, a Catholic, kept the favor of Queen Elizabeth in a time of religious upheaval. Narrated in an . . . . Continue Reading »

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Steven Waldman looks at the data that John C. Green gathered for ” What Happened to the Values Voter? ” in our March issue. The big question for him was why the traditional Catholics voted for Obama more than Kerry. Green said that economic factors . . . . Continue Reading »

Furthermore , if babies help make us human, wouldn’t that mean that fewer babies might make us more selfish and less sociable—in the words of Dr. Hrdy, less human? But I keep getting ahead of myself. . . . . Continue Reading »

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. They just help make us people and not other primates, reports the New York Times : In the view of the primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, the extraordinary social skills of an infant are at the heart of what makes us human. Through its ability to solicit . . . . Continue Reading »

I posted this last year , but it’s so good I wanted to put it up again. A few years ago a friend of mine sent me these lyrics, which can be sung to the tune of “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things.” Sackcloth and ashes and days without eating, Mortification and wailing and . . . . Continue Reading »