Unlike Joseph , I think social conservatism and economic leftism (if “leftism” means willingness to significantly restrict trade) are very easy to reconcile on the level of philosophy and, outside the US (a nation whose rather counterintuitive but seemingly immutable political . . . . Continue Reading »
The media everywhere can’t—or won’t—report assisted suicide-related stories accurately. Example: Most stories still report that Jack Kevorkian assisted the suicides of the terminally ill when 70 percent or so of his victims were not terminally ill and five had no . . . . Continue Reading »
I grow very weary of the constant whining by “the scientists,” that if they don’t get everything they want, it is doom time: ”If there are ethical constraints on stem cell research, there will be a brain drain!” “If we don’t get funding increases . . . . Continue Reading »
At least, it should be : About 800 pages of the earliest surviving Christian Bible have been recovered and put on the internet. Visitors to the website www.codexsinaiticus.org can now see images of more than half the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus manuscript. Fragments of the 4th Century . . . . Continue Reading »
If you had asked me as a young Baptist boy to explain the difference between Protestants and Catholics, I would have said that Catholics were the Christians who “have to do what the Pope tells them to do.” Now I’m an old Baptist and realize how naive I was. (I’m more likely . . . . Continue Reading »
And it is precisely to this question of the prophetic power of Populorum Progressio that Benedict turns in Chapter 2, paragraphs 21 through 33: “After so many years, as we observe with concern the developments and perspectives of the succession of crises that afflict the world today, we ask to . . . . Continue Reading »
The death of Robert McNamara on July 6 has generated some reflections, here and there: a little remembering of the man’s strange place in history. One of the most interesting accounts of his role as secretary of defense appeared in the December 2000 issue of First Things : Adam . . . . Continue Reading »
Scientists claim to have created sperm using embryonic stem cells. From the story:Researchers led by Professor Karim Nayernia at Newcastle University and the NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI) developed a new technique that allows the creation of human sperm in the laboratory. They . . . . Continue Reading »
Introduction Caritas in Veritate is the first social encyclical of the 21st century, and Pope Benedict XVI’s chosen topic couldn’t be timelier. Forty years after the publication of Pope Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio, and following in the footsteps of his predecessor John Paul II . . . . Continue Reading »
From the Church Music Association of America: Gregorian Chant at the National Shrine, Washington, DC, September 25-26, 2009.Chant is good. I imagine this pilgrimage will be all right, too, though it’s hard to consider it perfect when it hasn’t even happened yet.[Rating: 97 out of . . . . Continue Reading »
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