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Why School Prayer Matters

In his State of the Union address and elsewhere, President Trump has emphasized the importance of prayer in public schools. In one speech he promised “big action” on the matter. But just what action he is contemplating remains obscure. Teacher-led prayer to open the school day? Football players . . . . Continue Reading »

Happiness for All

A few years ago, when a group of students at Emory University prepared to demonstrate against a controversial speaker, I asked a senior why they wanted to do so. She had a background different from that of the typical selective school attendee, a hard-edged one, and she’d already told me that . . . . Continue Reading »

Professors as Propagandists

Imagine that you recently discovered a book titled How Cancer Works, written by a respected professor from a prominent university. He promises to explain the disease and tell you how to avoid getting it. You would doubtless be interested. Cancer is, after all, an awful thing. With enthusiasm, . . . . Continue Reading »

Learning Latin

Some people acquire foreign languages more easily than others. I, alas, am one of those others. I cannot truly say that I have possession of any foreign language. I have perhaps two hundred or so words of Yiddish—just enough to fool the Gentiles into thinking I know the language, but not . . . . Continue Reading »

Taking Power in the Academy

In September 2017, I published a peer-reviewed paper titled “The Case for Colonialism” in Third World Quarterly. Eighteen thousand people signed petitions against the paper, six thousand of them academics. One month later, the paper was withdrawn with my consent, because the editor had been . . . . Continue Reading »

Oppression by Indifference

Almost all Western democracies other than the United States provide public support to parents who wish to send their children to private schools with a distinctive religious character. In the Netherlands, this policy was ­formalized by the Pacificatie of 1917, which resolved seven decades . . . . Continue Reading »

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