I recall hearing the stories of individuals who immolated themselves as an act of protest during the Vietnam war, and as a Christian ethicist interested in civil and political engagement and activism, I have always found this...
Read MoreAddiction is a complex medical and social reality. Discussions of addiction often center around one of three different conversations: sale of illegal drugs and trafficking, long-term drug addiction in adults (whether illegal...
Read MorePhilip Jenkins wrote a short piece for Real Clear Religion earlier this week entitled “Death Warrant of Ancient Christianity” in which he argues that the fall of the al-Assad regime in Syria could lead to a campaign...
Read MoreVirtue ethics is sometimes viewed as the antithesis of a more rule-based, deontological ethics. The latter tends to emphasize principles, rules, and punishment, while the former talks more about character development and good...
Read MoreThey were the strangest, most decent family I had ever met, and just about everyone in our parish agreed. I used to see them, sometimes just one alone, sometimes as a family, biking everywhere they went in town – rain or...
Read MoreIs it contrary to the principle of subsidiarity for a school principal to ban homemade lunches, my colleague Jana Bennett asks? Should there be a national ban on incandescent lightbulbs? These questions are not earth-shaking....
Read MoreI tell my students that there is…and it is a working presumption in my classroom when we talk about structural sin and catholic social teaching. But Carrie Lukas of the Wall Street Journal has written an article that has...
Read MoreI’m fond of telling my students that pretty much anything should be considered a “moral theology” question. (They don’t often believe me.) Consider the news headlines about the ban on homemade lunches. My...
Read MoreThere is an interesting debate over at First Things between Joe Carter and David Bentley Hart on the legitimacy of the death penalty. For both Carter and Hart, the sticking point concerns how Scripture should be read and applied...
Read MoreHow’s this for strange bed-fellows? Dutch (mostly far-left) non-human animal rights supporters are teaming with the far-right ‘Freedom Party’ (which continues to be driven by worries about the considerable...
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