Issues
For the Children: David Blankenhorn and Kay S. Hymowitz on marriage
“The material Blankenhorn amasses establishes that far from a private relationship to satisfy adult needs, marriage is a social institution to meet social needs. Against this argument the case for same-sex marriage cannot stand… [A]ccepting same-sex marriage means accepting same-sex parenthood, by whatever means a child is acquired. This will deny the child the very benefit marriage was instituted to confer on him. Blankenhorn characterizes Andrew Sullivan's argument as ‘reeking of narcissism’ and demanding that ‘we worry less about children and more about adults.’" READ MORE >
Business
How business can save the world
“Can businesspeople really be counted on to foster virtue? It's a shaky proposition when profits are at stake. In a 2005 debate in Reason magazine, Whole Foods founder and CEO John Mackey articulated his vision of virtuous, socially responsible business. ‘Human nature isn't just about self-interest,’ Mackey wrote, paraphrasing Adam Smith. ‘It also includes sympathy, empathy, friendship, love, and the desire for social approval. As motives for human behavior, these are at least as important as self-interest. For many people, they are more important.’" READ MORE >
Faith
An interview with Chris Hedges: “I don’t believe in atheists”
"…Not believing in sin is very dangerous. I think both the Christian right and the New Atheists in essence don't believe in their own sin, because they externalize evil. Evil is always something out there that can be eradicated. For the New Atheists, it's the irrational religious hordes. I mean, Sam Harris, at the end of his first book, asks us to consider a nuclear first strike on the Arab world. Both Hitchens and Harris defend the use of torture. Of course, they're great supporters of preemptive war, and I don't think this is accidental…" READ MORE >
Issues
Human Therapeutic Cloning at a Standstill
Issues
Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani for President
Pat Robertson puts the “War on Terror” and Christian nationalism ahead of the Gospel and traditional values, and confirms liberal claims that the Christian Right is interested in power, not piety. READ MORE >
Science/Tech
Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs?
“It could be the weirdest and most embarrassing prediction in the history of cosmology, if not science… If true, it would mean that you yourself reading this article are more likely to be some momentary fluctuation in a field of matter and energy out in space than a person with a real past born through billions of years of evolution in an orderly star-spangled cosmos… If you are inclined to skepticism this debate might seem like further evidence that cosmologists… have finally lost their minds.” READ MORE >
Faith
Benedict’s Discomforting Message
"Benedict directly challenged an assumption so many Americans make about religion: that it is a matter of private devotion with few public implications. Not true, said the pope. 'Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted,' he told the country’s Catholic bishops Wednesday. 'Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.' That is a demanding and unsettling standard for the right and the left alike... This is the thinking of a communitarian counseling against radical individualism... Perhaps it is the task of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church to bring discomfort to a people so thoroughly shaped by modernity, as we Americans are. If so, Benedict is succeeding." READ MORE >
Science/Tech
After Stem-Cell Breakthrough, the Work Begins
Now that embryonic stem cell research may no longer require the destruction of human life, is it just a coinicidence that the NY Times is emphasizing how far scientists still have to go to develop successful treatments?
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Movies
Movie Violence Might Temper the Real Thing
"“The study’s premise strikes me as somewhat goofy,' said Melissa Henson, senior director of programs at the Parents Television Council, a media watchdog... 'I’d hate for people to walk away with the message that, ‘Oh, I ought to send my son to watch violent movies so they won’t go out and drink or do drugs and commit violent crime...’" READ MORE >
Issues
These Scientists Can’t Tolerate the Pope
"Sixty one Italian scientists have signed a letter protesting against a planned visit this week by Pope Benedict XVI to Rome's Sapienza University because of his stated views on Galileo... Then Cardinal Ratzinger ... observed that 'At the time of Galileo the Church remained much more faithful to reason than Galileo himself. The process against Galileo was reasonable and just.' The Italian Catholic writer Vittorio Messori agreed, saying Galileo 'was not condemned for the things he said, but for the way he said them. He made statements with sectarian intolerance...'" READ MORE >
Culture
What’s Behind Steroids? A Culture of Fear
"We must openly address not only the drug issues plaguing the sports we love, but the culture of fear that shakes our society... We’re scared of failure, aging, vulnerability, leaving too soon, being passed up — and in the quest to conquer these fears, we are inspired by those who do whatever it takes to rise above and beat these odds. We call it 'drive' or 'ambition,' but when doing 'whatever it takes' leads us down the wrong road, it can erode our humanity. The game ends up playing us..." READ MORE >
Culture
Scholar sees a Catholic in the Bard
Another book arguing that Shakespeare’s plays were written from a Catholic perspective. It’s too bad, but until there’s hard evidence that Shakespeare was a practicing Catholic, the literary establishment will keep ignoring these books. The best one so far is Claire Asquith’s Shadowplay.
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