Religion
As economic units is perhaps the last way in which clergy should consider human beings, but it’s worth their while, on prudential matters, to take into account the ways in which economic principles affect charitable intentions. Unfortunately, in the quotation that Ed Fitzpatrick recently utilized, I fear Roman Catholic priest John Kiley has the mechanism…
To some degree, the theological principle that Bruce Marshall describes here can be seen as a core division point of human ideology: If God had remitted our sins by sheer forgiveness—sent them away or simply declared them nonexistent—then our sins indeed would be gone, and we no longer would be sinners. We would, however, be…
One hears, from time to time, statements that suggest that advancements in neurological science will negate belief that the self is anything other than an illusion created by electrical and chemical processes. I’ve always thought such a view to be astonishingly wrong-headed and, in some cases, deliberately misleading. Stephen Barr takes up the topic in…
Whenever the issue of immigration comes up with some reference to religious groups, especially where Roman Catholic clergy are involved, somebody inevitably calls in to talk radio to declare that it’s really just a scheme to increase the number of church-going Hispanics. The claim is more cynical than is merited, but to the extent that…
Somehow, one is not surprised that this instance of governance has not sparked the shock and outrage that accompanied the decision of Swiss voters to ban minarets: … the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, has ruled that the government of Italy must remove crucifixes from public school classrooms throughout that country. According…
Ted Nesi has culled the local data from a national survey concerning American religion: Rhode Island residents are among the least religious in the country, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life in Washington. Just 44 percent of Rhode Island and Connecticut residents surveyed by Pew…
In the continuing series of stories that show Western (especially European) governments to believe it to be their right to define the boundaries of religious practice, David Goldman describes a case in which a British court found that an Orthodox Jewish school could not follow the practice of matrilineal descent in its admissions policies: JFS…
We’re all familiar with the concept of separating powers across government. Especially in the United States, the notion of checks and balances is woven throughout civic education. Too few in the modern era appreciate the importance of separating powers across society. Not for long will powerful people in business, religion, and government maintain mutual respect…
I hadn’t thought the link on Drudge worth clicking, because stories about holiday displays in state houses tend to be media-trumpeted examples of adults’ immaturity, but procrastinating before bed, last night, I took a look at this sample out of Illinois and find the controversial signage to be surprising even within its genre: The sign…
My monthly column in the current Rhode Island Catholic reviews the Commerce Clause, government spending, and the Fourteenth Amendment as contributors to trends that are transforming Christmas into a private affair: The underlying assumption that an atheist should feel as at home as an orthodox Roman Catholic in any corner of the nation is at…