Young women today do not understand the fragility of civilization and the constant nearness of savage nature. http://time.com/3444749/camille-paglia-the-modern-campus-cannot-comprehend-evil/   Read more

 The New York Times reported yesterday that several American Islamic associations refuse to refer to ISIS—which stands for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria–as Islamic. President Obama is now widely quoted as saying last month that “ISIL is not Islamic.” Even Al Qaeda has taken recently to denouncing ISIS for seizing innocent aid workers. Unstated implication—“they are not truly Islamic.” One of the most common rationales for these denunciations is that Islam is a religion of peace. Last month UK... Read more

In addition to the tragic stories of surrogacy gone wrong, there are families and surrogates with “happy endings.” It is important to hear these stories, too, and to respond to the arguments they make in favor of surrogacy. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/10/13821/?utm_source=The+Witherspoon+Institute&utm_campaign=8761407968-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_15ce6af37b-8761407968-84107317   Read more

Janna Darnelle wrote under a pen name in order to protect her family. Unfortunately, her ex-husband’s comments helped Scott Rose embark on a campaign of harassment and intimidation. As I will discuss below, Rose was not content to confine his character assassination to the internet; he has also contacted Darnelle’s employer in an attempt to get her fired. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/10/13867/?utm_source=The+Witherspoon+Institute&utm_campaign=4683ab658a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_15ce6af37b-4683ab658a-84107317 Read more

Ayatollah Hossein-Kazamani Boroujerdi, a senior member of the Shiite Muslim clergy, is presently serving the eighth year of an 11-year sentence handed down to him by the Islamic Republic’s courts for advocating the separation of state and religion inside Iran. http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4158/ayatollah-hossein-kazamani-boroujerdi   Read more

Damon Linker In an essay at The Atlantic, Ezekiel Emanuel takes the morally obtuse position that he would prefer not to deal with the indignities of old age http://theweek.com/article/index/268589/should-you-hope-to-die-at-75-absolutely-not   Read more

Yuval Levin Traditionalists must see both the good and the bad in modern life, and must accept that our society is always getting both better and worse. http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/09/a-pessimistic-case-for-hope Read more

The commitment to be faithful to one’s spouse—for better, for worse, in sickness and in health—is not a pledge to keep the same feelings. It is a pledge to do certain things, to voluntary conduct. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/09/13559/?utm_source=The+Witherspoon+Institute&utm_campaign=904d293883-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_15ce6af37b-904d293883-84107317   Read more

Asian-born American parents with two daughters are significantly more likely to have a son for their third child. Combined with Puri’s qualitative study, and ample data confirming the use of sex-selective abortion in some Asian cultures, that constitutes strong evidence that it also happens here in the United States. My compliments to the University of Chicago for confirming this with their new, comprehensive study. http://thefederalist.com/2014/09/18/the-united-states-has-a-femicide-problem/   Read more

The push to present a positive image of same-sex families has hidden the devastation on which many are built. We must stand for marriage—and for the precious lives that marriage creates. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/09/13692/?utm_source=The+Witherspoon+Institute&utm_campaign=65c760276b-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_15ce6af37b-65c760276b-84107317 Read more