Gingrich, Romney, and Evangelicals Follow-Up

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

A post of mine from yesterday–Better to be an adulterer than a Mormon?: Evangelicals, Gingrich, and Romney–garnered the most hits in the history of this blog. In response to this entry, my dear friend Michael Bauman writes in the combox: All other things being equal, it’s better to be a forgiven Catholic — Gingrich, than a forgiven Mormon — Romney, especially when the Catholic is better informed, more experienced, more articulate, and has a better record of legislative achievement (not... Read more

Honoring My Father and Mother on their 52nd Anniversary

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

That is the title of my latest entry over at The Catholic Thing. Here is how it begins: Although we celebrate anniversaries on wedding dates, I am not writing to celebrate a wedding. That would be like ending the baseball season right after President Obama throws out the first pitch on opening day. No, I am writing to celebrate a marriage, one that, if they make it to next Monday, will have lasted fifty-two years. To give you an idea... Read more

My critique of Roe v. Wade and its progeny

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

Sunday, January 22, is the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade (1973). Even though many citizens reject the opinion, not many know why it is so flawed. In chapter 2 of my 2007 book, Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Cambridge University Press), I offer a detailed analysis of Roe and some subsequent Supreme Court opinions. An earlier version of that chapter was published in 2006 (1.1, pp. 37-72) in the inaugural issue of the Liberty University... Read more

Better to be an adulterer than a Mormon?: Evangelicals, Gingrich, and Romney

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

(Update: You may be interested in the January 20, 2012 follow-up post–Gingrich, Romney, and Evangelicals Follow-Up–in which I respond to a critique of the entry below) On October 12-15, I had an amazing visit to Utah. I conducted a faculty workshop at Brigham Young University on abortion and personhood, and then gave a talk on my return to the Catholic Church. Both events were attended by faculty members from both the School of Law and the School of Religion. I... Read more

My wife’s stained glass online gallery

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

Here’s a link to my wife Frankie’s outstanding stained-glass work. Read more

Journeys of Faith excerpts on HarperCollins website

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

I just learned that you can now browse portions of Journeys of Faith, a book for which I am one of the four main contributors. It is accessible on the HarperCollins website. The book is edited by Robert L. Plummer (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), and the forward is written by fellow Patheos blogger, Scot McKnight (North Park University). To browse the book, go here, or just click the picture of the cover. My contribution to the book–“A Journey to Catholicism”–begins... Read more

Ken Starr: Can I Vote For a Mormon?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

Judge Ken Starr, the President of Baylor University (where I am a tenured faculty member in the philosophy department), published a thoughtful essay in yesterday’s Washington Post, “Can I Vote For a Mormon?” It begins this way: Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary looms large on the political horizon. In the midst of lively public debates over taxes, jobs, the national debt and similarly important questions related to the future vitality of our nation, a different kind of question continues to privately occupy... Read more

Transworld Irony (new term)

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

Transworld Irony (or TWI): It is possible that in every possible world there exists at a college named after John Calvin a philosophy professor who offers a free will defense for the problem of evil. Read more

Marilynne Robinson: What Literature Owes the Bible

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

This wonderful piece was published last week in the New York Times. Authored by the writer and novelist Marilynne Robinson, it begins this way: The Bible is the model for and subject of more art and thought than those of us who live within its influence, consciously or unconsciously, will ever know. Literatures are self-referential by nature, and even when references to Scripture in contemporary fiction and poetry are no more than ornamental or rhetorical — indeed, even when they... Read more

The God-Haunted Atheism of Christopher Hitchens

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 1:28 pm By Francis J. Beckwith

That is the title of my most recent entry over at The Catholic Thing. Here’s how it begins: On December 15, contemporary unbelief lost one of its most gifted apologists, Christopher Hitchens. He, along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett, are often referred to as the four horsemen of the New Atheism. It is called the “New” Atheism because of its evangelistic zeal, an enthusiasm largely absent from the more urbane and engaging infidelities of “the Old Atheists”... Read more