The argument that abortion is largely a function of poverty is simple and initially plausible. Children cost money. The less money one has, the less likely one will be able to afford having a child. Therefore, the poorer a woman is, the more likely it is she will have an abortion if she becomes pregnant. This argument may sound plausible, but is it actually true? DarwinCatholic has a post up today which runs the numbers and concludes that there is... Read more
My friend and fellow Mirror of Justice blogger, Prof. Rob Vischer, has two posts (here and here) up about the “controversial GLBT program” proposed for his daughter’s public school in the Twin Cities area. He asks: The curriculum, the flyer informs me, is designed to develop “new understandings of the diversity of families,” to teach students that there are no “wrong” families, to facilitate discussion of the harmful effects of stereotyping about sexual orientation and gender roles, and to help students... Read more
Proposition 1: One should not vote for those who support grave evils. Proposition 2: One should not vote for those who support intrinsic evils. Proposition 3: Via prudential judgement, there may be divergent views on whether a given act is a grave evil. Proposition 4: Two Popes and all the U.S. bishops to varying degrees in their prudential judgement have concluded the Iraq war is unjust. Therefore, the only people in good conscience who may vote for either of the two candidates with... Read more
The L.A. Times has this story about a recent ruling by an appellate (state) court in California: Parents who lack teaching credentials cannot educate their children at home, according to a state appellate court ruling that is sending waves of fear through California’s home schooling families. Advocates for the families vowed to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. Enforcement until then appears unlikely, but if the ruling stands, home-schooling supporters say California will have the most regressive law... Read more
C.S. Lewis begins Mere Christianity with an important and far-reaching point: human beings, by their nature, desire things to be fair. We all possess notions of fairness which we share in common with others. Certainly there are points where it is difficult to discern what is or is not fair, and people don’t always reach the same conclusion, but they can communicate and debate with one another to determine who is right or wrong. “Quarrelling means trying to show that... Read more
One of the central principles of Catholic Social Thought is the preferential option for the poor, that is, the idea that special attention ought to be paid to the condition of the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. For many, the preferential option for the poor justifies the creation and expansion by the government of so-called welfare programs, in which the government spends tax dollars in order to alleviate poverty. Others object to at least some of these programs,... Read more
Scott Horton asks an important question: why is the media so squeamish about using the word torture to describe actions by the United States government, but not to similar actions carried out by others? Why the double standard? Horton: (more…) Read more
So — following up on this MOJ post — I think that John Hagee is loathesome. (How could a Roman Catholic not?) And, I blogged here at Vox Nova a few months ago about the “troubling” fact that Gov. Huckabee (who, at the time, many Catholics seemed to find attractive) had no problem hanging out with Hagee, whom I called a “virulent and ignorant anti-Catholic polemicist” (which he is) who needs to get the word about “Catholics and Evangelicals Together.” So,... Read more
“Misery literature is huge, especially in Ireland,” agrees Kelly. “The public loves this description of a cold, miserable Ireland, where it always rains and priests are always around, abusing someone.” But what makes the O’Beirne saga [the story of her abuse in the notorious Magdalene Laundries] so troubling, Kelly believes, is that it fuels Ireland’s obsession with clerical sex abuse, and the abuse-claim industry. O’Beirne herself accused Fr Fergal O’Connor, founder of the homeless hostel Sherrard House, of raping her in... Read more
A while back I promised that I would write a post on markets and the universal destination of goods. That post will probably have to wait a while, I’m afraid. But as a down payment, I offer this intriguing two part essay by John Nye, an economics professor at Washington University. Prof. Nye starts by asking us to [i]magine a system where the efforts of the richest people in the world greatly expand the range and quality of goods and... Read more
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