Is It Not Time For Us To Stop Being Donald Ducks in America?

Last updated on: December 4, 2007 at 6:09 pm By Henry Karlson

Cardinal Pell, the outspoken, and often controversial, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, is known by many for using his faith to engage the contemporary Australian political debate. He often writes upon or speaks out for what Catholic teaching has to say on a given issue; he makes it clear, however, political analysis is difficult, and often there are many differing positions which Catholics can have on given political issues. For this reason, he contends that there is no need for any... Read more

Is “First Things” getting a pass in “The Golden Compass” controversy?

Last updated on: December 4, 2007 at 1:38 am By Policraticus

I will not be seeing The Golden Compass. As enticing as it may be to conduct a spectator revolt against the Catholic League’s latest histrionics, I have no interest in seeing it. There has been no shortage of uninformed opinion on the Catholic blogs regarding the USCCB’s recent evaluation of the film. First, the USCCB does not “endorse” the film, as one poor blogger confusedly suggests. Second, is it not a bit audacious to suggest the USCCB was somehow wrongheaded... Read more

Eugene McCarraher on capitalism, abortion, and the “culture of death”

Last updated on: December 3, 2007 at 9:05 pm By Iafrate Michael

The Other Journal, an online journal of theology and culture, recently posted an interview with one of my favorite Catholic thinkers, Eugene McCarraher. McCarraher is associate professor of humanities and history at Villanova University and a frequent contributor to Commonweal, Books and Culture, In These Times and other journals. His books include Christian Critics: Religion and the Impasse in Modern American Social Thought and the forthcoming The Enchantments of Mammon: Corporate Capitalism and the American Moral Imagination. An excerpt: First,... Read more

Romney: Closed to the Public

Last updated on: December 3, 2007 at 8:42 pm By jonathanjonesuiwdpt

On Thursday, Mitt Romney is going to appear at Texas A&M University to give his version of Kennedy’s 1960 address to those uncetain about his religious faith. After going to A&M’s public event ticket booth, however, I discovered to my disappointment that this event will be closed to the public. His remarks will evidently be made available later. This is not the best way to address those uncomfortable about his Mormon faith, and I hope he faces criticism for it.... Read more

Why the Right Opposes Universal Health Care

Last updated on: December 3, 2007 at 7:26 pm By Morning's Minion

No, it’s not any economic reason; it’s cold, calculating, politics. In a rare moment of candor, the National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru and Richard Lowry explain the perils of Democratic control of Congress and the presidency: first, the effect on the judiciary, but a close second, putting in place “a national health-insurance program that would irrevocably expand government involvement in the economy and American life, and itself make voters less likely to turn toward conservatism in the future”. I’m not even going... Read more

Slouching Toward Rogue Nation Status

Last updated on: December 3, 2007 at 7:19 pm By Morning's Minion

News from Canada: “Yesterday, the Canadian Federal Court issued an opinion in the case Canadian Council for Refugees, Canadian Council of Churches, Amnesty International, and John Doe v. Her Majesty The Queen. This case challenges the “Safe Third Country Agreement” between Canada and the United States that came into force in December 2004. This agreement provides that, with limited exceptions, individuals who first enter either Canada or the United States and then attempt to cross a land border into the... Read more

Finding the Inner Adult in Every Teen

Last updated on: December 3, 2007 at 5:57 pm By M.Z.

Where I deviate rather strongly from the norm is my belief in the ability of teenagers to make informed moral choices. This is not to say they should be ripped from home and cannot benefit from the wisdom of their parents. It is merely to say that the expectation that a teenager is capable of ordering his affairs properly is not an improper demand. While not excusing criminal acts that occur to teenagers, I am claiming that teenagers and young... Read more

Chávez lost

Last updated on: December 3, 2007 at 5:31 pm By voxnovablog

My family and I stayed up late last night waiting for the results of the referendum on the constitutional reform in Venezuela. The result? Venezuelans said “NO” to the constitutional reform proposed by Chávez. This is the first election that Chávez loses since 1999 when he became president. It is still worth mentioning that the election was quite close with only a gap of a little more than a percentage point. There was 44% abstention for this referendum mostly on... Read more

Quote of the Week

Last updated on: December 3, 2007 at 4:39 pm By Henry Karlson

Do we just have to put up with this? Is there an inevitable choice to be made between dogmatic rigorism and a humane, kindly relativism? I think that in the theories we have just been talking about, there are three things people have not thought through carefully enough. First of all, religions (and nowadays, also agnosticism and atheism) are seen as being all of the same kind. But that is by no means the case. There are in fact sick... Read more

Comments

Last updated on: December 3, 2007 at 4:24 pm By M.Z.

We have discussed policies regarding comments behind the scenes several times. For those interested, here is the general policy. The author of a post is the authority of the post. They can delete and edit comments. They can close comments. Any contributor can edit a comment that is potentially libelous. In particular, comments dealing with other bloggers on the Internet and their personal situations are generally not researched to confirm veracity and simply redacted. The prefered method of addressing inappropriate... Read more