http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com Public Discourse: Ethics, Law, and the Common Good is an online publication of the Witherspoon Institute that seeks to enhance the public understanding of the moral foundations of free societies by making the scholarship of the fellows and affiliated scholars of the Institute available and accessible to a general audience. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/img/winstRssImage.png http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/feed 2009.07.21 publicdiscourse_2009.07.21.001 the Editor:

"Public Discourse: Ethics Law and the Common Good" has recently been updated and has a new url for its RSS feed. If you prefer RSS, please click here. If you prefer to use atom please click here. We apologize for any inconvenience.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.07.13.001.pdart 2009.07.13 publicdiscourse_2009.07.13.001.pdart by Justin D. Barnard:

Many are pointing to Obama’s pick of an Evangelical to head the National Institutes of Health as a sign of the president's willingness to reach out to those with differing viewpoints. But his pick holds conflicted views about the human embryo and will oversee a department that, under new rules, is outsourcing the destruction of human life.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.07.10.001.pdart 2009.07.10 publicdiscourse_2009.07.10.001.pdart by Matthew J. Franck:

If we want to lower the stakes of winner-take-all Supreme Court battles, we must search for justices who reject the notions of judicial activism and judicial supremacy. The second in a two-part series.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.07.07.001.pdart 2009.07.07 publicdiscourse_2009.07.07.001.pdart by Matthew J. Franck:

Judicial supremacy is inimical to the separation of powers, to republicanism, and even to constitutionalism and the rule of law. The upcoming confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor should force citizens to reconsider the place of the Court in our political life. The first in a two-part series.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.07.03.001.pdart 2009.07.03 publicdiscourse_2009.07.03.001.pdart by Ryan T. Anderson:

Recently, the editor of Public Discourse sat down with Robert P. George to discuss the state of the marriage debate. While supporters of same-sex “marriage” claim that history is on their side, it turns out that supporters of traditional marriage have more reasons for hope than they may realize.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.06.30.001.pdart 2009.06.30 publicdiscourse_2009.06.30.001.pdart by Christopher O. Tollefsen:

Revelations about the infidelities of prominent social conservatives like South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Nevada Senator John Ensign have led many to mock advocates of public virtue who nonetheless succumb to personal vice. But what’s so bad about hypocrisy?]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.06.26.001.pdart 2009.06.26 publicdiscourse_2009.06.26.001.pdart by Jennifer S. Bryson:

Healthy respect takes account of the diversity in Islam and focuses not on respecting an idea but on respecting the humanity of individuals. A new movie that opens in U.S. theaters today helps illustrate this precise point.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.06.23.001.pdart 2009.06.23 publicdiscourse_2009.06.23.001.pdart by Micah Watson:

The philosophical debate about abortion has reached a welcome level of clarity. The pro-life movement must capitalize on recent gains in public policy and opinion by equipping their grass-roots supporters with winsome arguments and effective strategies to continue to cultivate a culture of life. ]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.06.19.001.pdart 2009.06.19 publicdiscourse_2009.06.19.001.pdart by David Novak:

Same-sex marriage fundamentally alters the idea of marriage, expands government control of marriage, and ignores a child’s right to a mother and father.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.06.16.001.pdart 2009.06.16 publicdiscourse_2009.06.16.001.pdart by Samuel Gregg:

At a moment of increased government involvement in the economy, the solution we need might be a more independent central bank.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.06.12.001.pdart 2009.06.12 publicdiscourse_2009.06.12.001.pdart by Christopher O. Tollefsen:

If religious traditions, belief systems, and moral frameworks are the result of a genuine commitment to and search for the truth, then disagreement of truth claims among adherents must be taken as a sign that some, or even all, of the searches have failed. How can this be a good state of affairs?]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.06.09.001.pdart 2009.06.09 publicdiscourse_2009.06.09.001.pdart by Hadley Arkes:

All education is moral education, because it carries an understanding of the things worth knowing—and a hierarchy of the things more or less worthy of being known. Moral education must also point to a certain end: an understanding of the ways of life that are better or worse for human beings. It must point to a certain kind of political regime in providing the cast of our lives: the laws that protect the integrity of families and the professions, and the terms of principle on which a decent people deserve to live. The following article is adapted from the Commencement Address Arkes delivered at Hillsdale College on May 10, 2009. ]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.06.05.001.pdart 2009.06.05 publicdiscourse_2009.06.05.001.pdart by Jennifer S. Bryson:

President Obama’s “New Beginning” speech in Cairo featured wise and strategically astute language regarding Muslims. Yet coverage of the event by the U.S. State Department office responsible for communication to foreign audiences undermined Obama’s message. Before more outreach to foreign audiences, the Obama White House needs to reach out to its own State Department.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.06.02.001.pdart 2009.06.02 publicdiscourse_2009.06.02.001.pdart by James Stoner:

A recent conference at Princeton University asked whether in the midst of current economic challenges natural law philosophy might not provide a better foundation for the practice of economics than the utilitarian account of value that currently underwrites it.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.05.29.001.pdart 2009.05.29 publicdiscourse_2009.05.29.001.pdart by Robert P. George:

Three months into President Obama’s first term, one of his most prominent pro-life opponents, Robert P. George, engaged in a discussion with one of his most prominent pro-life supporters, Douglas W. Kmiec. The article below is adopted from George's remarks, which called for candid speech on Obama's abortion record.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.05.22.001.pdart 2009.05.22 publicdiscourse_2009.05.22.001.pdart by Jon A. Shields:

President Obama’s calls for honest dialogue on the abortion issue can only get off the ground if both sides agree that abortion is a contestable issue. But if it is a contestable issue, it should be settled by democratic processes—not judicial fiat.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.05.19.001.pdart 2009.05.19 publicdiscourse_2009.05.19.001.pdart by Jennifer S. Bryson:

Muslims who favor religious freedom deserve to have their voices heard. One way President Obama could be respectful of and show his appreciation for Islam would be to nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom and support religious freedom in his administration’s foreign policy.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.05.15.001.pdart 2009.05.15 publicdiscourse_2009.05.15.001.pdart by Christian C. Sahner:

What the Muslim world needs is not Western-style secularization that stresses the privatization of religion, but a form of authentic faith at ease with modernity]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.05.12.001.pdart 2009.05.12 publicdiscourse_2009.05.12.001.pdart by Mary Graw Leary:

A proposed law in Vermont will not only do little to solve the problem of “sexting,” but actually risks resulting in making even more children vulnerable to sexual exploitation.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.05.08.001.pdart 2009.05.08 publicdiscourse_2009.05.08.001.pdart by Daniel Patrick Moloney:

From the Clinton Administration to Nancy Pelosi, American family-planning policy continues to preserve the eugenicist principle that America would be better off if poor children were never conceived. In fact, Clinton tied Medicaid funding to state promises that it would save the government money in the long run by “averting births” of children who were likely to be a drain on the welfare system. But there is an alternative. The third in a three-part series.]]> http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2009.05.05.001.pdart 2009.05.05 publicdiscourse_2009.05.05.001.pdart by Daniel Patrick Moloney:

The senators who originally designed our family planning policies believed that the mostly black welfare population was incurably lazy, promiscuous, intellectually substandard, and a burden on public schools, and, moreover, that they probably would remain so indefinitely. Birth control, therefore, was in their eyes a way to reduce the number of these undesirable people. This article is the second installment in a three-part series.]]>