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Truth, Goodness, Oak Trees, and “The Phoenix Declaration”

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The question then arises: what do we do when the two kinds of truth and goodness come into conflict, especially in education? How are we to act when someone is a good teacher—someone who is a true buddy to a child in his or her care—but who at the same time says things in the classroom that are untrue and not capital-G Good in a deep way?

Fighting Anti-Semitism Shouldn’t Harm Jewish Students: A Reflection on the Limits of Blunt Force in Academia

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Sledgehammer approaches fail Jewish students because they conflate accountability with retribution, often leaving the innocent to bear the brunt of the fallout, like blameless bystanders caught in crossfire.

Public Reason and the Cultural Moment

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Political actors of all stripes fail to honor principles of public justification and mutual respect when they try to shame, bully, or force their opponents out of the public square. Movement progressives ought to remember this, and ensure that their political activities uphold such norms—even for those whose views they might find profoundly objectionable or immoral.

President Trump and Birthright Citizenship

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The Constitution’s grant of citizenship cannot be a function of Congress’s immigration laws, let alone of a president’s executive order written on the basis of those laws. Only a constitutional amendment could unsay what the Constitution conclusively says on that question: born here, citizen here.

Attending the Person: Twenty Years after John Paul II

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For John Paul II, the category of “person” relates to everything that matters to the human being. His pontificate, to my mind, is best understood as the pontificate of the person.

Neil Postman: Amusing Democracy to Death

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To a degree Postman could never have imagined, we must choose which truths—both facts and values—to believe. A deep hermeneutic of suspicion has replaced trust in central authorities. This is in part a natural consequence of television’s metaphor: in a world where truth must be packaged as entertainment, we will grow suspicious of those who trim the truth to fit their packaging.

Andrew Tate and Conservatives’ Kierkegaard Trap

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Reflexive contrarianism is the root of much of the resurgence of anti-Semitism on the Right, as well as of many other bizarre reactionary opinions that now seem to be gaining traction in some circles. It is presumed that whatever most offends the powers that be is probably true, or at least a useful corrective to a one-sided establishment. Those who fall into this pattern tend to take contradiction and condemnation as confirmation that they are on to something—and as justification to further radicalize.

The Human and the Machine: AI Sexbots and the Boundaries of Love and Dignity in the Workplace

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What does it mean to be human in a world where machines can mimic our deepest bonds? For thoughtful readers, Jordan’s story offers a lens through which to examine the nature of identity, the limits of legal protections in the workplace, and the ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

On Medical Killing and “Capitalism”

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It is misguided to rest one’s opposition to medical killing on a vague allergy to greed and to profit in general, when cost-pressures are a reality whether “profit” is relevant or not, and—in some cases at least—the profiteers are a countervailing force.

Property Rights in Children?

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If Congress were to pass laws endorsing, protecting, or expanding access to IVF, it would, to my knowledge, be the first time federal law has spoken on the nature of prenatal personhood—at least since Roe. And like Roe, it would once more require us all to accept the premise that unborn (and even certain classes of born) children are not “persons in the whole sense”: a sharp turn in the wrong direction.

Reclaiming Free Speech: Can America’s New Leadership Turn the Tide?

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The Trump administration, though still in its early days, has taken decisive steps to cement its free-speech stance. Meanwhile, Europe doubles down on censorship. But one side must prevail, and there is reason to hope that if America continues to throw its might behind free speech, the next four years will see significant returns.

A Catholic Defense of Enforcing Immigration Laws

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While progressive Catholics conclude that Vice President Vance and other Catholic defenders of administration policy are flatly at odds with Church teaching on immigration, I will argue that that is not the case. Indeed, it is clear that Vance is not only well within those boundaries, but is in fact on much stronger ground than those who advocate a virtually “open borders” position in the name of Catholicism.

The Bookshelf: Language Change under Pressure

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Here at Public Discourse, many of us think that in another generation or two, Western societies will look back on the idea that people can be “nonbinary” or undergo “gender transition” with the kind of horrified wonder we now reserve for early-twentieth-century eugenics or mid-century lobotomies. In the meantime, the copy we publish will move very cautiously around or through the minefield of they and them, employing pronouns simply to tell the truth as we understand it and to be as clear as possible for our readers.

Natural Law and Liberalism

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The natural law account of politics acknowledges (in line with the Aristotelian tradition) that the purpose of political community is the all-around flourishing of its members, but it also acknowledges (in line with the liberal tradition) that the role of government in achieving this purpose is limited to securing the conditions that facilitate flourishing.

True Strength Requires Commitment

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Many people in the current sexual landscape have perverted the authentic goal of the sexual act by making its only goals pleasure and satisfaction. But the wisdom of Pope John Paul II teaches us that there is a precise meaning tied to the sexual drive.

In Defense of Amy Coney Barrett: An Examination of Her Record

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Justice Barrett's presence has fundamentally shifted the center of the Court. For decades, conservatives could only win by fitting their cases into the politically liberal framework of Anthony Kennedy. Now—thanks to Barrett—the path to victory is to fit it into the judicially conservative framework of Antonin Scalia. That alone is a political and jurisprudential victory, even if it doesn’t result in litigation victories in all cases.

In Defense of Amy Coney Barrett: Why She Was Nominated to the Supreme Court

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Republicans couldn’t have filled the seat without Justice Barrett. Mitch McConnell knew this, and for that reason insisted that she needed to be the nominee.

IVF and the Language of Gift: A Theological Commentary on a Recent Executive Order

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This IVF executive order is anything but pro-life, and it is most certainly not pro-family. It is to be condemned in the strongest terms, and that condemnation must authentically inform Catholic life and family policy and practice. I pray fervently that the process of policy consultation that will soon come as a result of this executive order leave room, at the absolute minimum, for religious and conscience exemptions. But this is the bare minimum.

A Physician’s Pandemic Perspective, Five Years Later: An Interview with Donald Landry

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Medicine goes back 5,000 years. Medicine is already 2,500 years old when Hippocrates articulates the Oath, and it hasn't even started the infancy of its science. So for millennia, the medical profession has been in service of those in need—regardless of risk.

How Our Politics Failed during the COVID Pandemic: An Interview with Stephen Macedo

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There was a fundamental failure of toleration for alternative points of view. I think some of it might be explained by the fact that it was a pandemic. For public health guidance to be effective, people have to comply. To that I would say fair enough, but it’s also equally important—or more important—to have confidence that the policies are sound. People complying en masse with unsound policies won’t do us a whole lot of good. That’s what open debate is supposed to address.

Christian Bioethics in a Secular World: In Search of Ethical Common Ground

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Beyond a mere set of rules and regulations, a bioethics shaped by Christianity does have something to say to those who suffer—and a person to say it to, One who has suffered alongside us. It is my hope—as it is Cherry’s, I imagine—to see bioethics transformed by the love and mercy made possible by a personal knowledge of Christ. 

Optimizing for Holiness: App Culture and Catholic Spirituality

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Exodus 90’s use of the “why” is particularly fruitful, turning a powerful but potentially self-centered aspect of psychology into a means of loving others. Apps like these can help users to build virtue and grow closer to God. But even with a transformed “why,” there is a tension between the Christian spiritual life and the user-centered framework built into the form of a lifestyle app, because the app offers a vision of happiness as gradually increasing control over one’s life.

Society Stays Christian Longer If It Respects Religious Freedom: New Evidence from Pew

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If Christians want America to be more Christian, they should recommit themselves to the deeply Christian principle of freedom of religion.

Patience, Docility, and Hope

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It’s Lent, again, and that’s good news. We are asked to acknowledge our moral agency along with our responsibility for distorting ourselves—without shifting blame to any other—and then to repent, in patient docility, sustained by a hope that distortion can become integrity and our sorrows turn to joy.