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Public Discourse

Taking a New Look at Pornography

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Recent technological developments in the production and dissemination of pornography, coupled with recent scientific investigations on pornography’s impact, force all thoughtful citizens to reconsider the social costs of pornography.
Public Discourse

Pornography and the Courts

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The nomination of David Ogden reminds us of the problems caused by pornography, both at home and abroad.
Public Discourse

Pro-Life Secularists and the Future of Abortion Politics

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If opposition to abortion is not necessarily tied to a religious worldview, pro-life advocates may see victory in the culture wars.
Public Discourse

Collegiate Sex-Ed

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Every fall, kids arrive on college campuses and learn that their basic moral intuitions on sexual matters don’t square with the reigning ideas. Thanks to debased campus culture and overreaching on the part of administrators and professors, students are beginning to respond systematically—and they’re having an impact. Here’s how.
Public Discourse

Positive Secularism and the American Model of Religious Liberty

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At its fullest, the American model of religious liberty is not a freedom from religion or a freedom of religion; it is a freedom for religion.
Public Discourse

The Impact of Parental Notification Laws

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Professor Michael New writes that, contrary to claims by the Guttmacher Institute, parental involvement laws do have a significant effect in reducing abortions.
Public Discourse

A Diverse Bioethics Council?

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President Bush created a council that represented the range of viewpoints held by reasonable and responsible Americans on the most urgent and divisive bioethics questions facing the country. Will President Obama do the same?
Public Discourse

Our Struggle for the Soul of our Nation

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In remarks delivered yesterday at the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, Robert P. George reflected on the history of the pro-life movement and offered advice for its future.
Public Discourse

Hillary Clinton, Public Diplomacy, and the Middle East

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America’s public diplomacy should be focused on fostering ideas in our interest that matter in key foreign audiences, not just on pro-America image marketing.
Public Discourse

Islamists Killed Tahar Djaout: We Should Give Life to His Ideas

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The Algerian novel The Last Summer of Reason provides a powerful and strangely beautiful reminder of the danger of letting violent ideological fundamentalism fester. We would do well to heed this reminder now, not later.
Public Discourse

Risky Business: Keynes, Moral Hazard, and the Economic Crisis

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If governments do not take moral hazard seriously, their response to the present recession may sow the seeds of a future economic crisis.
Public Discourse

An Absolute Liberty of Conscience?

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Freedom of conscience is an important, though limited, right. In some cases a state may prevent someone from acting on her conscientious judgments. But in other cases—such as those in which a pro-life doctor is required to perform an abortion—the violation of conscience is intrinsically unjust.
Public Discourse

“Does Economic Liberty Merit a Public Defense?”

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Despite the financial crisis, markets deserve a spirited public defense that acknowledges both their virtues and limits.
Public Discourse

Why Marriage is Inherently Heterosexual

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A recent story in Newsweek claimed that the only reasons for opposing same-sex “marriage” are religious. But there are powerful arguments for marriage rooted not in faith but in reason.
Public Discourse

What We Should Do About Natural Embryo Loss

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While abortion opponents decry the deliberate destruction of human embryos, as many as half of all embryos are lost naturally. How should pro-life advocates address this problem?
Public Discourse

Will Islam in Germany lead to Mufti Merkel?

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The German government’s attempts to promote moderate Islam may have the opposite effect.
Public Discourse

Aborting Conscience

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The advice of a recent report by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists seeks to impose one contested moral view on an entire field of medicine.
Public Discourse

Social Conservatives Cannot Ignore Political Realities

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John Haldane has reminded social conservatives in America of important political and moral truths, but he overlooks the necessity of engaging in partisan politics with eyes wide open to political realities.
Public Discourse

A Rejuvenation of Conservative Principles

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When surveying the consequences of the recent election we should not think of the market as something disembodied from the rest of society. Its failure indicates a general failure of responsibility
Public Discourse

A Second Look at Syria

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Spend some time traveling in this “Axis of Evil” nation and you’ll meet many people who will challenge conventional wisdom. Understanding the mixed-bag of Syrian social, political, and cultural allegiances will be key for U.S. foreign policy.
Public Discourse

Letter to America on the Future of Social Conservatism

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What does the future hold for social conservatives in America? A British professor of philosophy writes to offer the advice of a friendly outsider: Don’t delude yourself into thinking the 2008 election was not a repudiation of the Bush administration, and keep in mind that aligning social conservatism too closely with either political party may prove fatal.
Public Discourse

Welfare Rights vs. Welfare States

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Welfare rights really do exist, and are usually best provided for by voluntary associations. Still, even if states aren’t always the best solution, they do have a role to play.
Public Discourse

The Reasons for Banning Abortion

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One need not be religious to oppose abortion. A simple look at what it does to new human life and what it has done to contemporary society is more than reason enough. New horrors loom on the horizon, but there is reason for hope.
Public Discourse

No More Bretton Woods

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While this weekend's conference threatens to repeat the failures of Bretton Woods, the work of economist Wilhelm Röpke may recommend a more successful approach.