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Soviet flag

Does America Need a Sharansky?

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Unfortunately, Morson looks only at a handful of symptoms that are vaguely comparable to the pathologies of late Soviet society and concludes that the same disease is at work. He does not address the deep causes of Soviet and Russian dysfunction, all of which are absent in the United States—authoritarianism, a command economy, censorship, oppression, terror, the Gulag. 
college dropoff

Empty Nests, Then and Now

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If anyone older than Homer used the bird’s nest motif in a figurative sense, I have been unable to find it. His evocative imagery may seem familiar to modern readers, but this is deceptive insofar as it makes us think of the changes on the horizon for the parents whose primary child-rearing responsibilities are complete.
Evangelicalism

Megan Basham’s Civil War

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My interest is not in striking a blow either for or against Basham and the like-minded folks who feel empowered and justified by her claims. Rather, I want to talk about why I think the book is important and how a more expansive framework might help us understand the strife and atmosphere of suspicion more accurately. 
back to school

Back to School: A Roundup of Our Top Essays on Education and Culture

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Here are our editors' favorite essays on education, liberal arts, the university, and flourishing in college and in life.
War in Ukraine

Who Is My Neighbor? Ukraine, Just War, and the “Good Samaritan” Ethic

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It is time—indeed, past time—to act decisively. Ukraine is our neighbor. Will Russia, with her imperial designs and commitment to do the unthinkable, be deterred? Are we in the West willing to confront sociopolitical evil? And do so in the name of justice, charity, and human dignity?
Catholic Church

Beyond the Crises in the Church: Pope Benedict XVI’s Pontificate and the Reason for Hope

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Regoli’s book reminds us that the Holy Spirit is constantly at work—that the Church has overcome numerous crises, including in the recent past.
pro-life movement

Make the Pro-Life Movement Great Again 

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There are fewer than one hundred days remaining in the 2024 election season. We have precious little time to refocus and recommit, and to learn from the losing campaigns to help inform our efforts going forward.
all gender restroom

Load-Bearing Walls: How Denying Biological Reality Harms Us All

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Man-made positive laws should follow the laws of nature. Americans cannot bear the load of the government’s latest attempt to defy reality. And the courts should ensure that we won’t have to.
voting booth

The Bookshelf: They’re Our Parties and I’ll Cry If I Want To

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And so here we are, with hyper-partisanship and extremely weak parties, largely because earlier generations of “reformers” wanted to make them more “responsible” (read “ideological”) and more “democratic” (read “responsive to a narrow base”). It’s past time to have a conversation about reforming the reforms. More creative thinking about how to make parties again represent the great middle of the country would be most welcome.
shopping

A Family-Focused Approach to Consumption

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Our consumption decisions should be focused on the needs of our family members. This requires attention to unglamorous factors such as budgets and nutritional requirements, instead of being up-to-date with the brands and campaigns that purport to solve the world’s problems by selling us products. 
married couple

Why Sex Matters

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Sex, while personal, isn’t private. Another person is involved, so it’s of interest to society and the state, as are children and family. The whole human dynamic, all of it, wouldn’t exist without people—to state the obvious—and the decline of marriage and fertility affects the future of everything and everyone.
social security

The Social Injustice of Social Security

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Unraveling a program that is deeply embedded in our politics and culture won’t be easy, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be attempted. The goal of relieving old-age financial hardship was a worthy one, but the policy measure enacted was a defective means to achieve it. The insolvency of Social Security may provide the emergency necessary to bring about change, if only we do not let the crisis go to waste.
dating apps

What Bumble’s Bumble Tells Us about Dating Apps

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Potential partners deserve to be encountered with dignity as whole people, not as reproductive data points with scores that may be higher or lower based on our checklists. True love, the kind that’s truly human, cannot be “added to cart.” 
Venezuelan flag

What’s Next for Venezuela? A Q&A with Angel Alvarado

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At this moment, what we can do is the right thing. And sometimes the right thing is very risky—going out into the streets and demonstrating your opinions on the situation. It's risky, but I think it’s our right, and I think it’s what is right.
gender dysphoria

The Michigan Conversion Therapy Ban Violates Human Nature and Religious Freedom

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The meaning of “conversion therapy” that Michigan law now bans does not simply place some technical limit on those who work in the mental health profession. It instead validates and mandates a harmful conception of human nature and identity that is antithetical to the convictions of countless religious professionals who faithfully serve in this space.
babies

The Pronatalism of Silicon Valley

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The pro-family approach recognizes that marriage and family formation are the basis for overcoming the birth dearth in the United States. By encouraging family formation, we ensure that children are born into environments where they are most likely to thrive and nurture their own love for children.
Republican Party

Social Conservatives, Populism, and Confused Republicans

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Social conservatives serve a noble cause, and any populism ignoring their concerns is a populism not worth supporting.
Supreme Court in Finland

Tried for a Tweet

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What I’ve learned in the five years the Finnish state prosecuted me for my faith
Republican party

Pro-Life Peril and Hope

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The GOP has always been an imperfect and unreliable vehicle for pro-life policy, and Trump’s approach will make matters much worse. Pro-lifers must be clear-eyed about the danger our movement is in, wise and unwearied in our political response, and hopeful despite the darkness of our culture.
Robert E Lee

Propriety without Principle: The Cautionary Tale of Robert E. Lee

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Robert E. Lee perhaps tried to be a gentleman, but his moral principles were weak. Therefore, when the flood of war came, he compromised with evil, then piled sin upon sin, as the rebellion’s corrupting logic swept away more and more of his moral foundations.
expectant couple

What’s Natural (in Family Planning) Is New Again

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Women are increasingly embracing the reality that their cycles are beautiful, powerful, and healthy. This is truly, authentically, and enduringly empowering. 
intellectual life

The Dream World of Modern Intellectuals

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Our age appears to be in full rebellion against God and His Creation. And since we are creatures, even against our own nature. Ingratitude is thus the cardinal sin of our time.  
ethics advice column

Ask Chris Tollefsen: An Ethics Advice Column

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All three questions raise many more issues than I’ve been able to address, and I thank my writers for their rich and thought-provoking submissions.
mother and child

What Are Children For? A Q&A with Rachel Wiseman and Anastasia Berg

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Religious conservatives should be open to the idea that progressives and liberals might be able to take their own path and still find some common ground on the essential question of the goodness of human life.