Natural Morality, American Exceptionalism, and Race Relations
The anti-slavery arguments of American abolitionists demonstrate the way in which Lockean natural rights and Thomistic natural law can be reconciled.
Marriage Is Not a Water Fountain
Segregation was based on irrational, peculiar prejudice. By contrast, protecting marriage between one man and one woman is based on universal truths about our human nature.
The Problem of Neutral Rhetoric
It is impossible to make a political argument without also making a moral claim. Demanding tolerance often functions as a way to evade robust discourse about the merits of one’s principles.
Life to the Full: The Dangers of Material Wealth and Spiritual Poverty
In helping developing countries to increase their economic prosperity, we must remember that human welfare cannot be reduced to material realities.
Marriage Redefinition and a Lifelong Commitment
The commitment to be faithful to one’s spouse—for better, for worse, in sickness and in health—is not a pledge to keep the same feelings. It is a pledge to do certain things, to voluntary conduct.
Surrogacy: Children of Dreams, Parents of Means
A new book tells the story of an infertile couple that has children through Indian surrogacy services—but it glosses over the costs to egg donors, surrogate mothers, and children.
Breaking the Silence: Redefining Marriage Hurts Women Like Me – and Our Children
The push to present a positive image of same-sex families has hidden the devastation on which many are built. We must stand for marriage—and for the precious lives that marriage creates.
International Religious Freedom Policy and American National Security
The Obama administration has failed to advance the cause of international religious liberty, and that failure has endangered American national security. But there are concrete steps Congress can take to improve implementation of the International Religious Freedom Act. Adapted from testimony delivered before the National Security Sub-Committee of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, September 18, 2014.
Jewish Praise of Truett Cathy: Chick-fil-A Founder and Sabbath Observer
In a society in which the profit motive tends to make all other interests subordinate to the almighty dollar, Chick-fil-A’s founder declared that the store would not be open on the Sabbath.
Scientific Education: Do We Love Our Children?
To love our children well, we must equip them with a strong education in the sciences as well as the liberal arts.
Happiness at Yale
College students, like everyone else, want to be happy. Educators should help them ground this desire for happiness in acts of virtue.
Incest and Pornography: More Similar Than We Think
Although we uphold the cultural taboo on incest, we accept something with precisely the same negative effect on integrity, marriage, and family: pornography.
A Tale of Two Fathers: Silas Marner on the True Meaning of Fatherhood
At a time when many children grow up without the love of their biological father, the sacrificial love of the men who willingly fill that void demands recognition.
The Illusion of Neutrality
The secular state cannot be neutral in matters of religion.
Hooking Up, Shacking Up, and Saying “I Do”
Despite the lack of cultural support for positive practices that help couples toward healthy marriage relationships, the good news is that individuals have control over their relationship choices.
Sexual Assault and College Practices
To effect a real change in behavior, colleges must not only change the messages they send—they must establish new patterns for college life.
Naked Consent: Why Personal Speech Codes Won’t Curb a Social Problem Like Sexual Assault
Speech codes won’t fix what ails a relationship marketplace that aggravates—rather than relieves—the risk of sexual violence. California’s proposed law will simply multiply accusations, legal proceedings, and judicial headaches.
Prudence and Moral Absolutes
Refusing to make exceptions to absolute moral norms is not unrealistic, imprudent, or inhumane. The purpose of norms is to promote human flourishing and protect what is good
The Global Citizen without a Country?
Today’s global citizenship movement emphasizes human rights disconnected from the history of any particular nation and without a clear conception of human nature.
The Renaissance of Hope: Dissidence, the Polish Church, and the End of Communism
The totalitarian temptation can never be entirely overcome, and there is always a possibility that barbarism will return. Thus, we must ceaselessly strive to pursue love, dignity, and freedom.
