Freedom of Conscience and New “LGBT Rights” in International Human Rights Law
“LGBT rights” are being elevated above conscience rights when the two come into conflict—but this trend is to the detriment of human rights, which can stand the test of time only when they are grounded in transcendent, fixed authority.
Ex Machina, Artificial Intelligence, and the Ethical Dangers–or Benefits?–of New Technology
Very soon, the classic scenarios of artificial intelligence from science fiction will become reality. Recognizing the moral and ethical concerns such achievements will raise can help us begin to address them. Whether the development of new technology will be good or bad will depend on how we use it.
An Originalist Critique of the Court’s Free Speech Tradition
Free-speech jurisprudence has reached a state where it is acceptable to abridge speech on matters of public concern, but not on vile or private speech. And the Supreme Court has usurped the authority of line-drawing from the people to empower itself.
Personal Love and the Call to Chastity
Millennials are bombarded with the message that casual sex brings fulfillment while chastity is shameful, but a closer look reveals the profound loneliness and psychological pain motivating sexual libertinism’s most outspoken advocates. Millennials would choose differently if they realized the positive benefits of chastity.
What Trump and Sanders Teach Us about America
Enthusiastic support for Trump and Sanders shows the stranglehold that materialistic individualism has on American political culture. Unless we can find a counterbalance to our excessive focus on economic interests, we should expect to be crushed beneath their weight.
Answering the Question of Every Human Life
Every person is born with a heart, mind, and conscience that desire to seek truth and goodness—but these can only be found in an atmosphere of genuine freedom.
Women and the Power to Change the World
Women are called to shape the moral dimension of the culture, but current trends seem to indicate that the wrong women have been doing the job. Fortunately a new generation of women is rising up eager to give joyful witness to the complementarity of men and women and to the happiness they have found in Christ.
The National Bank: An Early Lesson in Constitutional Fidelity
The debate over the creation of a national bank reveals how Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton, despite profound disagreements, argued respectfully with prudence and fidelity to the Constitution. All three men offer valuable examples to today’s statesmen.
Supreme Court Nominations and the Virtues of a Resolute Senate
Liberal activists claim that the Senate must consider an Obama nomination to the Court. In fact, it would be unprecedented for a Supreme Court justice to be confirmed under a divided government during a term-limited president’s final year in office.
The Law of Benedict
Pope Benedict XVI often ventured into venues historically hostile to the Judeo-Christian tradition. A new collection of essays discusses many of these speeches, probing the relationship of reason to religion, the West, and natural law.
The Supreme Greatness of Justice Antonin Scalia
For his immense contributions to constitutional discourse, his sound constitutional vision, his rigorous and vigorous opinions, his fearlessness and peerlessness, Justice Scalia is one of the greatest Supreme Court justices of all time.
The National Parks: “America’s Best Idea”
We will benefit most from the national parks if we can remember their role as natural cathedrals that orient us to the crucial relevance of “Nature” for politics and society.
The Ideology of Anti-Poetry
A recent collection of essays on the nature and function of poetry gives a clear-sighted critique of the failures of contemporary poetry.
Immigrants, Assimilation, and Religion
Our nation faces an assimilation crisis as many Middle Eastern immigrants reject our culture, which they perceive as libertine. We could improve the situation through a renewed commitment to our founding principles, particularly the reunification of faith and reason.
Setting the Record Straight on Texas’s Abortion-Safety Law
The Supreme Court is a vote away from unraveling years of incremental pro-life legislation as it examines the case surrounding Texas’ abortion-safety law HB2. But holding the abortion industry to a high standard of care should not be controversial, as the health of real women is at stake.
Girls Just Want to Be Born
The global pro-life movement will continue to speak out and defend the girl child. We must work to oppose all acts of gender based violence, protect women’s and girls’ lives, and seek consistent non-discriminatory life-affirming laws and policies.
Crony Capitalism: Inefficient, Unjust, and Corrupting
Cronyism in the marketplace not only damages the economy. It is also unjust and deeply corrupting of the body politic—perhaps especially of democracies.
Bird Brains and Cross-Species Empathy
Speaking about empathy between humans and animals requires a robust philosophy of nature. Such a philosophy can guide us in thinking more deeply about what it means to be human and how the human animal can better be connected to the broader animal world.
The Hippocratic Oath: Quaint Relic or Solemn Vow?
Despite its naysayers, the original Hippocratic oath remains an enduring icon of medical ethics because it eschews the unbound and nebulous principles of modern bioethics in favor of traditional virtues and transcendent truths.
The Fight over Abortion in the UN’s New International Development Agenda
Pro-life countries must arm themselves against the UN’s intense pressure toward population control, while at the same time supporting and holding the UN accountable to its legitimate development objectives.
No Longer Calm, But Alive: Robert Royal’s Catholic Humanism
Robert Royal makes the case that, despite a twentieth-century period of confusion and fragmentation, Christian humanism has been renewed and revitalized, so that today it is “as alive as it has ever been.”
