Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure and “The Very Mercy of the Law”
Both principle and prudence are necessary if “the very mercy of the law” is to be achieved.
Building Jerusalem: Christianity and the New Urbanism
The New Urbanist movement attempts to address the problem of urban sprawl by promoting mixed-use, mixed population, walkable urban and town centers that draw people together. But how are these ideas related to Christian life?
May I Please Speak to My Daddy?
This world does not need men to selfishly take whatever we want, especially if the price is the welfare of our children. Our children don’t need superheroes—just quiet, unsung, ordinary, everyday heroes who answer to the name “Daddy.”
Globalist Illusions and the Folly of Global Governance
Global governance projects don’t just foster unaccountable bureaucracies and rule by experts. They are increasingly corrupting the idea of human rights.
Ten Years of International Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Laws: Lessons Learned
When the state insists on governing us only in terms of who we think we are, surely the proper interpretation of such an insistence is that the state has reneged on the very reason for its existence: to govern us-as-us; to govern us as male and female.
To Win Back What We’ve Lost: How Defenders of Religious Freedom Are Fighting to Reclaim International Law
Despite conceding crucial legal and political ground for decades to organizations such as Planned Parenthood, opportunities abound for defenders of religious freedom to gain that ground back.
Fertility Awareness-Based Family Planning: Good for Both Body and Soul
Fertility-awareness based methods of family planning are not only safe, economical, and effective. They also empower women and couples to understand, respect, and work with their bodies.
The Demise of Language and the Rise of Cloning
On both sides of the Atlantic, human cloning for pregnancy has been stealthily gaining ground in the last few years, in part due to cultural perceptions and words that obscure reality.
Not Benedictine Enough: Rod Dreher’s Diagnosis and Prescription for American Christianity
If the Benedict Option is just Christianity, it is neither inherently Benedictine nor is it optional. If it is a feeling and an intuition, it needs to be guided by careful thought.
Ruler and Guide: What John Marshall Can Teach Neil Gorsuch about the Constitution and the Natural Law
Let us hope that, in his answers and in his future jurisprudence, Neil Gorsuch looks to the example of the Great Chief Justice and sees the Constitution as ruler, the natural law as guide.
Autonomy, Assisted Suicide, and Neil Gorsuch
Neil Gorsuch’s book on assisted suicide highlights the danger of judges who rely on the legal and philosophical principle of radical autonomy to legislate from the bench.
Stare Decisis for Me, but Not for Thee
Whenever a Republican president nominates a judge to the Supreme Court, progressives muse loudly about the importance of stare decisis, the principle governing the law of precedents. All they are worried about is the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In fact, stare decisis does not demand blind adherence to poorly reasoned rulings in the mold of Roe.
Neil Gorsuch, Natural Law, and the Limits of Judicial Power
What does natural law say about the power of judges in constitutional systems of government?
Advice for Judge Gorsuch If Asked About Abortion
The pro-choice worldview is a tangled mess of inconsistent ideas.
Out of the Ashes: Anthony Esolen’s Clarion Call to Restore Culture, Faith, and Sanity
Anthony Esolen’s new book offers a bracing diagnosis and prescription for contemporary American culture.
Natural Law, Social Justice, and the Crisis of Liberty in the West
A reflection on our nature as “dependent, rational animals.”
Abortion Stops a Beating Heart: The Heartbeat Protection Act of 2017
Recent scientific advances, popular opinion, and universal moral standards agree: abortion should not be allowed to stop a child’s beating heart.
A True Mensch: The Enduring Legacy of My Friend, Michael Novak
In the field of religion and the American founding as well as many others, Michael Novak will be remembered as one of the most prolific and influential intellectuals of our time. But above all, Michael was a truly wonderful and compassionate human being.
Your Marriage: You Have No Idea of the Good You Are Doing
None of us can truly gauge the impact of our lives on others.
Biology Isn’t Bigotry: Christians, Lesbians, and Radical Feminists Unite to Fight Gender Ideology
Public schools have a duty to serve all children, but a school cannot serve children and a totalitarian ideology all at once. For the sake of children’s well-being, Christian mothers are uniting with their radical feminist and lesbian sisters to reject the idea of “gender identity.”
Ideology and the Corruption of Language
Everyone talks about “dialogue,” but very few of us have the patience or are willing to do the hard work to engage in it.
In Defense of Plato’s Republic
For Socrates, the city isn’t only an arbitrarily chosen device for illuminating the soul’s mysteries but an essential means for creating and sustaining justice and the other virtues in the soul.
Throw Off Your Rubber Chains! From Contraception to Transgenderism via Abortion
A desire to be protected from the meaning of our body has led only to a need to be protected from the ravages of reality.
