We should prefer natural law thinking to utilitarianism -- here's why.
Pillar: Politics & Law
Politics & Law
The third pillar of a decent society is a just system of politics and law. Such a government does not bind all persons, families, institutions of civil society, and actors in the marketplace to itself as subservient features of an all-pervading authority. Instead, it honors and protects the inherent equal dignity of all persons, safeguards the family as the primary school of virtue, and seeks justice through the rule of law.
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Exporting Death to Kenya
America’s abortion laws may inspire a dangerous provision in Kenya’s new constitution.
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Citizens United and the Problem of Modern Judicial Activism
A political scientist explains why the concept of “strict scrutiny” is alien to the Constitution and why it poses a threat to a constitutionally defensible judicial review.
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The Problem with the Supreme Court Conservatives
The Supreme Court’s bad ruling in the DC handgun case may soon undergo a drastic and very damaging expansion.
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A Legal Framework for Drone Attacks in Pakistan
American drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan have become increasingly common and controversial. What broad principles should guide our use of these attacks?
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Bad Reason and the ‘Manhattan Declaration’
A good deal of online commentary about a recent ecumenical statement misunderstands the nature of human reason.
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Don’t Forget Religious Freedom
To practice what he preaches, to respect laws passed by Congress, and to support Muslims who advocate for peaceful pluralism, President Obama needs to take action in support of religious freedom. Here are specific suggestions to move this effort forward.
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The Conscientious Engagement of Yves Simon
Yves Simon's fierce moral intelligence highlights the sad decay of our public deliberation, but his example also gives cause for hope.
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Tortured Reasoning
Opposition to the CIA interrogations of terror suspects is not a reason to distort important Constitutional principles.
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Faith Makes Us Live: Surviving and Thriving in the Haitian Diaspora
Religious freedom is a universal human right. The plight of Haitian immigrants shows that religion can also be a vitally important means of integrating some of society’s most vulnerable members.
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Constitutional Questions About Health Care Reform
Debates over health care reform have focused almost exclusively on policy. Few have considered whether Congress even has the constitutional authority to enact its proposed reforms. Fundamental constitutional issues—such as the scope of the commerce power, the right of individuals to religious liberty, and the different natures of federal and state authority—must be recalled in order to have a more fruitful debate.
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Judge Sotomayor and Abortion on Demand: A Tutorial
Millions of Americans believe that states can prohibit abortion in the third trimester, yet current Supreme Court jurisprudence has manufactured a right to unfettered abortion right up to the time of the child’s birth. How did Americans become so confused on this issue and how did the Supreme Court end up where it has?
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Making Men Moral
Earlier this year scholars gathered at Union University for a conference considering the work of Robert P. George in his 1994 book Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality. One theme of the conference was how religion and reason can help us understand and promote the common good.
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Constitutional Disorder in the Era of Judicial Supremacy: What Can be Done Now
If we want to lower the stakes of winner-take-all Supreme Court battles, we must search for justices who reject the notions of judicial activism and judicial supremacy. The second in a two-part series.
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Constitutional Disorder in the Era of Judicial Supremacy: The Founders’ Understanding of the Court
Judicial supremacy is inimical to the separation of powers, to republicanism, and even to constitutionalism and the rule of law. The upcoming confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor should force citizens to reconsider the place of the Court in our political life. The first in a two-part series.
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Hypocrisy and Public Life
Revelations about the infidelities of prominent social conservatives like South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Nevada Senator John Ensign have led many to mock advocates of public virtue who nonetheless succumb to personal vice. But what’s so bad about hypocrisy?
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Is There Value in Religious Pluralism?
If religious traditions, belief systems, and moral frameworks are the result of a genuine commitment to and search for the truth, then disagreement of truth claims among adherents must be taken as a sign that some, or even all, of the searches have failed. How can this be a good state of affairs?
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Notre Dame and Obama’s Roe Problem
President Obama’s calls for honest dialogue on the abortion issue can only get off the ground if both sides agree that abortion is a contestable issue. But if it is a contestable issue, it should be settled by democratic processes—not judicial fiat.
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Obama, Muslims, and Religious Freedom
Muslims who favor religious freedom deserve to have their voices heard. One way President Obama could be respectful of and show his appreciation for Islam would be to nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom and support religious freedom in his administration’s foreign policy.
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Can Secularism Save the Islamic World?
What the Muslim world needs is not Western-style secularization that stresses the privatization of religion, but a form of authentic faith at ease with modernity
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Law, Feelings, and Religion at the Bar in Iowa
The Supreme Court of Iowa’s decision to redefine marriage abandons reason and replaces it with feelings as the standard of public consensus.
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How the No-Establishment Rule Does (and Does Not) Protect the Freedom of Conscience
The Constitution’s no-establishment rule does protect the liberty of religious conscience, but not in the way, or ways, that we usually think.
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More Government, Less God: What the Obama Revolution Means for Religion in America
While many social conservatives have focused attention on Obama’s liberal social commitments, few have considered what effects an expanded welfare state will have on religious belief—or how these religious effects will in turn impact civic virtue, personal responsibility, altruism, or solidarity. If the European experience with the welfare state and religion is any indication, the Obama revolution could well lead the United States down the secular path already trod by Europe.
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Liberty, Authority, and the Good of Religion
Religious liberty and religious authority are frequently seen in tension, but they need not conflict. In fact, a proper understanding of both shows that they are equally necessary for full human flourishing.