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Pillar

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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Public Discourse

Constitutional Disorder in the Era of Judicial Supremacy: What Can be Done Now

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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.
Public Discourse

Constitutional Disorder in the Era of Judicial Supremacy: The Founders’ Understanding of the Court

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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.
Public Discourse

Hypocrisy and Public Life

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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?
Public Discourse

Is There Value in Religious Pluralism?

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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?
Public Discourse

Notre Dame and Obama’s Roe Problem

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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.
Public Discourse

Obama, Muslims, and Religious Freedom

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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.
Public Discourse

Can Secularism Save the Islamic World?

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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
Public Discourse

Law, Feelings, and Religion at the Bar in Iowa

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The Supreme Court of Iowa’s decision to redefine marriage abandons reason and replaces it with feelings as the standard of public consensus.
Public Discourse

How the No-Establishment Rule Does (and Does Not) Protect the Freedom of Conscience

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The Constitution’s no-establishment rule does protect the liberty of religious conscience, but not in the way, or ways, that we usually think.
Public Discourse

More Government, Less God: What the Obama Revolution Means for Religion in America

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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.
Public Discourse

Liberty, Authority, and the Good of Religion

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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.
Public Discourse

What Obama Will Give the Left

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With political realities preventing Obama from satisfying his left-wing base on economic and foreign policy questions, look for Obama to give the left the barn on social issues. And expect him to do so in significant measure through the courts.
Public Discourse

Sartre Debates an Islamist

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The play “Madah-Sartre,” both funny and poignant, provides a glimpse into the contradictions, logical impoverishment, and inhumanity of Islamist ideology, while also offering a dose of basic human decency to parties in a conflict which is more often characterized by violence than civil debate.
Public Discourse

David Ogden and the New Pornographers: Why the Senate Should Reject His Nomination

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David Ogden has impressive legal credentials, but his long career as a pornography-industry attorney casts doubt on his ability to enforce laws meant to protect children.
Public Discourse

2009: A Critical Year for Protecting Children

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The recent passage of the PROTECT Our Children Act makes 2009 a critical year in governmental efforts to protect children from sexual exploitation.
Public Discourse

Taking a New Look at Pornography

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Recent technological developments in the production and dissemination of pornography, coupled with recent scientific investigations on pornography’s impact, force all thoughtful citizens to reconsider the social costs of pornography.
Public Discourse

Pornography and the Courts

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The nomination of David Ogden reminds us of the problems caused by pornography, both at home and abroad.
Public Discourse

Positive Secularism and the American Model of Religious Liberty

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At its fullest, the American model of religious liberty is not a freedom from religion or a freedom of religion; it is a freedom for religion.
Public Discourse

Our Struggle for the Soul of our Nation

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In remarks delivered yesterday at the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, Robert P. George reflected on the history of the pro-life movement and offered advice for its future.
Public Discourse

Hillary Clinton, Public Diplomacy, and the Middle East

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America’s public diplomacy should be focused on fostering ideas in our interest that matter in key foreign audiences, not just on pro-America image marketing.
Public Discourse

Islamists Killed Tahar Djaout: We Should Give Life to His Ideas

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The Algerian novel The Last Summer of Reason provides a powerful and strangely beautiful reminder of the danger of letting violent ideological fundamentalism fester. We would do well to heed this reminder now, not later.
Public Discourse

Will Islam in Germany lead to Mufti Merkel?

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The German government’s attempts to promote moderate Islam may have the opposite effect.
Public Discourse

Aborting Conscience

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The advice of a recent report by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists seeks to impose one contested moral view on an entire field of medicine.
Public Discourse

A Second Look at Syria

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Spend some time traveling in this “Axis of Evil” nation and you’ll meet many people who will challenge conventional wisdom. Understanding the mixed-bag of Syrian social, political, and cultural allegiances will be key for U.S. foreign policy.
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