Joe Carter

Obama, the candidate (June 2008) : “And Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” The Obama Administration (July 2009) : “The United States views East Jerusalem as no different than an illegal West Bank outpost with regard to its demand for a . . . . Continue Reading »

Remember those psychological studies that purported to show that having children doesn’t add to a person’s overall level of happiness ? A new, more nuanced, study provides a different perspective : According to the [“day reconstruction method”] DRM, people seem to spend an . . . . Continue Reading »

Zbigniew Janowski reviews Denis Dutton’s The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human Evolution : The human artistic drive is as old as the species itself. The famous Lascaux cave paintings in France show that even at the earliest stages man had an urge for expression beyond utilitarian . . . . Continue Reading »

As the only two certainties in life, we shouldn’t be surprised to find that both death and taxes share a mutual connection: Sin. While death usually make for more interesting reading, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry has a thought-provoking discussion of “sin taxes” in his post ” . . . . Continue Reading »

At InsideCatholic, Edward T. Oakes, S.J. explains how a book on the Apostle’s Creed changed the course of history : In 1968, a professor of theology at the University of Regensburg wrote a modestly sized treatise on the Apostles’ Creed called Introduction to Christianity . Its impact, . . . . Continue Reading »

In our May issue, George McKenna reviews two new books that examine the complicated legacy of Booker T. Washington : What was Washington’s approach? Aimed mainly at blacks in the rural South (where the vast majority lived at the time), it was to teach them the skills to succeed economically, . . . . Continue Reading »

Both Joseph and Paul wonder whether President’s Obama’s public approval is slipping. In these types of discussions I would argue that we need to make a distinction between approval for Obama—a wildly popular celebrity—and approval for Obamism—the President’s . . . . Continue Reading »

The Nordic philosopher and priest Anders Chydenius (1729-1803)—the “Adam Smith of the North”— once asked : Would the Great Master, who adorns the valley with flowers and covers the cliff itself with grass and mosses, exhibit such a great mistake in man, his masterpiece, that . . . . Continue Reading »

First there was National Greatness Conservatism . Now it appears we have Great Society Conservatism : In other pockets of the state, the reaction to Democratic proposals has been strong, too. At a recent town-hall meeting in suburban Simpsonville, a man stood up and told Rep. Robert Inglis (R-S.C.) . . . . Continue Reading »

A.C. Grayling reviews Alison Gopnik’s  The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love and the Meaning of Life : In the days when Jean Piaget and Sigmund Freud dominated thinking about child development, small children were thought to be irrational, . . . . Continue Reading »