Transhumanists and immortalists hope to find a magic bullet—pardon the metaphor—that will let them live for hundreds of years. One potential hope, not eating much, seems to have been dashed in monkey research. From the LA Times story:For 75 years, scientists have documented a curious . . . . Continue Reading »
Hello! For many years I’ve edited the blog MarriageDebate, which started as a project of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy. Over the years the purpose of the blog shifted, to the point where I’m now bringing it over to First Things with the title “Kinship and . . . . Continue Reading »
More than a century ago, Englishman Henry Alexander Glass happened upon an old copy of the Tate and Brady metrical psalter dated 1771 in an old book stall. By the 1880s metrical psalters, while still in use in Scotland, had long ceased to be used liturgically in England, so Glass, curious about the . . . . Continue Reading »
In an open letter to Republican Catholics (to be followed next week by a letter to Democratic Catholics), Michael Sean Winters of the National Catholic Reporter describes his sympathy for and his disagreements with American conservatism. As a member of his intended audience, I think he offers a . . . . Continue Reading »
Be this guy. Don’t go hunting for applause lines. Don’t try to talk about everything. Use your time to talk about two or three really big things. Explain your most recent Medicare plan in maximum detail.. Explain IPAB and how Obama proposed to hold . . . . Continue Reading »
I too was sad and lonely today knowing that I wouldn’t soon be with thousands and thousands of political scientists. TRUE GRIT STUDIES took a hit from which it might take a year or two to recover. Here’s another part, which isn’t meant to flow from the previous part: Mattie . . . . Continue Reading »
A public notary in Brazil has registered a three-person partnership as a legally recognized civil union . Brazilians are waiting to see how other public officials treat the notary’s action. The notary, Claudia do Nascimento Domingues, who serves the city of Tupa, “said the . . . . Continue Reading »
Though I don’t think they will matter much in the long run and I regret staying up to watch them, 1. When it comes to Ann Romney, it is like that saying credited to Lincoln, “That’s the kind of thing you will like, if you like that sort of thing.” She did a good job of . . . . Continue Reading »
When I was in college in the 90s, I and some other religion majors went with one of our professors to a debate on the question of gay ordination at a presbytery meeting in Iowa. (Our professor was a member of the Presbyterian Church [USA], which conducts its business largely at a regional level, . . . . Continue Reading »
Joan Desmond at the National Catholic Register conducted a very useful interview with Ross Douthat . I find myself agreeing with what Douthat has to say about Catholicism’s realignment from Democratic to Republican (a very partial and complicated but real change). We face a challenge. Because . . . . Continue Reading »