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Yoga at the University

Earlier this month, controversy broke out when a Canadian university canceled a beginners’ yoga class it had offered for years. The reason for the class cancellation at the University of Ottawa is a bit murky, but a student government representative evidently told the instructor that the class . . . . Continue Reading »

Weak Goals at Notre Dame

Following on from my article about the Curriculum Review at the University of Notre Dame, I can report that the draft recommendations of the Curriculum Committee call for the retention of the current two theology course requirements. It recommends adding a core course called “Catholicism . . . . Continue Reading »

An Open Letter to Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

I will start out politely, with the traditional As-salaam-u alaykum, peace be to you, and I will even use the title you have given yourself, and I will try to keep this note brief, for I can only imagine the press of your days, what with trying to manage a nascent state, and a fractious staff, and . . . . Continue Reading »

First Links — 11.25.15

Fighting Terrorism with Transcendence
Gracey Olmstead, American Conservative

While We Were Out
Daniel Schwindt, Distributist Review

The New Dignity: Gnostic, Elitist, Self-Destructive Will-to-Power
Roberta Green Ahmanson, Public Discourse

Forensic Psuedoscience
Nathan J. Robinson, Boston Review

How France’s Leaders Failed Its People
Michel Houellebecq, New York Times

God banished from Downton Abbey, says show's historical advisor
Patrick Foster, Telegraph

Accepting Woodrow Wilson's Failures without Erasing History
Christine Emba, Washington Post

We Value Experience: Can a Secret Society Become a Business?
Rick Paulas, Longreads

Compassion, Yes, But Prudence, Too

The Syrian refugee crisis has metastasized to a crisis for more than just the refugees. With at least one of the terrorists responsible for the slaughter of innocents in Paris having gained European entry from among the cohort of evacuees fleeing the Levant, the fear that the refugee crisis could . . . . Continue Reading »

Olivia Pope and the Virgin Mary

It is Christmas Eve, and Olivia Pope, star of the ABC melodrama Scandal is about to get an abortion. In an episode that aired Thursday night, she lays in the operating bed while the music of “Silent Night” plays. We watch her face run through the emotions of anxiety, uncertainty, and pain while . . . . Continue Reading »

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