There is a tragic case ongoing in Washington DC that involves the definition of death and religious belief. A 12-year-old boy, known publicly as M.B., has been declared dead by neurological criteria (popularly known as brain dead). The doctors want to terminate the medical machinery that is keeping . . . . Continue Reading »
A Man for All Seasons received a yawning review from the New York Times when it opened on Broadway this fall. But, poking around in the NYT archives, I received a lesson in changing times and tastes. Maybe more than tastes . . . Then (1961): “A Man for All Seasons” is written with . . . . Continue Reading »
First Things board member (and frequent contributor) Prof. Robert P. George has just been appointed to the U.N.’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST). In this capacity he will “advise the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural . . . . Continue Reading »
If you haven’t yet read P.J. O’Rourke’s extended rant in the Weekly Standard , you should . “We Blew It” is the title and about sums it up: An entire generation has been born, grown up, and had families of its own since Ronald Reagan was elected. And where is the world . . . . Continue Reading »
Jay Mathews writing in this morning’s Washington Post reflects on A Crucial Decision for the Obamas: Private or Public? “Like many parents moving their children to Washington, Barack and Michelle Obama will be told to avoid D.C. public schools. Is that good advice?” Mathews is . . . . Continue Reading »
You know something has gone awry when a society simultaneously bans the use of primates for scientific experiments and legally protects the creation and destruction of human “savior siblings.” . . . . Continue Reading »
Ross , as often transpires, has blogged something of interest: [ . . . ] Obama’s "ironist’s temperament" doesn’t just make him a more interesting politician than your average baby-kisser: It has the potential to be crucial to his success as President. Mass democracy has . . . . Continue Reading »
At first I was pretty skeptical. Reprogramming jihadists through therapy ? Did the Saudi’s really intend to handle radicals as though they were whiny, navel-gazing westerners? “Amir, when your little brother was born, how did that make you feel? Did you worry that your parents . . . . Continue Reading »
After Washington voters passed I-1000 legalizing Oregon-style assisted suicide, First Things asked me to weigh in with some analysis. I look at the matter from two angles. The first is political. I noted that the assisted suicide movement had been essentially moribund since the passage of . . . . Continue Reading »
“In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confessing; in singing, the affection of one loving.” So wrote St. Augustine, in a line often paraphrased as “Singing is praying twice.” And as Pope Benedict added in his recent address at the Collège des Bernardins in . . . . Continue Reading »
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