We in English have an odd and useful tool: a possessive that can be appended to an entire phrase, rather than to just one word. Look at the following: Il figlio del re d’Inghilterra (Italian) Le fils du roi d’Angleterre (French) Der Sohn des Koeniges von . . . . Continue Reading »
Not so long ago, the language of mainline Protestantism supplied our country with its ethical vocabulary. Lutheran minister Reinhold Neibuhr guided his contemporaries’ reflection on war; Episcopal priest Joseph Fletcher promoted the widely adopted idea of “situation ethics.” The . . . . Continue Reading »
Monument to Tsiolkovsky in Borovsk, Russia. Nearly all monuments to him depict him looking to the heavens. Here’s one for all the folks who think scientific progress and mysticism are at war with one another: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the father of the Russian space program, was a . . . . Continue Reading »
A Busy Day in Canon 915 Ed Peters, In the Light of the Law Scientists Must Stop Politicization of Profession Daniel Sarewitz, Nature Baptists Open to Epiphany Jeff Brumley, Associated Baptist Press The Radical Visions of St. Francis Joan Acocella, The New Yorker Little Change in Pro-Life Sentiment . . . . Continue Reading »
A friend’s wife recently gave birth. He reports that the New York birth certificate asks for the sex of the mother, and the sex of the father. I was taken aback. How could the State of New York be so behind the times? Don’t the bureaucrats in Albany know what the T in LGBT stands for? . . . . Continue Reading »
blogs at Psychology Today: ...Now, about the children. I wish I could say that there are stacks of methodologically rigorous studies comparing the implications for children whose parents are or are not polyamorous. Instead, there are very few, so any conclusions are tentative at best. The authors of . . . . Continue Reading »
feature: Law student Michael Corliss thought he was just being a “law nerd” when he chose a passage from the landmark court decision that allowed same-sex marriage in Massachusetts to be read at his August wedding ceremony. But it turned out that Corliss, a Milton native, and his bride, . . . . Continue Reading »
In my philosophical folklore post last week I asked about other tidbits of philosophical folklore, and commenter Ray Ingles gave one example: The “is-ought fallacy” is another recurring ‘folk philosophy’ phrase – meaning “you can’t derive an ‘ought’ from . . . . Continue Reading »
Yesterday, Kathleen Parker used her column in the Washington Post to inform readers that she has finally watched the hit reality show “Honey Boo Boo,” which documents the life of a bratty child pageant participant, age seven. A bold admission, from which . . . . Continue Reading »
The Church hates science. The Church hates women. The Church hates gay people. Many Catholics are sick of hearing this refrain but unsure of how to answer it, especially in language that’s appealing to non-Christians. And a quick search for resources is more likely to yield Internet polemics, . . . . Continue Reading »
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