First Links — 5.23.12

Leaving Wall Street Alexis Goldstein,  n+1 Liturgical Diversity in the Third Millennium Charles G. Mills,  Homiletic & Pastoral Review A Pair of Holy Land Discoveries Thomas L. McDonald,  God and the Machine HHS Doesn’t Speak for Me, or Other Women Helen Alvare,   . . . . Continue Reading »

Obama, Romney Can’t Win the Catholic Vote

Why? Because there isn’t one. Although lawsuits challenging the contraception mandate are separating the wheat from the chaff to some extent, as in the case of Notre Dame, CUA, et al, the amorphous population of Catholic voters has never been so difficult to define. Weighing in on MSNBC , our . . . . Continue Reading »

Doctors Have Those Single Payer Blues

Good grief. A survey of physicians, conducted by Jackson Healthcare, finds that 26% of physicians are not taking new Medicare patients, and 51% refusing new Medicaid patients. And with the Independent Payment Advisory Board and other Obamacare monstrosities, expect things to get worse.One could . . . . Continue Reading »

Japan’s Fertility Plunge

Nicholas Eberstadt has an article in the latest edition of the Wilson Quarterly in which he examines what happens when a society stops sanctioning and practicing marriage as a norm and abandons childbearing. Looking at Japan’s past two and next few decades, he underlines some rather stunning . . . . Continue Reading »

Science Should Study Religious Belief

In the known universe, only human beings yearn for meaning.  Only we search for TRUTH.  Only we think noetically and have mystical experiences. Only we develop philosophies. Only we act on rationally constructed moral values. Only we experience faith. And only we deploy the . . . . Continue Reading »

Commas, Commas, Commas

Two useful articles from the New York Times ’ Opinionator column: Ben Yagoda’s Fanfare for the Comma Man and its sequel  The Most Comma Mistakes . The editors I assume wrote the titles and Yagoda should not be blamed for them, though I fully understand the temptation the editors . . . . Continue Reading »