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Optimism About America

It’s easy to be gloomy these days. Financial markets convulse almost every day, and the general economic situation does not look good. Editorial writers predict the end of American capitalism. All this is taking place against the background of a long-running anxiety that America is somehow . . . . Continue Reading »

Profits and Peace

Prof. Timothy L. Fort has made a very interesting contribution to our understanding of the relationship between business and commerce in his recent book, Prophets, Profits, and Peace: The Positive Role of Business in Promoting Religious Tolerance . “Religion affects politics,” he writes. . . . . Continue Reading »

Truth’s Divided Disciples

As I read David Lebedoff’s latest book, The Same Man: George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh in Love and War , I began to think of George Orwell as a real-life Dr. Rieux, the hero of Camus’ The Plague , whose heroism suggests that it is possible to be a saint without believing in God. In support . . . . Continue Reading »

Russell Kirk & Postmodern Conservatism

This week marks the ninetieth anniversary of the birth of Russell Kirk. Kirk, who died in 1994, is best remembered for his role in helping to create the postwar conservative movement in America. His groundbreaking work, The Conservative Mind , received national attention when it was published in . . . . Continue Reading »

The Danger of Abstract Words

We have a chronic problem in America with abstract words. We cannot do without them, since they are carriers of our highest ideals and aspirations: “justice,” “democracy,” “dignity,” “liberty.” But it is for precisely this reason that we should beware of them, and treat them as . . . . Continue Reading »

A Man for This Season

“Your conscience is your own affair; but you are a statesman!” “When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.” Sir Thomas More may indeed be a “man for all seasons,” but there is no season . . . . Continue Reading »

Brain Science and the Soul

We often hear that modern science requires us to reject traditional Christian views of the human person. The argument goes something like this: If we can see the physical process by which ideas are associated or feelings felt or decisions made, then surely we must admit that human beings are nothing . . . . Continue Reading »

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