Over at Right Reason, Edward Feser links to a provocative article of his which argues that libertarians should support not only government protection of the physical environment*, but also the moral environment, at least so far as children are concerned. He also argues that libertarians should, on their own premises, oppose legal abortion. Feser’s contention…

Christianity Today interviews Gilbert Meilaender on feeding tubes and the “right to die.” As usual Meilaender is full of sober wisdom. His book Faith and Faithfulness is one of the best books on Christian ethics I’ve come across.

Commonweal is running a symposium of sorts on John Paul’s legacy. Here’s an appreciation from noted theological gadfly Stanley Hauerwas.

In the course of a (well-justified) tirade against “young earth creationists,” Chris Williams at Here We Stand links to a good article from a geology prof at Calvin College discussing Augustine’s views on the interpretation of Genesis. The Fathers were, as a rule, pretty undogmatic about how these early chapters should be interpreted. They certainly…

The Christian community lives on, loving the true peace of the heavenly Jerusalem, devoid of illusions about the transient world in which it finds itself. This illusionless existence gives the Christian church a detachment from the secular world that in practice it does not always maintain. While secular governments attempt to create lasting peace in…

Keeping with the consumerism theme (sort of) here’s an interesting article on the history of the “straight edge” movement (i.e. punks who eschew drinking, drugs, smoking, casual sex, and often meat). Me, I just really liked the album “12” by Minor Threat.

[L]ove is consent to the fact that there is authentic otherness. We all start with needs, and with dependence on others to meet them. As we grow up, self-consciousness brings the tendency to make ourselves the centre, and with it the commonsense understanding that the very needs of survival depend on our own efforts. These…

The post below on consumerism generated some good comments; thought I’d do a bit of follow up. I read the William Cavanaugh article from Sojourners and he made what I thought were some very good points. Cavanaugh emphasizes that the problem with consumerism is not just about “having more stuff” but also that it tends…

I’ve always been a bit puzzled by folks who see the USA as the ne plus ultra of evil in the world, and yet get all dewey-eyed about the prospects of the UN bringing peace and harmony to our benighted globe. To wit. Question: has the UN ever prevented a war from happening that its…

In the spirit of Russell Arben Fox‘s post from the other day, here are a couple of items of interest. “A Nation Divided: or, Ass Cleavage” from the hip new lefty mag n+1 argues that modesty in dress is something the left can get behind (no pun intended). This post from the New Donkey blog…