Plot your place on the political map (via Naked Villainy). Looks like I’m a shade to the right of Tony Blair and a bit of an idealist. (Though, why are Stalin and Hitler classified as “idealists”??)

(The continuation of a long-neglected series. See Part I here and Part II here.) To deal with evil requires understanding and dealing with the sources of evil. Christians believe that human evil is rooted in a primal turning away from God. In rejecting God, we set the stage for all kinds of evil (cf. Romans…

Alan McCann at Via Fortunata takes issue with my post on St. Thomas and private property. He accuses me of “uncritical leftist thinking” in drawing the conclusion that Thomas would have endorsed a role for government in ameliorating the plight of the poor: This is typical of a lot of uncritical, leftist thinking within and…

Though I opposed the Iraq war, I’ve always tried to take seriously the arguments of the war’s proponents. Nor do I assume that war advocates were arguing in bad faith or from ulterior motives. I’m not a pacifist, nor am I reflexively opposed to the use of American military power. In thinking about these matters…

An excellent illustration of the differences between libertarians and conservatives is supplied by this essay from Orthodox theologian David B. Hart in last month’s First Things: The only sound premise for a people’s self-governance is a culture of common virtue directed towards the one Good. And a society that can no longer conceive of freedom…

From today’s Philadelphia Inquirer: Daniel Culligan offered apologies at his sentencing in Bucks County Court yesterday but no explanation as to why he doused his cat with lighter fluid, set it on fire, and threw it from the deck of his Bristol Township apartment in December. Judge David W. Heckler gave him six to 23…

The origins of the just war tradition are usually traced back to the fourth century and St. Augustine’s masterwork, City of God. St. Augustine grapples with the undeniable anti-violent thrust of the Christian tradition, especially the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. He comes to the conclusion that wars of aggression and self-aggrandizement — like Rome’s…

A contradiction in terms? Not according to Chris Roach who offers a manifesto of sorts for hawkish paleocons.

A while back Bill Vallicella linked to this excellent post at the Big Hominid (n.b.: some bad language) on the topic of pluralism, truth, and religion. This sparked a series of equally interesting posts on the question of whether every religion should be understood as offering a path to salvation and/or liberation. Rather than enter…

So says Alice Cooper about Springsteen, R.E.M., et al.: “To me, that’s treason. I call it treason against rock-and-roll, because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics.” and “If you’re listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you’re a…