Our friend Elizabeth Scalia — known to the online world as The Anchoress — spoke to NET-NY about enduring economic and personal crises through the consolation of the Rosary. Elizabeth is a true font of spiritual wisdom, being both a contemplative and naturally thoughtful, so this is well worth a listen. (One of the reasons … Read more
In the current issue of the Catholic Herald, Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento writes that most modern couples accept contraception as the “default” position in marriage, only giving up the practice when it’s ‘time to have kids.’ This isn’t merely a drag on our population’s replacement rate, but has itself confused the definition of marriage. … Read more
Christopher Hitchens surveys the political landscape and wonders what sane person would choose to run for office today: I could introduce you to dozens of enthusiastic and intelligent people, highly aware of “the issues” and very well-informed on all questions from human rights to world trade to counterinsurgency, to none of whom it would occur … Read more
Many Catholics were justly upset when the University of Notre Dame awarded an honorary doctorate to President Barack Obama last year. But there are some good things happening at the school as well, and they should be recognized and encouraged. Most recently, the Notre Dame Fund created the Notre Dame Evangelium Vitae Medal, established “to … Read more
The oldest Catholic University in the world — Belgium’s Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V — is commencing an internal debate over whether the institution should drop “Catholic” from its name: “It’s time for a different orientation,” says Leuven Rector Mark Waer. After the outbreak of the pedophilia scandal in the … Read more
William Oddie at the UK’s Catholic Herald took issue with George Weigel’s call for British bishops to get more confrontational with the New Atheism movement: [T]here are two reasons why they won’t and probably shouldn’t try. The first is that they are probably too frightened of them, even now, to do anything of the sort. … Read more
Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote a remarkable blog post criticizing Evangelicalism for its acceptance of divorce: When the Christian right was organized in the 1970s and galvanized in the 1980s, the issues of abortion and homosexuality were front and center. Where was divorce? [University of Washington political science professor … Read more
I’ve been enjoying the Globe and Mail‘s interactive presentation of the latest World Values Survey (WVS). If you’re unfamiliar with the organization, the WVS is comprised of an international network of social scientists who carry out surveys in 97 countries, offering representative opinion from close to 90 percent of the Earth’s population. The questions are … Read more
I haven’t picked up a Stephen King novel since I was a kid, but I enjoyed reading the horror master’s opinion of contemporary vampire fiction. “Here’s what vampires shouldn’t be: pallid detectives who drink Bloody Marys and work only at night; lovelorn southern gentlemen; anorexic teenage girls; boy-toys with big dewy eyes,” writes Stephen King … Read more
As you may have noticed, InsideCatholic was down most of the day today. Our Web host company had a power disruption at its facility last night, and the event took out our site and many others. We’re back up now (obviously), but apologize for the inconvenience. Since we didn’t get the chance to feature David … Read more
Early this morning, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released its survey on religious knowledge in the United States, and the results are sure to draw attention. Here’s why: On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey. Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and … Read more
Over at First Things, our friend David Mills thumbs through an eye rolling interview with Boston College Theology Dean Mark Massa, SJ. Father sounds all the usual progressive Catholic notes, and in doing so, reveals a surprising confusion over the distinction between the Church’s eternality and her theological and institutional development. “The current battles between … Read more
While the final resting place of the RMS Titanic was discovered in 1985, historians have never fully understood the events leading up to its fateful collision with an iceberg. Now Louise Patten, popular novelist and granddaughter of the ship’s Second Officer, Charles Lightoller, may have cleared up the mystery by revealing a century-old family secret: … Read more
Even if you’re not a fan of Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show, you must watch this segment from Monday night’s episode. Comedian/correspondent Aasif Mandvi investigates “union” protestors picketing a Walmart in Nevada, and makes an interesting discovery. Â Â You’ve got to feel sorry for that local union head. “Nailed” is the perfect term here.
We have a tendency these days to romanticize the indigenous peoples of the Americas. While there’s some justice in that — popular culture has been less than kind in its portrayal of Indians over the years — it nevertheless runs up against the facts of history. To wit: Crushed leg bones, battered skulls and other … Read more
Tonight is InsideCatholic’s 15th annual Partnership Dinner and Dance, so things will be quiet around the blog as we prepare. I did want to call your attention to one timely item. Elizabeth Scalia had a lovely Tuesday column at First Things, anticipating the meeting today between Benedict XVI and Elizabeth II: At the age of fourteen, … Read more
If you’ve played action-oriented videogames to any significant degree in the past, this new study will confirm what you already know. Playing shoot-‘em-up, action-packed videogames strengthens a person’s ability to translate sensory information quickly into accurate decisions. This effect applies to both sexes, say psychologist Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester in New York … Read more
This was as predictable as the sunrise: At least 13 protesters died Monday when Indian police clashed with tens of thousands of Kashmiris who took to the streets and torched a Christian missionary school in demonstrations fueled by reports of Quran burnings in the United States…. Agence France-Presse reports that the protests began after video … Read more
The Associate Press isn’t falling for the administration’s “end to combat operations in Iraq” business. Tom Kent, AP standards editor, sent a memo to his colleagues yesterday afternoon making that point: [C]ombat in Iraq is not over, and we should not uncritically repeat suggestions that it is, even if they come from senior officials. The … Read more
Contrary to popular perception, the rates of illegal immigration have dropped sharply over the past decade. This is the just-released conclusion of a new PewResearchCenter study: The annual inflow of unauthorized immigrants to the United States was nearly two-thirds smaller in the March 2007 to March 2009 period than it had been from March 2000 … Read more