Should the Government be Involved in Marriage?
Some libertarians, notably Ron Paul, say it should not. Another says that is foolish and irresponsible.
Leviathan Groaning
On June 25, 2009, a seven year old boy was abducted at gunpoint from his terrified parents. They had just boarded a plane to fly to the country where the boy’s mother had been born, and where her kin still lived. They were leaving their own country for good, because they had grown weary of … Read more
Of Love, Hollywood Heroes & Harlequin Romances
My friend Carol is a writer of medical romantic fiction. This does not mean that she writes warm hearted prose about anatomical procedures; she does not pen sugary sagas about surgery or candlelight accounts of cardiac attacks. No, she writes ‘female fiction’–known in the trade as Harlequin romance. She writes about nurses who are in … Read more
Should Our Kids Be Happy?
A British media personality has pricked the country’s happiness bubble by declaring that she does not want her kids to be “happy”. Kirsty Young, a Scot with two young daughters and two teenage step-children (and a husband who is a millionaire), said in an interview that it was impossible to be happy all the time … Read more
Modern Kids: Raised by Wolves
Digital textbooks. That is the latest idea from the White House for lifting the performance of American schools — a strategy on which Korea and other countries are already ahead. Something certainly needs to be done; a new report from the Harvard Business School identifies the education system from kindergarten through to the end of … Read more
Marriage’s Vanishing Act
Is it possible that secular liberals, some of them anyway, are starting to realize that knocking the supports out from under traditional marriage may not be such a great idea? If so, and if their next step is to think seriously about how to halt this destructive process, it will be the dawning of a … Read more
Are the Sexes Really Complementary?
Following the passage of the same-sex marriage bill in Queensland despite probable public opposition to it, and the widespread publicity given to the change in the Australian Labor Party policy on marriage, the task of arguing against same sex marriage is more urgent in Australia and other countries of the world than ever before. A … Read more
Child Sacrifice in 21st Century America
The Hebrew Bible is not for the squeamish. And its harshest maledictions are called down upon those who practiced the abomination of child-sacrifice. Thus the Psalmist: They sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons/they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and … Read more
Will Pro-Choicers “Do a 180” Thanks to this Video?
When Ray Comfort comes forward with a documentary against abortion, he must be commended by his fellows in arms against the killing of children in the womb. He has done a service in the fight against the worst evil that the present generation faces. Accordingly, it is not the intention of this article to downplay … Read more
Rick Santorum Accused of Fathering His Child
2011 was a low year for personal attacks in American politics, but the early days of 2012 are demonstrating that it can get even worse. The latest insurgent Republican front-runner in the Iowa caucuses, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, is being smeared for a deeply personal event in his life. His offense? Being a good … Read more
Renewing Christendom: The Pope’s Roadmap
At this time of the year, walking from my apartment to the University, shop-windows would usually be all decked in Christmas finery. But instead, what I find are closing-down sales, “for rent” signs and locales completely boarded up. It has been like this for the past couple of years that it feels like the new … Read more
Laymen: “Resolve” to Discern God’s Will for You
In one of the scriptural passages most often quoted by Blessed Pope John Paul II during the course of his historic pontificate, a “rich young man” asks the Lord what I consider to be the only question really worth asking once one reaches the age of reason and understands the reality of death: “What must … Read more
In Defense of Bourgeois Civilization
The following essay was commissioned as part of this week’s symposium on “the bourgeois spirit.” See also Dawson’s Catholicism and the Bourgeois Mind, and Gerard Russello’s account of Dawson’s contribution. Tell me this. Would you rather that your neighbor had a Serta brand iComfort mattress with Cool Action Memory Foam nicely elevated above a … Read more
Make Each of the Twelve Days Festive
The following article first appeared in the December 2000 issue of Crisis Magazine. To maximize your Christmas cheer, the Crisis editors and writers put their heads together to produce this guide to the twelve days of Christmas. According to Fr. George W. Rutler, the neglect of the octave of Christmas — the eight-day extension … Read more
The Empty Manger
This year, as every year, the crèche has sat empty of God. The shepherds knelt, the angels sang, the ox and ass and eager lamb looked on, even Joseph and Mary stared down adoringly—at a vacant manger. There was no Infant here. When people knelt before this nativity scene to pray, they closed their … Read more
Straw Dogs and Same Sex “Marriage”
Heaven and Earth are ruthless; To them the Ten Thousand things are but as straw dogs. The Sage too is ruthless; To him the people are but as straw dogs. A “straw dog” was a ceremonial object used in place of an actual dog in ancient Chinese sacrifices. Sacrificing a dog made from straw fulfils … Read more
Utopia State University
An Education for Our Time Josiah Bunting III, Regnery, 1998, 246 pages. After religion and the family, education ranks at the top of almost any society’s priorities. If any of these elements is not healthy, a society is in serious peril of dissolution. Josiah Bunting III’s An Education for Our Time is a bold, … Read more
Talking Nunsense About The Pill
Did you know that the Catholic Church says it’s OK for a doctor to use a knife? Seriously, it’s OK. A doctor, as long as he is doing it for health reasons and not intentionally hurting the patient, can use a scalpel and actually cut someone open. Ridiculous? Yes, but it is revelations of this … Read more
…But do Bad Dogs go to Hell?
It was somewhat of a surprise when George died despite his old age, for he had seemed to live through everything—much pestering from our younger dog, Wolfie; consuming way too much chocolate, candy, and paper towels; chewing on a poisonous tick collar; jumping out of a moving (quite fast) pickup truck after another dog; surviving … Read more
The Brutality of “Population Control”
About a month ago this tragic story from China surfaced in the Western media (the UK’s Guardian). It’s a terribly sad story about a mother, Ma Jihong, who died on an operating table in Lijin, Shandong province, when she was forced by state officials to have a late-term abortion. Why were they forcing her to … Read more