Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

suspended in her jar

Home
Catholic

ethics

Select a Category abortion anti-semitism art Atwood Betrothed church clergy abuse coronavirus culture economics education environmentalism ethics faith family feminism gardening gun violence immigration Judaism literature MaddAddam New Pro Life Movement news pandemic personalism poem politics politics blue Pope Francis racism religion salvation sexuality social justice spirituality Station eleven Stephen King The Stand Trump Uncategorized war World Health Organization

Select a Month March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

July 2016

July 19, 2016

the republican national convention is a triumph of anti-intellectualism

Logos? that's for pointy-headed intellectuals. Ethos? better ignore that, given the moral character of the...

July 08, 2016

rejecting the glamour of evil: a pledge of non-violence

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

July 07, 2016

in case you do not know, or choose not to recall, what the church teaches on islam

the church DOES encourage unity with Muslims, reconciliation with them, respect for them, and a...

July 01, 2016

war, abortion, and liberty: reconsidering our obsession with independence (and firing up the grill)

One of my favorite passages in The Lord of the Rings is when Aragorn asks...

June 2016

June 30, 2016

subsidiarity is not isolationism

Subsidiarity is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

June 20, 2016

this attack on democrats for life indicates that, for some, party loyalty takes precedence over life ethics

One of the first uses of "pro-life" to denote opposition to abortion was in 1971,...

June 13, 2016

the tragedy must be politicized

I like the feel of a gun in my hand. But here's the deal: what...

June 11, 2016

of monsters, men, and the radical need of divine mercy

The archetypes of male dominance and of female erotic power are both infected with germs...

June 07, 2016

dear christians defending rapists: your prejudice is showing

Our existing prison systems do nothing to eradicate rape mentality: they only shift the focus,...

June 06, 2016

confessing the sin of racism

Looking back, I am ashamed. Now I wish to mend whatever flaw in my soul...

June 05, 2016

the bombing of hiroshima, the case of jane laut, and our immoral preferential option for the powerful

Or is it that we who laud death-dealing violence as an aspect of manliness, the...

June 03, 2016

scapegoating, nature, and narcissism: some thoughts on the cincinnati zoo incident

It is ironic that in our quest to overcome all boundaries, we have enclosed other...

May 2016

May 27, 2016

no, a vote for a third party is not “a vote for candidate X” (unless the world is more absurd than I expected)

A vote for a third party is not a vote for Hillary. Nor is it...

May 21, 2016

is it okay to put your enemies in a book? the strange moral discipline of fiction writing

Faulkner spoke of the conflict of the heart as the "only thing worth writing about,"...

May 19, 2016

pope francis goes medieval on “bloodsucking bosses”

While repeatedly, throughout history, lust for wealth and power has driven humans to clever interpretations...

May 18, 2016

archdiocese of chicago gets it right on parental leave, but will others follow?

Can an organization do an examination of conscience? No, but those who oversee it can....

May 12, 2016

now is the time to be whole life

Think how radical this could be.

May 10, 2016

an alternative to the fantasy of domination: eco gardening as religious devotion

Travel into space: a Cartesian trip, a technological escape of the mind (real or artificial)...

May 09, 2016

family values should not be a first-world privilege

What I found reading the story of the Mother's Day event, and perusing the comments,...

May 02, 2016

modesty, it turns out, is a thing – but not the thing they said it was

We often hear sermons or admonitions against scanty dress in women, but rarely do we...

April 2016

April 27, 2016

you actually might not want to be so quick to criticize those who are opposing that polish abortion bill

I don’t advocate abortion as the answer to this impossibility. I advocate making better choices...

April 20, 2016

happy birthday to my dad…and to adolf hitler?

For this Jewish Catholic, this challenge to believe takes one down a very strange path,...

April 18, 2016

the unbearable boringness of promiscuity

Because eros is not the same as sex. Sex can be an aspect of the...

April 06, 2016

cultural appropriation is real, and it is a religious issue

Perhaps God does indeed work mysteriously through the turmoil of history, but the divinely comedic...

April 03, 2016

custody of the eyes, and the danger of nihilistic despair

Training in sexual responsibility should not draw lines around most of humanity and signal with...

March 2016

March 31, 2016

thank you, donald trump!

The most effective way of ending abortion, I believe, lies in working tirelessly to end...

March 21, 2016

pregnant, catholic, and unmarried: unconventional families and the catholic church

It's a shame that the veneration of Mary often is embroidered with a subtle rhetoric...

March 10, 2016

suspect teleologies and the depersonalization of men

And why are we so accepting of the idea that men are reducible to tools...

February 2016

February 24, 2016

Are We Depending on Abortion?

In order to minimize the demand for abortion, we need reframe our view of pregnancy,...

February 22, 2016

Abortion, Collective Responsibility, and the S-Word

Voting for policies that will give women options other than abortion is both more effective...