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Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

September 2015

September 08, 2015

Starting Conversations During Francis’s Visit

Last week, I was a guest on EWTN News Nightly to talk about ways to...

May 2015

May 12, 2015

Desiring Abundance of Life, Not Just Absence of Sin

Ben Kuhn has a great post up on strategies for inviting (and retaining) new kinds of...

March 2015

March 19, 2015

Why Not Refer to ISIS by an Epithet?

Patheos doesn't have any site-wide style guide for bloggers, but, over at The Friendly Atheist,...

March 03, 2015

Life Lessons that Can’t be Taught at College’s Scale

In Ethika Politika, Margaret Blume explains why she's preferred her studies at Notre Dame to her...

February 2015

February 07, 2015

Cultivating Openness to Truth During Fights [Radio Readings]

You can listen to “Fights in Good Faith,” my weekly radio program, streaming today at 5pm ET and...

February 02, 2015

A Fired-Up, Fusty Witness to Christian Faith [Saints Bookclub]

In 2015, I'm reading and blogging through Ronald Knox's collection of sermons on Christian exemplars, Captive Flames:...

January 2015

January 12, 2015

“You Shouldn’t Say That…” as a gift, not an attack

I'm at The American Conservative today, talking about the legitimacy of campaigns for civility and condemnations (not de...

January 10, 2015

Into the Weeds (and the Woods) [Radio Readings]

My new, weekly radio program, Fights in Good Faith, premiers today. You'll be able to stream...

January 06, 2015

Ethical Edge Cases So Sharp You’ll Cut Yourself

I've run into three considerations of hypotheticals (two of them in the last week) that...

December 2014

December 11, 2014

“I like to ask: What is my opponent in love with?”

Back when I was in Ireland, giving a talk on ways to have better fights...

December 02, 2014

Avoiding Glib Grace-Notes in Advent

Yesterday I talked about trying to find an Advent discipline that wasn't just hard-for-the-sake-of-hard, but...

September 2014

September 18, 2014

And You Shall Know the Free Thinkers By Their Cussing?

Last week, an atheist friend of mine posted a link to Mark Oppenheimer's feature article...

July 2014

July 19, 2014

My turn to play #mencallmethings

After a little more than four years of blogging, last night is the first time...

July 08, 2014

Fixing Fights in Ireland

I had a great time speaking at the offices of The Irish Catholic this past week...

June 2014

June 19, 2014

Trigger Warnings and Coal Mine Canaries

In discussion of trigger warnings (particularly when requested by college students), I've seen a fair...

June 18, 2014

False Friends and Tone Policing

When I went on a two-week exchange trip to China, it was clear the cultural...

May 2014

May 14, 2014

Put Up Your Ideological Dukes!

Earlier this week, Michael Roth, the president of Wesleyan University, published a good op-ed on...

April 2014

April 21, 2014

Debating Brendan Eich’s Resignation

This weekend, my DC friends and I will meet to hold a debate on the...

April 16, 2014

The Epistemological Peril of Punching Down

Over at Slate Star Codex, Scott has an excellent post on the epistemological dangers of...

April 09, 2014

The Uncharity of Ideological Containment

There's an unpleasant undertone to Terry Firma's vision of a kinder, humbler Christianity over at...

January 2014

January 23, 2014

Pulling Off Casual Proselytization

In this week's installment of the Pope Francis bookclub, the then-Archbishop talked about "missionary joy"...

January 06, 2014

An Inheritance of Joy [Pope Francis bookclub]

In 2014, I'm reading and blogging through Pope Francis/Cardinal Bergoglio's Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on...

December 2013

December 29, 2013

Inviting Someone to Debate a Person, Not an Ideology

Scott of Slate Star Codex has a good essay up that was prompted by the...

October 2013

October 24, 2013

What is your opponent trying to protect?

Brendan Hodge of Darwin Catholic has shared his approach to judging and competing in this...

August 2013

August 08, 2013

One-Sided Turing Tests and Privilege

Next week, the second half of this year's Ideological Turing Test opens, and, in the...

August 07, 2013

Come Pick a Useful Fight with me in NYC

This weekend, I'm in New York City for the alumni debate of my college group,...

June 2013

June 05, 2013

The Besetting Sin of Bloggers

Yesterday, Mark Shea posted a mea culpa about the way he's interacted with some of his...

May 2013

May 26, 2013

Anyone have an ideological immersion course?

Yesterday, Chris Hallquist put up a post in the Atheism channel titled "Everyone in America...

April 2013

April 15, 2013

Four Tips for Public Speaking

During a call for post topics, I signed up to write a post on speaking...

April 10, 2013

Can We Play Not-Nicely Better, Please?

And speaking of sparing feelings without pulling punches, there's been a donnybrook going between Tom McDonald (Catholic) and...