The Scopes trial has long been depicted as a clash between modern science and religious fundamentalism. But it was also a chapter in the eugenic racism that had become a creed of social elites in the early 20th century.
John J. Conley, S.J.
John J. Conley, S.J., is a Jesuit of the Maryland Province and a regular columnist for America. He is the current Francis J. Knott Chair of Philosophy and Theology at Loyola University, Maryland, with a particular interest in modern French philosophy. Fr. Conley earned a B.A. (Honors) degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania before he entered the Society of Jesus in 1973. His formation as a Jesuit saw him gain an M.A. degree in philosophy from Fordham University, before taking up a post as an instructor in philosophy in Wheeling College, West Virginia. From there, Fr. Conley took advanced French studies in the University of Bordeaux, graduate studies in theology at Centre Sèvres (Paris) and in Weston (Cambridge) and completed his doctoral studies in philosophy in the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.
Since completing his studies, Fr. Conley has taught philosophy in Fordham University (1995-2004), with a period as visiting professor of philosophy in St. Joseph’s University (2000-2001) and Professor of Philosophy in Fordham (2004-2007), again acting as visiting professor in Loyola College (2005-2007). Fr. Conley took up his current Chair in Loyola University in 2007.
Fr. Conley’s work has been recognized with elections to Phi Beta Kappa and Friars Society (1973), Phi Kappa Phi (1996), Alpha Sigma Nu (1997) and the Dramatists Guild of America (2008).
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Pro-life playwrights exist. The Dramatists Guild just doesn’t seem to think so.
I was saddened but not surprised by the pro-abortion position of the dramatists guild.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Thank you, Alex Trebek. You were a gentleman and a scholar.
Trebek guided us through what remains of an older, genteel culture that prized intellectual achievement.
Posted inLast Take, Politics & Society
Margaret Sanger’s extreme brand of eugenics
Even Planned Parenthood now seems embarrassed by Sanger’s support for forced sterilization, writes John J. Conley. Her targeting of the black population to reduce birth rates is equally troubling.
Posted inFaith, Last Take
My conversations with Jean Vanier raised many questions. I have no answers.
How could he see so clearly the need to respect the vulnerable and then abuse those under his spiritual care?
Posted inLast Take, Politics & Society
Four pro-life philosophers make the case against abortion
There is something contradictory in a society that claims to be protective of the vulnerable but shows a callous indifference to the fate of human beings before the moment of birth.
Posted inLast Take, Politics & Society
A Jesuit’s love letter to Baltimore
The current occupant of the White House has now turned his rage on you, my adopted city. I think it is time for a valentine for a troubled city I have come to love.
Posted inArts & Culture, Film
‘Never Look Away’ is not your usual pro-life film. But it’s now available in theaters.
In ‘Never Look Away,’ the murderous eugenicist and the abortionist, the Nazi and the Communist, become one.
Posted inFaith, Last Take
U.S. Catholics don’t think much about life after death. Here’s why we should.
The church’s doctrine of the last things underscores the mystery we face as we ponder death.
Posted inLast Take, Politics & Society
Three ways Catholics can respond to anti-Jewish violence
First, we need to address the very image of God we present in our worship.