Michael Sean Winters

A good friend has raised the issue of Just War theory regarding the fighting in Gaza specifically the issue of proportionality This is one of the most difficult and complicated moral issues and I confess that I have been unable to construct anything like a definitive reply to the query but here a

Most news outlets have their top ten list of news stories for the past year or predictions for the new year so here is my list for the top five news stories from 2008 that will continue to shape the intersection of religion and politics in 2009 1 Pope Benedict XVI rsquo s visit to the United Stat

The Israeli reprisal in Gaza is brutal but that does not justify the moral ignorance of protesters in European capitals and even New York City who condemn the Israeli reaction and not the action to which it was a response One protester on Fifth Avenue carried the sign Death to all Juice but his

The Holy Father rsquo s Ecology of Man speech has garnered a great deal of attention because one sentence in a very long speech made reference to the ways in which human sexuality falls short of the Gospel ideals What rsquo s often expressed and understood with the term lsquo gender rsquo is

Rick Warren crashed George and Ali Stephanopoulos rsquo s Christmas party last night Not in the flesh of course but as a topic of conversation Washington rsquo s glitterati could not help themselves With the nation in the throes of a full-fledged economic crisis and with American troops still f

The hysteria on the Left especially gay rights activists over President-elect Barack Obama rsquo s selection of mega-church pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inaugural ceremony is comic For those who care about the rights of gays and lesbians however the hysteria is also tragic

The buzz about Caroline Kennedy being appointed to the New York Senate seat Hillary Clinton is vacating is everywhere The front page of the papers talk radio and of course Chris Matthews can scarcely contain himself though so far no reports of shivers up his leg But the coverage has so far

The President-Elect needs to focus like a laser on the economic crisis once he takes office next month Not only is there a great deal of human suffering wrapped inside the rising unemployment numbers but a host of other governmental challenges become more difficult the longer the economic downturn

Every undergraduate in political science has the same epiphany when they first see the set of bound volumes known as the federal tax code Why not get rid of all those special interest tax breaks and deductions and lower the tax rate for everybody The idea like the Roman Rite has a noble simplici

John F Kennedy was not a physicist so when he said that America would put a man on the moon within a decade he was not making a scientific prediction JFK had confidence in American technology and the competitive spirit of man to get us there Had he lived and had no American walked on the moon b