In All Things

The politics of abortion took an especially nasty and bizarre turn this past week when conservative Catholic writer and law professor Doug Kmiec revealed that he had recently been denied communion because of his public endorsement of Barack Obama s candidacy Thus as in 2004 some conservative

Cambridge MA One of the things that most attracts people to yoga I think is that it is wholesome challenging and able to bring a deep sense of well-being to body mind and spirit — all without seeming to impose an alien worship on the practitioner Even in the ancient Indian traditions an

Back when it looked like Obama had the nomination in hand in February I nominated Sen Jim Webb as the best Veep choice After hearing from readers I also wrote about some other options including Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and General Anthony Zinni Since February Hillary Clinton s resilience

In the latest issue of The New Republic an article by Steven Pinker the Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard attacks the concept of human dignity one of the central ideas of Catholic social teaching indeed of contemporary Catholic moral theology His point seems to be that dignity

We will continue the examination of abortion politics this year in the next few days But the results from last night s election were so stunning we need to shine a spotlight on them this morning No not West Virginia It should surprise no one that Clinton with 100 name recognition and a st

There have been eight presidential elections since Roe and five of them have been won by Republicans who opposed the decision and ran as pro-life candidates They held out the prospect of appointing conservative judges to the Supreme Court who would reverse the decision Pro-life marchers make thei

If I were ever inclined to become a conservative Republican I would only have to read the latest press release from Bill Donohue s Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights to be dissuaded Donohue has called for Obama s Catholic Advisory Board to resign en masse because none of them sta

A wonderful day has been passed in the company of my wife s and therefore my extended family and friends at a bar mitzvah celebration in Brooklyn A few notes from the day I was nearly stricken by a mysterium tremendum et fascinans when the bimah became study-desk as the young man of t

The Washington Post has a front page story this morning that details the intense lobbying effort that persuaded Sen John McCain to support a land swap in Arizona that benefited one of his principal fundraisers at the expense of the government A gaggle of former McCain employees worked on the deal

Have you heard about vicarious religion The phrase made me laugh out loud when I spotted it in Peter Steinfels terrific review of A Secular Age by Charles Taylor subscriber only Apparently this is a description of the penumbra of belief remaining in those for whom religion is but a