In recent years a better understanding of American history has gradually moved the U.S. Supreme Court away from a strict separationist perspective on church and state and toward a greater accommodation of religion.
Politics & Society
Posted inPolitics & Society
The Jesuits of Baghdad
The Jesuits certainly will return to Bagdad, because a place so important to Islam as well as to Christianity cannot be ignored for very long. What form the future mission will take we leave to the Holy Spirit, who took us there in the first place. But one thing is clear: the Jesuit mission to the Iraqis did not end in 1969.
Posted inPolitics & Society
Fellowship in Faith: Jewish, Christian and Muslim
Tensions between Jews and Christians and Muslims in Israel-Palestine and the Middle East more generally, as well as violent Christian-Muslim clashes in Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan and Nigeria in recent months, to say nothing of the war with Iraq, have led to some disturbing stereotyping of the Islami
Posted inEditorials, Politics & Society
In the Iraq War, do Americans have to choose between God and country?
With the exception of some Southern Baptist leaders and mega-church pastors, nearly all U.S. churches are opposing war with Iraq. This has forced many Americans to wonder if loyalty to God and country are now in conflict. Must they choose between the military adventures of their president and the mo
Posted inPolitics & Society
Drug Companies and AIDS in Africa
Over the last 20 years, 22 million people have died from AIDS. The United Nations predicts that without a drastic change in treatment and prevention efforts, 68 million more people will die from AIDS over the next two decades.
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
Five misconceptions about child sexual abuse and the Catholic Church
Child sexual abuse, in the priesthood and in society at large, is a complex issue that does not admit of simple understandings or simple solutions.
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
Keeping pedophiles out of the priesthood
A major problem now exists for the future of priestly vocations because of “the alliteration of priest and pedophile.”
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
Understanding clerical sex abuse of children: the importance of perspective
It is helpful to understand the sexual abuse of children by priests within the broader context of child victimization.
Posted inPolitics & Society
What Can Be Done? What Should Be Done?
To write about Sept. 11, 2001, is to know the paucity of one’s vocabulary and literary skill. The words are so disproportionate to the tragedy that the temptation is to stop trying to describe it. John Paul II condemned it as an unspeakable horror and a dark day in the history of humanity, a t
Posted inPolitics & Society
Dealing With Terrorism
Where does terrorism come from and how far ought any government go to both defeat terrorists and protect citizens’ rights, not least their right to life?