deilogos

Intelligence² Debate: Is the Catholic church a force for good in the world? Speaking for the motion, Archbishop John Onaiyekan and Ann Widdencombe MP. Speaking against the motion, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry.

Should faith-based social service programs be required to abide by the same anti-discrimination laws as other organizations? “Faith-Based Discrimination,” a recent New York Times editorial, argues that President Obama should make good on his promise to prevent faith-based programs that receive federal funding from discriminating against employees on the basis of their religion.

Since the Obama Administration sent Special Advisor for Green Jobs Van Jones packing last week, do we need to establish a green religion to keep environmentalism alive in America?

Was Jesus a Vegetarian? “I have become convinced that Jesus Christ himself was in all likelihood a vegetarian, and that vegetarianism was probably a central tenet of the early Christian community founded by his disciples. In fact, there is evidence that Christ’s opposition to animal sacrifice at the Jewish Temple may have been the triggering event that led to the Crucifixion.”

Is public healthcare a moral imperative? President Obama, speaking to a group of religious leaders, seems to think so: “This debate over healthcare goes to the heart of who we are as American people… This is part of an ethical and moral obligation that we look out for one another.”

“Jesus Wept.” Andrew Sullivan comments on the recent Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life poll news that 54 percent of regular churchgoers approve the use of torture against suspected terrorists.

“Inside the System.” Father Luis Barrios is currently serving a 60 day sentence for misdemeanor trespassing during a protest against the School of the Americas at Fort Benning military base in Georgia. His colleague David Brotherton writes that his treatment at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Manhattan has bordered on torture.

From Newsweek, http://www.newsweek.com/id/178928/page/1

“He didn’t say it straight out, because he didn’t have to, but what was implied is that American Jews have lost the great energy that made them such a force in American life. They will never again, if he is correct, equal their earlier achievements. There have been too many Tylers, Mackenzies, Hunters and Kellys, too much intermarriage, too many doglegs (both left and right), too many inept scions walking around frivolously spending trust-fund money. As (more...)

“In the age of the rampant free market and the selfish gene, compassion is seen as either narcissism or weakness. So why have we become so suspicious of one of our most basic — and pleasurable — human qualities?” Has kindness has gone out of fashion?

In a recent conversation w/ my brand new roommate Chuck (not real name) we discussed a few items regarding the high level decisions made with regard to economics. He put it, for example, that often decisions made about economies on a whole allow for negative repercussions on the individual level. Take for instance decisions to release certain chemicals or products into the environment, known to be carcinogenic, that are made because of the economic benefits to a large number of people, although the negative repercussions to the health for a few are well known.

I imagine this is (more...)