Ruth Institute Blog

Advice to incoming freshmen — from someone with experience. Oct. 23 issue feature.

by ASHLEY CROUCH

by Kevin Ryan

Teaching virtues to school children is only one part of handing on our moral heritage.

Two decades ago Harvard historian, Richard Hunt, coined the phrase, “no-fault history”, reportedly based on his experience teaching undergraduates his course on modern German history. In discussing the extermination policies and other unspeakable evil decisions of Hitler and his Nazi henchmen, Hunt’s undergraduates could not bring themselves to judge them as evil. “How can we judge Hitler?” they asked. “We don’t know how his parents treated him. Hitler was a victim of his own background, his conditioning. We don’t know the whole story. How can we say an individual is evil? Who are we to judge?” Who indeed? Read more…

by Robert P. George

Every member of the community has an interest in the quality of the culture that will shape their experiences, their quality of life, and the choices effectively available to them and their children.

Theorists of public morality–from the ancient Greek philosophers and Roman jurists on–have noticed that apparently private acts of vice, when they multiply and become widespread, can imperil important public interests. This fact embarrasses philosophical efforts to draw a sharp line that distinguishes a realm of “private” morality that is not subject to law from a domain of public actions that may rightly be subjected to legal regulation. Read more…

by Sheila Liaugminas

Given the expressed intent of the Founding Fathers in establishing a free, just and virtuous society, the importance of morality as its foundation, and their recourse to God from the beginning through recent history…it’s remarkable that we are in this battle now. Read more…

by Marcia Segelstein

In the not too distant past, traditionalists theorized that when it came to raising children, the answer was to retreat from the world.  Use private or parochial schools.  Or even better, homeschool.  Raise up a generation of kids who would change the world by trying to raise them outside the world.

To some degree, I concur.  Homeschooling and using Christian and other private schools are great options for those who have the time and resources. Read more…

by Michael Cook

In a race to the bottom of ethics, an American philosopher may have got there first.

“The religious fundamentalists are correct: without God, there is no morality. But they are incorrect, I still believe, about there being a God. Hence, I believe, there is no morality.” Read more…

We have been habituated to think that the most pressing issues of life and death are really just issues of choice.  “Abortion is a woman’s choice.”  A choice to do what? is the question never quite answered.  People should have the “right to choose” to use contraception, even if they are young and unmarried, as if there is ever a situation in which sexual intercourse is age-appropriate for a 14 year old.

I have long maintained that the issue isn’t about “choice” and never has been. The issue is creating a new moral universe, with ethical norms and social expectations that could not be defended on their own. So the issue of “choice” is thrown in as a smoke screen to cover up what is actually being done and advocated.

Now, comes Wesley J. Smith, with an example I would never have thought of, from his area of expertise, euthanasia. The “right to die,” means a person’s ”choice” to die is just as ethically valid as the choice to live under difficult circumstances.  He quotes this report from the Netherlands:

A priest in the parish of Liempde in North Brabant refused to conduct the funeral of a man who had chosen euthanasia, news agency ANP reports. Norbert van der Sluis said he was following the advice of bishops that people who choose euthanasia have no right to a church funeral. ‘Nor will my conscience allow me to have a colleague conduct the funeral in my church,’ he told ANP. The church council is so concerned at the refusal it has stopped a campaign for the repair of the church organ and is demanding an apology from Van der Sluis.

Smith continues:

That will teach him to follow his faith. Let the organ stay off key!

Refusing a funeral wouldn’t be my preference, but it was the priest’s, and doesn’t his conscience deserve at least equal respect to that of the decedent’s to receive doctor-injected death?  Here’s the bottom line: All of this talk of “choice” in the culture of death is just talk.  It is really about enforced moral conformity. (my emphasis)

Exactly so. Unfortunately, in this case, it is the priest’s own community giving him a hard time.

By Francis J. Beckwith

With the increasing likelihood that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee for President, it is important for Catholics and other Christians to reflect on some concerns raised by Damon Linker in a 2007 New Republic article. Linker argues that Mormon theology does not have important resources that traditional Christians have at their disposal, such as natural-law theory.   Read more…

by Michael Cook

Who cares if the media ignored World Youth Day?

Read more…

by Sheila Liaugminas

We’d best pay attention to what’s really at the root of this violence and anarchy. It’s not just about Britain.

But that’s where the symptoms of social decay are vividly manifest at the moment. This article says a police shooting sparked the riots, just about everyone now blames a larger ‘system’. They’re just competing visions of which systems are culpable for the breakdown. Read more…

by Sheila Liaugminas

I forget who said ‘not everything is political’, but it must have been a while ago because it seems now, everything is. But certainly, every issue is a moral issue, and somebody’s morals are going to prevail. When it comes to making law and setting social policy, it’s good to hear top political and religious leaders talking about what makes a just and virtuous society. Read more…

Click this link to listen to the BBC radio broadcast on the subject.

Should we protect Children from being ‘infected’ with Christianity?

So argued the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the case of Johns v Derby using the word ‘infected’; an argument implicitly accepted by the Court who held that the views of Christian foster carers on sexual morality could be ‘inimical’ to the welfare of children in care. The Commission has now said it was an ‘error’ to have used this term but did not retract this statement when I raised it in court. Read more…

How do you all think will this pan out?

Charlie Butts – OneNewsNow

A homosexual couple filed suit against 70-year-old Peter Bull and his 66-year-old wife, Hazelmary, when the hotel owners took a stand for their religious beliefs and refused to rent the unmarried civil partners a room at the Chymorvah Private Hotel. After the two-day hearing, the couple made a brief statement to the press. Read more…

by Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D.

“The Liberation of Lifelong Love: Church Teaching on Marriage” is the opening of my contribution to a new book called “Women, Sex & the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching.” I realize that many of my readers are not Catholic. However, I still enthusiastically encourage you to consider purchasing this book. Many of the chapters contain valuable information from the social sciences that will be helpful to anyone from any faith tradition making the case for traditional sexual morality. Read more…

According to Gallup’s recent Values and Beliefs survey, Americans are “sharply divided” on 4 issues: doctor-assisted suicide, homosexual relations, abortion, and out-of-wedlock childbearing.  Close to half of us perceive these activities in particular as “morally acceptable;” close to half disagree and find them “morally wrong.”  (The survey asked about 16 behaviors; these were the most evenly divided among those polled.)  Curious?  Listen in. (Click the POD icon.)

How can People with Different Approaches to Family Life Live Together in Free Societies?

by Pat Fagan, Ph.D., Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Research on Marriage and Religion at the Family Research Council and Ruth Institute Advisory Board Member

SUMMARY The “monogamous” and the “polyamorous” cultures have totally different approaches to life, with religious worship and monogamous marriage being the defining differences in their different approaches to the sexual act. Coexistence necessitates that the differences be observed by giving parents of both cultures control over the programs that cause conflict: education, adolescent health and sex education. Monogamous men need to act to obtain this for the sake of their own children. Read more…

Remarks to Phoenix Catholic Physicians’ Guild by Archbishop Chaput of Denver

 I want to talk tonight about the kind of people we’re becoming, and what we can do about it.  Especially what you can do about it.  But it’s always good to start with a few facts before offering an opinion.  So that’s what I’ll do.

 A number of my friends have children with disabilities.  Their problems range from cerebral palsy to Turner’s syndrome to Trisomy 18, which is extremely serious.  But I want to focus on one fairly common genetic disability to make my point.  I’m referring to Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome. Read more…

By Garry White

Two British archbishops have criticised the City for displaying a lack of Christian values, arguing that moral and ethical debates should be given more prominence.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, told bankers to repent over their mistakes, as he fears the City is getting back to “business as normal”. Read more…