During the French Revolution, a bishop was brought to the guillotine for execution. But when the blade flew down, it stopped an inch short of cutting off his head. “It’s a miracle,” cried the crowd, and the bishop was released. Next, a philosopher was brought forward; but again, th
Now that the turbulence surrounding the 2004 presidential election has abated, it is critical to revisit a question that deeply divided both the Catholic bishops and the Catholic laity during the heated months of summer: Should Catholic public officials who endorse the continued legalization of abor
A great weight was settling on me during Christmas week. There were deaths among friends, Jesuit brothers and family, but the most haunting face of death came with an ocean of destruction called the tsunami. In a matter of hours, it killed over 150,000 people, most of them children. At noon on Jan.
Government and Religion
Edward F. Harrington, in The Metaphorical Wall (1/17), effectively debunks the prevailing mythology about government and religion. The framers of the Constitution quite clearly sought to insulate religion from the reach of government; they did not seek to
The scandal of torture and abuse symbolized by Abu Ghraib took a turn for the better at the end of last year with news of a Justice Department draft memorandum reaffirming the responsibilities of the United States under the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture. After a succession of
Authors love to write their memoirs of the 1950 rsquo s when they came of age and were apt to have a copy of The Catcher in the Rye in their jacket pocket I started out in this way myself as an English major at Columbia College The atmosphere in the English department in Hamilton Hall reflected t
Each of the four characters in Closer, Mike Nichols’s adaptation of Patrick Marber’s play, inhabits a world of surfaces. Larry (Clive Owen) is a dermatologist, who by the nature of his specialization avoids the inner workings of his patients, and can even rearrange appearances to suit hi