The day after Arnold Schwarzenegger announced to Jay Leno and the world that he was running for governor of Californiatoughest decision since getting a bikini wax in 1978Andrew Sullivan, erstwhile conservative Catholic who supported the war in Iraq and considers leaving the church over gay marriage,

The first time I fully realized the moral stakes at a commencement was over 10 years ago. For a brief moment I was to share the stage with none other than George Bush the Elder. It was after the triumph of the first Persian Gulf war, an exercise I found myself opposing along with a paltry 10 percent

It was unjust to go to war in Iraq. There was no imminent threat; there was no proper authority; and it was not a last resort. No, I am not going to keep quiet because we won. Winning is not the determinant of good. Nor do the good outcomes we hope forpeace and just representation for the Iraqi peop

By the time this column appears, the war in Iraq may be, for the time being, over. But as I write, we are in the thick of it. It started with bad omens: early prisoners of war, deaths by friendly fire, colliding helicopters, an American seemingly killing his fellow soldiers by hand grenades. A wild

Perhaps it was just coincidence that on the very day I was fuming about a syndicated column I had just read by George Weigel, I received a plea from a Catholic woman in Canada. I was going to let Weigel’s defense of pre-emptive war on Iraq pass, but Rose Marie Loria’s letter changed my m

They showed the ad again, a week before thousands would traipse off to Washington. The advertisement was not about the Pro-Life demonstration, and yet it had everything to do with it. In the middle of Tim Russert’s Meet the Press, General Electric presented, once again, a riveting commercial f

Just as a daily examination of conscience reviews the past 24 hours and, at the same time, illuminates the next, so also a moral review of the past year reveals the challenges of the next. Perhaps this is more evident this year than ever, because the dominant ethical issues of 2002 are certain to re

Reactions to my Ethics Notebook column on leaving the Democratic Party to become an Independent reminded me how volatile discussions can become when they meld the world of politics with the moral life. I’ve received some strong comments from both wings of the spectrum. How could you ever have

Something that was unimaginable 10 or 20 years ago has been happening in the philosophy department of Saint Louis University. While still a department with strong historical, ethical and medieval offerings by professors and with students from a variety of religious and philosophical stances, it has

Why do media moguls think we are interested in Ashleigh Banfield? Why do they believe that we couldn’t wait to be afflicted with Phil Donahue again? Why do they imagine that we are concerned about Rosie’s magazine? Why do they think that Ann Coulter would be a media fixture if she were a