'Laudato si’' develops a notion of solidarity within and between generations, not only with fellow human beings but with the whole earth and all its creatures.
Whether or not U.S. support for LGBT rights goes beyond the rhetorical, societies still viewing themselves as “under God” will bridle at this sudden turn about.
The African-American Christian tradition has been vital in our history for reasons of the spirit but also as a reminder that the Bible is a subversive book.
Will Republicans be able to admit that enforcing "conservative" values about the honor of work might require what are seen as "progressive" measures by government?
Chicago, 1932. The night before he would knock Ernie Schaaf unconscious, the second time a fighter would die from one of Max’s blows. We were standing at the bar.
The core liberal conviction about the Supreme Court still rings true: it is most constructive when power is used to vindicate the rights of beleaguered minorities.
For Francis, climate change is part of a larger ecological crisis—that itself is part of a larger ethical failure involving how we treat the poor and the unborn.
In her new book, Jane Maienschein lays out the history of embryonic science—going back to Aristotle—hoping to answer an old question: When does a human life begin?
Amusing and engaging, Barney Frank's stories (from sixteen terms in Congress) tell what kinds of “inside politicking” informed the presidencies of LBJ through Obama.
Emerging from the perfect storm of the British general election of 2015, few experts felt able to offer a convincing analysis. Here are some possible explanations.
Right away, anyone who wants to discuss the implications of the shooting is scolded for “politicizing a tragedy.” Thus debate is delayed until the urgency passes.
Any who claim Francis is ignoring the Catholic past and inventing radical new doctrines has to reckon with the care he takes in paying homage to his predecessors.
Hillary Clinton’s foes cast her as the candidate of the past, but it's the GOP, she insists, whose ideas come from long ago. Will voters see her in a new light?
What Beau Biden's funeral brought home is that the feelings nearly all of us -- left, right, and center -- have about family bonds transcend day-to-day arguments.
Marx derided religion as an opiate destined to fade away but ultra-orthodoxy is on the rise. What happened to make faith one of the most dynamic forces in the world?
Transparency has brought not openness but paralysis; the ability of legislative bodies to do their job requires a closed door behind which compromise can be reached.
Many people in the West who do not share Christian faith nonetheless share with Christians many of the key ethical values that energize democratic political life.
The pattern of income inequality is more than a social problem, Robert Putnam says; it's a social tragedy, most devastating in the lives of poor American children.
Bernie Sanders is reminding his party of something it often forgets: Government was once popular because it provided tangible benefits to large numbers of Americans.
It is a mark of how much has changed so quickly that Ireland's vote for gay marriage was the expected outcome, even if the breadth of that outcome was breathtaking.
While other countries outspend the United States in infrastructure, political ideology and lack of investment leave our railroads, highways, and airports crumbling.
Do Catholic institutions actually convey an education in humanistic culture—or in prophetic culture, for that matter? Do they do this in the classroom? Or elsewhere?
Why have any sympathy for Jeb Bush? His apparent desire to stay true to his family ties. Loyalty is in short supply in our culture, so I admire it when I see it.
The dirty little secret of major-league banking is that it is not very profitable. And slowly, but inexorably, the behemoth American banks are shrinking.
At the 126-year old Catholic Church in Freddie Gray's neighborhood, where structural sin can be fatal, parishioners find ways to work for justice, not just charity.
What implicates morality more than how we as a society and individuals treat those who are cut off from the ladders of advancement and the treasures of prosperity?
The European Union's intent to address migration from Africa comes as a welcome if belated development in a crisis that has been crying for moral leadership.
