Reasons to Fear, Reasons to Hope: The Nuclear Threat after 80 Years
by John Whitehead The nuclear threat is now 80 years old. Nuclear weapons became a reality with the first successful test of a nuclear weapon, the Trinity test, in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. These weapons’ ability to destroy human lives and societies was demonstrated with horrific clarity a few weeks later when two…
Raising Lifelong Defenders of Dignity: Teaching the Next Generation the Consistent Life Ethic
by Nathanial John Editor’s note: Nathaniel is a Christian writer and so writes from that perspective, but many of the comments will also apply to people from other traditions. You can learn a lot about a society by listening to what it protects. We live in a world that shouts loudly about rights—but…
Turning Problems into Potential: Positive Social Movement Dynamics
by Rachel M. MacNair There are several features of social movements commonly seen as problems. Yet when underlying psychological dynamics are understood, they can be explained and accommodated. At times, they can even be converted to positive developments. So Many Problems We Have One such feature is a perception that one’s own movement has a…
Does J.D. Vance’s appeal to an ordo amoris (a ranking of love) make any sense?
In January 2025, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance cited the Catholic concept of “ordo amoris” in the context of the debate over immigration. He said that “there’s this old-school [concept]—and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the way—that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your…
Misleading and Distracting Language on Abortion
by Ms. Boomer-ang In many points relating to abortion, the most commonly-heard voices distract our attention from what we really need to know and keep us focused on minor or misleading parts of the story. Following are examples: 1. Media reporting on parents trying (unsuccessfully or successfully) to prevent their daughters from having abortions…
Why a War of “Regime Change” in Iran Would Be a Catastrophe
by John Whitehead What direction the conflict between Israel and the United States and Iran will take is unknown. As of this writing, the ceasefire between Israel and Iran is holding and the United States has not bombed Iran again since June 22. We can hope this situation continues. Military conflict among these nations might…
The Huge Mistake: The U.S. Joins Israel in Bombing Iran
Editor’s note: This is a quick response to last weekend’s events, and we expect to have more to say with the rapid developments this situation is likely to have. The date of publication, June 24, is also the third anniversary of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, so we pro-lifers in the United States…
Abortion and Slavery
by Jim Hewes The film Harriet portrays a moment when the enslaved woman Minty—better known as Harriet Tubman—asks her “owner” for permission to start a family. He refuses, reminding her that any child she bears would belong to him. That scene evokes a chilling truth: under slavery, a person could be reduced to mere property,…
Hollywood Movie Insights III
by Rachel MacNair This is the third in a series of short reviews of different movies. For the others, see: Hollywood Movie Insights I (The Giver, The Whistleblower, and The Ides of March) Hollywood Movie Insights II (Never Look Away, The Report, and Dark Waters) She Said Opposing sexual abuse because it’s horrific without needing to take anything else into…
Quaker Queries
by Rachel MacNair The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) is a pacifist denomination which nevertheless has a large numbers of members who support abortion availability. One of their large organizations called for nationwide discernment, whereby the Meetings and Churches would have their own local sessions in which members threshed out their understandings with the use…