From the Editors
The diplomatic option
In 2009, U.S. talks with Iran broke down because the U.S. was seeking quick results. It's time to try again.
The politics of meat safety
Many Americans believe that unfettered business
benefits us all. But what about when an industry's profit motive pushes it to endanger public health?
Pathway to citizenship
Newt Gingrich has suggested that undocumented immigrants who are family-loving, hardworking, tax-paying, churchgoing and deeply rooted should stay here. This is pretty much the typical immigrant.
Out of Afghanistan
In 2008, President Obama accused his
predecessor of taking his eye off the ball—the fight in
Afghanistan. But the case for a military presence in Afghanistan was already waning.
The 16 percent
A record number of Americans are poor. And by any measure, the poverty rate is rising.
Occupied holy ground
Church leaders can appreciate the challenges
that St. Paul's has faced. Yet there is something profoundly right about
a moral protest in a cathedral courtyard.
Winter for Arab Christians?
An irony of Christian life amid the Arab Spring is that Christians have
frequently been protected by the authoritarian regimes that are under
attack.
Powerful occupation
Whatever its explicit message, Occupy Wall Street has made a powerful statement with its very mode of existence.
Good investments
The use of clean energy sources is growing, but unless those sources
become cheaper and more efficient, they won't put a dent in the rise in
carbon emissions.
Presidential limits
Many aspects of governing exist outside the president's control, via rhetoric or anything else.
Planning for grace
The resources for faith formation have grown in recent decades, yet the task remains elusive. After all, everything the church does is formative—and one can never predict how formation will happen.
The Norwegian response
Mindful of the American response to 9/11, Norwegians apparently want to avoid overreacting and seeing themselves only as victims. They don't want to adopt a bunker mentality.
A time to spend
"In these tough times, Americans are tightening their belts—and their
government needs to do the same." This bipartisan applause line is pithy, full of populist empathy and easy to
understand. It's also exactly wrong.
Turning out voters
Photo ID requirements not only act as a de facto poll tax; they address a virtually nonexistent problem. Concerns about voter fraud are wildly overblown.
Don’t know much about history
Americans who don't have a narrative sense of the country's history are more susceptible to ideologues who try to weave their own versions of the past.
Getting to the root
There are two ways to reduce the federal budget deficit: cut spending
and increase revenue. Serious progress will require both. But neither can
solve the larger problem behind the nation's budget woes.
Truth about torture
It's useful to meet the argument that torture works with the facts: actually, there is not much evidence
that it does. In the end, however, the question is not whether torture is ever useful but whether it is morally permissible.
To join or not to join
St. Cyprian said that we can't have God as our Father if we don't have
the church as our mother. It seems, however, that we live in an age in
which people are less inclined to become church members—even when they
are happy to have some church associations.
Safeguarding women’s health
Imagine you are a young mother living paycheck to paycheck, with no
health insurance. Where would you go for a pregnancy test? For treatment
of a sexually transmitted disease? To obtain contraceptives? In each
case, the answer for millions of Americans is Planned Parenthood.