The right to keep and bear arms is enshrined in our American Constitution and culture to the point that many think this right is uniquely American. However, the historical evidence is quite surprising. Pre-modern and pre-industrial cultures also promoted arms ownership. Organic Christian society recognized the natural-law right of the family to defend itself from … Read more
How does one stand out these days? Write a thank-you note. No, not a thank-you email, text message or tweet. Banish the multiple exclamation marks (!!!!!) or the CAPITAL letters and silly emoticons that attract attention but fail to convey meaning. All these things tend to get lost in the whirling and hectic schedules of … Read more
In face of a recession that never recedes, the assumption of a broad and growing prosperity for the middle class is in doubt. Gone are the heady days of the post-Cold War triumphalism of the nineties when optimistic observers believed that we might live forever in a kind of glorious consumerism. Instead, there is a … Read more
On April 12, Return to Order author John Horvat II visited at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas to address students on topics related to the book. Mr. Horvat spoke to one of the business school’s graduate classes that uses his book as a textbook. The students took advantage of the occasion for a question and answer session … Read more
Many authors have compared a living being with a machine to show the contrast between an organic society and an individualistic or mechanistic society. Indeed, compare the two. A living being grows and develops at its own speed according to its own inner dynamism and force that comes from the life of each cell. A … Read more
A review of Catholicism and the Shaping of Nineteenth Century America by John Gjerde, edited by S. Deborah Kang, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2012. Part of the fascination of history is its ability to explain why things are the way they are. History goes beneath the surface of events and manages to unearth all … Read more
Education and religion are often seen to be incompatible. There is an underlying notion inside the liberal education establishment that religious belief is backwards and contrary to enlightenment. Schools have long been viewed as gateways to a glorious secular and technological future, free of religious superstition. After all, the purpose of education is to make … Read more
Dear young friend, I have watched your protests against gun violence and could not help but recall my own youth. As a child of the Sixties, I was born of a generation that also had protests. I recall my desires to change the world and make it a better place by challenging everything. I remember … Read more
Sometimes there is no explanation for some actions. It can’t be a question of ignorance. It can’t be a mistake in judgment. It’s plain wrong, and the person does it anyway. Such is the case of Prof. Tat-Siong Benny Liew. He is chair of New Testament Studies at the Jesuit-run College of the Holy Cross … Read more
It is paradoxical that super-progressive California would have recourse to a concept of medieval law to support its revolt against federal immigration law enforcement. It is even more bizarre that the super-secular Golden State would consider itself a kind of Church with authority higher than that of the government and declare itself a holy and … Read more
