After the horrific human rights abuses of Nazi Germany were revealed at the end of World War II, an international tribunal was held in Nuremberg to try those who were responsible for the Holocaust. Hard on the heels of those Nuremberg Trials (1945-46) followed the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948) which enshrined the […]
Human Dignity – A First Principle Read Post »
I had the dubious distinction of graduating from high school in 1973, the year Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton where handed down by the Supreme Court, giving the US the most permissive abortion policy in the Western world. I remember well the question everyone was asking at that time: “When does human life
Who counts as a person? Today’s question in the abortion debate Read Post »
Jonathan Sacks is the erudite chief rabbi of Great Britain. He was educated at Oxford under Bernard Williams, the famous moral philosopher who also happened to be an atheist. In his volume, The Great Partnership: Science, Religion and the Search for Meaning (Schoken, 2012), Rabbi Sacks assesses what happens when religious faith collapses under the
What Happens When Civilizations Die? Read Post »
One night in fifth-century Wales, everyone in Calpurnius’ house was in bed asleep—everyone except Patrick, who sat on the edge of his bed. His head was swirling with the dream that had stirred him from a sound slumber. In the dream, a man he had known in Ireland handed Patrick a letter. Accepting it, Patrick
St. Patrick’s Day: Not Just about Green Beer Read Post »
Despite the holiday season, the Newtown school killings brought a nation to its knees in shock and sadness. Dear little ones lost their lives in a senseless act of mass homicide. Only the most callous individual would not grieve over the loss of life, the heartbreak the parents feel, and the stolen potential of those
Surprise at Newtown’s Massacre Rests on a Faulty Anthropology Read Post »
Earlier this month a team of researchers at the University of Washington reported it was able to map the entire genetic blueprint of an unborn baby using only a blood sample from the mother—who was just 18 weeks into her pregnancy—and saliva from the father. They believe that this technique will enable them, with 98%
Genetic Screening: Doing the Math Read Post »
