By J.M. Glover: Dermot Kearney: Pro-life hero Dr. Dermot Kearney, a British Catholic cardiologist who spoke at the National March for Life in May, has been honoured for his work on the medical abortion pill reversal (APR). (See The Interim, June 2024.) In April, he received the Anton Neuwirth Prize for the Protection of Life Award in Slovakia “for providing medical care [...]
The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power and People Paul Seabright (Princeton University Press, $44, 485 pages) Paul Seabright, an economist at the Toulouse School of Economics, ambitiously applies not only economics but anthropology, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, science, and sociology, to understand how the world’s religions, which he calls platforms -- “structures that bring individuals together in mutually [...]
Oswald Clark: During a campaign stop in Tampa, Florida, highlighting the president’s unwavering support for unrestricted abortion, Joe Biden made the sign of the cross as Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried spoke lambasting Governor Ron DeSantis for signing a law that bans abortion after six weeks. It was widely taken as a sign of opposition to the state’s abortion restrictions. CatholicVote [...]
Paul Tuns: Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker is a conservative, Latin Mass Catholic, who was asked to deliver the commencement address at this year’s graduating ceremonies at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. His speech raised the ire of feminists and liberal Catholics. On May 11, Butker, who has won three Super Bowls in the last five seasons, told the graduating class, [...]
Rory Leishman: Direct attacks on the God-given, natural right of everyone to freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression are continuing to mount, not just in Canada, but also in Europe. One of the most prominent, recent victims is J.K. Rowling, a resident of Edinburgh Scotland and author of the Harry Potter series of novels. Siobhian Brown, Scotland’s Minister for Victims and [...]
Paul Tuns: On May 9, Albertos Polizogopoulos, a Canadian pro-life lawyer, died at the age of 41 following a three-year battle with cancer. Polizogopoulos had a career that defended life, conscience, and religious freedom, with his official obituary noting, “He defended the rights of the vulnerable and the freedoms of Christians." Polizogopoulos appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada ten times and [...]
John Carpay: Bill C-63 (Online Harms Act) is the most serious threat to free speech in Canada in generations. If passed into law by Parliament, Bill C-63 would give the Canadian Human Rights Commission new powers to prosecute and punish non-criminal speech if deemed to be “hateful” in the subjective opinion of federal bureaucrats. Canadians found guilty would be required to pay [...]
Rory Leishman: Faithful Canadians who look to Sacred Scripture as the ultimate authority on all matters of faith and morality should beware: They could soon end up in jail as a prisoner of conscience for upholding their honest Christian beliefs. That is the fate now threatening Paivi Rasanen in Finland. She is a prominent medical doctor and long-standing member of the Finnish [...]
All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism by Kevin Vallier (Oxford, $36, 305 pages) Version 1.0.0 Kevin Vallier has set out to reply to the integralist challenge to liberalism in his important 2023 volume, All the Kingdoms of the World. Vallier takes a dozen pages to define integralism but if it can be summarized in [...]
Paul Tuns, Review: Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (And the Truth About Residential Schools) edited by C.P. Champion and Tom Flanagan with foreword by Conrad Black (True North and Dorchester Books, $21.99 343 pages) In May 2021, the news broke that the remains of 221 missing children were discovered in an unmarked, mass grave in an apple orchard at a residential [...]
Paul Tuns: On April 8, the Vatican released a document affirming the dignity of every individual, condemning abortion, euthanasia, surrogacy, human trafficking and transgenderism, as well as poverty, violence, war, sexual abuse, and poor treatment of migrants and prisoners. The document, Dignitas infinita, was released by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) and written by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, [...]
Joanna Alphonso: Experts from around the world gathered in Rome’s LUMSA University (Libera Universita Maria SS. Assunta—a private Catholic university) April 5-6, 2024, to discuss the issues surrounding surrogacy. This major discussion started on March 3, 2023 with the Casablanca Declaration. More than 100 experts gathered from 75 countries in Casablanca, Morocco, to form a document calling for a global abolishment of [...]
By J.M. Glover: World Down Syndrome Day: One mother’s story Ten years ago, Natalie Wood, a British pregnant mom, was faced with the diagnosis that her unborn baby had Down Syndrome. Her husband, and medical professionals, pressured her to get an abortion, going so far as to book her into an abortion facility. She says that she was shocked that everyone around [...]
Meaning of Life by David L. Bahnsen (Post Hill Press, $29, 205 pages) Paul Tuns, Review: David Bahnsen is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of a wealth management company and a committed Christian, and he brings a wealth of knowledge from both perspectives to Full-Time: Work and the Meaning of Life, a brief and highly readable book about the importance of work. Bahnsen condemns [...]
Rick McGinnis: Interim writer, Rick McGinnis, Amusements The idea of a “God-shaped hole” that came into existence roughly during the Enlightenment and grew with the retreat of religion is mistakenly attributed to the French philosopher Blaise Pascal. The truth is that nobody really knows where the phrase came from, but it has taken on a life of its own, becoming [...]