Category: Morality
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By Selwyn Duke In 1811, Joseph de Maistre, a French philosopher who detested the French Revolution, famously said: “People get the government they deserve.” In light of recent events in France and elsewhere, however, something else comes to mind: Do people get the riots they deserve, too? Maybe—sometimes. Now, I’ll preface my remarks by saying…
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By Selwyn Duke “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.” So said George Washington during his Farewell Address on September 17, 1796. They’re powerful parting words, but also, today, controversial ones. They’re met now with protestations such as “Whose God?!” and “You can be moral without God!” Well,…
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By Selwyn Duke So often today we use weasel words, terms that just aren’t, you might say, “up to the challenge.” We may state that something is “inappropriate,” “suboptimal,” “problematic,” “misguided,” or “inadvisable” — even if it’s downright wicked. But not so with Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. He’s urging Catholics…
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By Selwyn Duke “Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians,” warned intellectual Thomas Sowell, “who must be civilized before it is too late.” And much we’ve seen for many years now raises a question: Is it already too late? With video-recording devices everywhere today, we get to witness…
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By Selwyn Duke A story in the news some days ago held that Noah’s ark’s resting place had been “100% confirmed.” This wasn’t actually true. What is, however, is that science is proving something else: “New Atheism’s” ship has sailed — and maybe even sunk. Almost a generation ago now, in 2006, biologist Richard Dawkins…
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By Selwyn Duke It was decades ago now that commentator Alan Keyes, responding to talk of “crises” (e.g., the economic crisis), added perspective. The real crisis we need worry about, he warned, is our “moral crisis.” Virtue in the people is the root of the tree. Take care of that and all else falls into place. The…
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By Selwyn Duke Fourteen years ago, I wrote a piece titled “Does the GOP’s Demographic Death Spiral End in a Texas Graveyard?” Its theme was that demographic and cultural changes were making it increasingly difficult for Republicans to win national elections. And once these factors turned Texas “blue,” the GOP would be singin’ the blues. That is,…
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By Selwyn Duke Here’s something many Americans don’t know: There is no category in American law such as “hate speech.” It doesn’t exist. Some people nonetheless behave as if it does — including many who sit on legal benches and juries. Some would say this is the reality, too, with a Minnesota court case that…
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By Selwyn Duke “A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury,” goes the famous apocryphal warning. “From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits….” The result of this “is that every…
