Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City via Wikimedia Commons (CC0-01). Washington’s controversial Senate Bill 5375, “An ACT Relating to the duty of clergy to report child abuse and neglect,” scheduled to go into effect on July 27, 2025, removes the legal protection for Roman Catholic priests under the seal of confession when dealing with mandatory sexual…
School of Athens, painting by Rafael (US-PD). Throughout history, rulers facing crises have often turned to oracles, sages, and spiritual guides for wisdom. More than 2,500 years ago, King Croesus of Lydia consulted the Oracle at Delphi on whether to wage war against Persia. The Oracle replied that if Croesus attacked, he would “destroy a…
Photo of Mike Nichols at the National Film Society Convention by Alan Light (CC BY 2.0). In the fall of 1966, Hollywood studio magnate Jack Warner and a young first-time director, Mike Nichols, faced independent, but interlocking conundrums. The trouble centered on the film adaptation of Edward Albee’s award-winning play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?—the…
ChatGPT Rendering of AI via Wikimedia Commons (PD). In the spring of 2024, the state of Louisiana faced a critical legal juncture. The newly elected Governor Jeff Landry had begun to speak of the need for a new Louisiana Constitution and to gesture toward the new constitution being drafted by the end of the regular…
Scenes from the Life of Saint Augustine of Hippo via Metropolitan Museum of Art (US-PD). On June 21, Pope Leo XIV delivered one of his first statements on Catholic social teaching. Addressing members of the International Inter-Parliamentary Union, he emphasized themes that are emerging as focuses for his papacy: unity, dialogue, and the challenges presented…
Australian House of Representatives by JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0). The constitutional protections for religious freedom and against the establishment of state religions in the United States and Australia bear a striking similarity. Under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, approved as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791, “Congress shall make…
John Trumbull’s painting, Declaration of Independence, (PD-Art). In a recent newsletter to Atlantic subscribers, editor Jeffrey Goldberg refers to the cover story by Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer. They attempt to answer, he says, a simple question: How did Trump rise from political ruin in 2021 to seize the commanding heights of government and the world…
Tripura Sundari Hindu Temple via WikiMedia Commons (CC0 1.0) In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the United States Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and overruled both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In doing so, the Court puts state governments in charge of regulating…
The Facade of St. Peter’s Basilica upon Leo XIV’s first appearance via WikiMedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). With the election of Leo XIV, the Catholic Church embarks on a new chapter in its rich universal history–this time set against the backdrop of a globalized and fragmented world, one that is heavily armed and yearning for…
Miraculous Fishing by Lodewijk Toeput (PD-Art) Does the Book of Genesis authorize human beings to ruthlessly exploit nature? Many environmentalist critics of Christianity, and some Christians who are overly skeptical of environmentalism, think so. However, a careful reading of the key passage where God gives human beings dominion over creation—Genesis 1:28—reveals this to be a…