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One year after the most divisive elections in at least 50 years, there is little evidence that distrust and animosity laid bare by that bitter contest—and its horrific aftermath on Jan. 6—are going anywhere. Americans remain divided over longstanding culture war issues like abortion and climate change and more recent issues such as the best policy response to the ongoing pandemic. But for an increasing number of Americans today, party affiliation is connected to more than policy preferences. It is a moralized social identity where members on each side view those on the other side with contempt. Americans are pushed by the culture to make a binary choice—Democrat or Republican—and then conform themselves to every belief of their party. This is not tribalism but sectarianism. It determines n...

DIFFICULT MORAL QUESTIONS: If we are contemplating some behavior that we believe might be wrong, we should refrain from acting until we settle the question. Q. Recently I’ve partnered with someone selling software license keys. I’m pretty sure the way we sell them is against the license terms of the vendor, but my partner told me that everything we do is fine. I assume he is honest because he knows better than I about how licensing works, and I know very little about it. Should I listen to my conscience, or just trust him? Should I continue this business? If so, would that be sinful? I need the money but most important I don’t want to offend God. — Frank A. You ask whether you should listen to your conscience. The answer is Yes, always.   But in your case, your conscience is in doubt:...

Photo by Nick Kwan on Unsplash When we think back on our own story, we can’t conceive of it as one coherent narrative. We might remember one moment here, and then another there, and not in any particular order. And yet, if we think for long enough, something coherent will begin to emerge. And of course, our story is not just about us; we have to think of others and their impact on us as well. Ours is one piece of a larger narrative, blending with those who came before and those who will continue after us. How does art help us to understand our story? We could think of our life like a mosaic, pieced together, not just from our own memories but what we have received from the past, little bits here and there. We will leave an image of ourselves as a legacy here on earth—true, only to be remem...

“Bourbon is good medicine!” Or so claimed the lobbyist looking to leave a loophole in the 1919 Prohibition Act that banned all alcohol except that which was used for religious sacraments and those medicinal distillates prescribed by doctors. While the slogan was exaggerated by politicians (and exploited by the usual assortment of snake-oil salesmen), it turns out there was some validity to the claim.  Bourbon is indeed good medicine, and that’s the truth — or, if it isn’t, it ought to be. In addition to being a beloved social accelerant, an effective community builder, and a warming nightcap, bourbon possesses properties unique among distillates. While many other types of alcohol are known for having high levels of antioxidants, American bourbon, with its high corn mash and aging in n...

ROME – Rome already has become grumpily accustomed to the sight of wild boars roaming through the streets, often feeding on uncollected garbage and generally making a mockery of any pretense at city management. Indeed, viral images of one such family of boars strolling downtown in late September hammered the final nail into the political coffin of incumbent Mayor Virginia Raggi, who lost her reelection bid overwhelmingly last week. This week it was the turn of a porcupine to take an unscheduled Roman constitutional, wandering around the city for hours and even poking its nose into several shops along the way before it was finally nabbed by animal control officers near the Vatican. The thing is, that wasn’t even the weirdest development in or around the Vatican this week. I can think of at ...

Not only does the Supreme Court regularly overturn prior precedents, it has established rules for doing so. Here are eight reasons to overturn Roe v. Wade. With the widespread public furor about whether the Supreme Court will overturn its more-than-landmark 1973 abortion decision in Roe v. Wade, it is necessary to recognize that the Supreme Court’s abortion decisions, in their content and in their judicial methods, are without precedent in American jurisprudential, political, social, cultural, and moral history. For last 48 years—that is, 20 percent of our history—no other issue, public or private, has divided and polarized the country and the Court as its decision in Roe v. Wade. In its petition to the Supreme Court filed in July, the state of Mississippi has boldly attacked the two funda...