For over 1,500 years, the Catholic Church has promoted “just war theory” as a way to determine in what cases a war can be considered morally justifiable. But all of that may change.
In an interview, Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana said that it is “plausible” that Pope Francis may write a new encyclical updating Catholic teaching on war and peace, an update that could include a retreat from just war theory. Francis’ last encyclical, “Laudato Si,” made waves for its condemnation of capitalism and call to address climate change.
I knew that the problem of race in America was one of the two main engines that mobilized his project in Christian ethics. The other was the threat of war. In the 1980s, Glen put together a method of doing Christian ethics in the context of the Cold War that was meant to help foster clarity in conversation and allow unspoken influential preferences to be recognized. As he understood it, we are much more than reasoning, rational minds; we are a complex amalgam of different contributing factors, including our core convictions, community loyalties, things we are passionate about, people we trust, and political commitments. Indeed, many things are at play in all of our ethical decisions.
U.S. Embassy worker Xulhaz Mannan was murdered April 21 in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, according to the U.S. State Department.
Local reports say Mannan and another man were hacked to death. There is some suspicion this violence was provoked by Mannan's LGBT activism.
A judge upheld North Carolina’s controversial election laws on April 25, reports The New York Times.
The ruling comes months before a presidential election in a state that narrowly went to Barack Obama in 2008 and to Mitt Romney in 2012.
Five Syrian civil defense workers — known as the “White Helmets” — were killed in air strikes on April 26, according to Al Jazeera. A series of violent attacks swept Aleppo and the city’s outskirts, killing at least 35 people, including eight children.
Can your district representative sing? Because Peggy Flanagan sure can.
Flanagan, a representative of District 46A in Minnesota, took Minnesota's house floor with a moving vocal performance on the evening of April 25 to pay her respects to Prince Rogers Nelson, who passed away on April 21.
“One of the things I really see happening is as Christians in America, evangelicals are losing their cultural dominance, and I see a lot of fear associated with that. I see a lot of anger. I guess that’s almost like a god of dominance,” Midgett said. “And that’s in contrast to the god of suffering, the god who comes as a servant to die for us. Those two things are really two completely different paradigms.”
Sikhs in America face a common misperception that often surfaces at the airport, among other places: people think they’re Muslim. This is often due to the turban that Sikh men wear as a symbol of commitment.
So Hasan Minhaj of The Daily Show tried to help Sikhs out, with a dose of education mixed with humor. Together with Waris Ahluwalia, a Sikh-American actor, Minhaj brainstormed ways to counter the doubly misguided Islamophobia directed against Sikhs.
Just as we are called to speak the truth in love, we also act in love. Yes, we are interrupting business as usual. Yes, we are refusing to cooperate with the orders of law officers. But we are doing it out of love for our transgender neighbors who want to use the bathroom in peace. We are doing it out of love for the poor and working people who must choose between buying medicine and getting groceries. We do it out of love, even, for political leaders who have become so deluded by power that they may truly believe they are standing for righteousness.
The famous creator and star of Broadway’s Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, rapped on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to appeal for debt relief for the island of Puerto Rico.