Category Archives: Politics

February 1, 2012

Evangelical Democrats?

As the absurd theater of the Republican primaries continues its itinerary from state to state, it at least serves one useful purpose: It puts to rest the notion that religion no longer matters in American politics. Actually the GOP is … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion, Secularism | 13 Comments
January 18, 2012

A New Direction for the Russian Orthodox Church?

On January 7 The New York Times reported that Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Department of Church and Society of the Moscow Patriarchate and one of the highest officials in the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, said in … Continue reading

Posted in Orthodoxy, Politics | 3 Comments
January 4, 2012

Islamic Philosophy and the Future of the Arab Spring

There are few current questions about international developments as important as the ones concerning the future of what, rather optimistically, has been called the Arab Spring. Will this series of popular uprisings indeed lead to a new era of democracy … Continue reading

Posted in Islam, Philosophy, Politics | 15 Comments
November 16, 2011

What Would Jesus Do?

As was widely reported by the media both in Britain and in this country, on October 15, 2011 Occupy London (the British imitator of the Occupy Wall Street movement) put up a protest camp in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral. … Continue reading

Posted in Christianity, Politics, Protestantism | 21 Comments
November 2, 2011

Movements

We are awash in movements. The Arab Spring is one long series of movements, like a row of candles, each one igniting the next one in the row—Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, then back to Benghazi, and so on across the Middle … Continue reading

Posted in Europe, Politics, United States | 14 Comments
September 7, 2011

Is God Above the Constitution?

Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, is no longer content to preside over what many still regard as the world’s greatest newspaper. (I don’t, but I read it every day, not because of its pervasive liberal bias, … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Religion, Secularism | 26 Comments
July 13, 2011

A Mormon Moment?

On July 5, 2011, The Boston Globe carried a story by Joanna Weiss with the title “Mormons on center stage”. She felt that we are in a Mormon moment. She may well be right. Mormons are certainly very visible on … Continue reading

Posted in Mormonism, Politics | 6 Comments
July 6, 2011

The Eternal Return of the Tribe

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science focuses on a single topic in each issue. In its July 2011 issue the topic is “Patrimonial Power in the Modern World”, edited by two sociologists, Julia Adams and … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Sociology | 7 Comments
June 1, 2011

Symbols of Tyranny in America

I am going to say uncomplimentary things about some American realities. I would not want to be misunderstood. I love this country. I felt at home from the moment I arrived here when barely aged eighteen, and it was with … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Symbolism | 9 Comments
May 25, 2011

Samantha and the Lone Sheriff

The National Interest, a periodical known for a staunchly realist stance in international affairs, carried an article by Jacob Heilbrunn about Samantha Power in its May-June, 2011 issue. Power, who presently heads the Office of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights … Continue reading

Posted in Philosophy, Politics | 6 Comments