Author Archives: Andrew Stuttaford

What Americans ‘Believe’

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

Here’s the Guardian in full “wacky Americans” mode: About one in four Americans suspect that President Barack Obama might be the antichrist, more than a third believe that global warming is a hoax and more than half suspect that a … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | Tagged , | 3 Comments

The Anti-Pussy Riot?

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

Via Russia & India Report: A group of Creationists staged a publicity stunt in Moscow’s Darwin Museum, unfurling a Christian banner, distributing leaflets, and singing hymns. This is the latest in a string of attention-seeking performances by self-proclaimed ‘Orthodox activists’. … Continue reading →

Posted in politics, Religion | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Hmmm

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

Pope Francis, unsurprisingly given the name he has chosen, devoted quite a bit of time to the environment in his inaugural homily. We shall have to see whether the conclusions drawn by this reporter (for Religion News) reflect his own … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, science | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Ready to Lose in 2016?

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

I can understand the argument that religion can be a handy bulwark against an over-mighty and over-intrusive state (it can, incidentally, also be an ally of just such a state), but there is a limit as to how far that … Continue reading →

Posted in Church & State, politics | Tagged , | 16 Comments

The Cheerleader

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

On the whole, patriotic priests are preferable to those preaching the old baloney about the universal brotherhood of man, an impossible, unnatural aspiration that, by definition, can only (if it is to mean anything) be coercive. It is however better … Continue reading →

Posted in history, politics, Religion | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Old Tom Hobbes

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

A man of the secular right, I feel. Writing in the TLS David Runciman explains: But between the political parts [of Leviathan] – the first two sections and the final one – come parts three and four, which are concerned … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy | Tagged | 3 Comments

Trickster Padre

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

I happened to come across this 2011 piece by CSI’s Joe Nickell the other day: …In fact, notwithstanding the claims in uncritical biographies, Pio’s stigmata devolved—from bleeding wounds that could easily have been self-inflicted (like those of many fake stigmatists … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Faith | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Making Friends and Influencing People

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

The Indianapolis Star reports: Women obtaining an abortion-inducing drug would be required to undergo an ultrasound before and after taking the drug under a bill approved Wednesday by an Indiana Senate committee. Though the bill doesn’t specify that it be … Continue reading →

Posted in law, politics | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Old Nick, Dead Right

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

Isaiah Berlin on Machiavelli: Machiavelli’s cardinal achievement is his uncovering of an insoluble dilemma, the planting of a permanent question mark in the path of posterity. It stems from his de facto recognition that ends equally ultimate, equally sacred, may … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy | Tagged , | 7 Comments

The End of a “Catholic Moment”?

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Andrew Stuttaford

Ross Douthat mourns (prematurely, I fear) ‘the end of a Catholic moment’: The mid-2000s were the last time the Catholic vision of the good society — more egalitarian than American conservatism and more moralistic than American liberalism — enjoyed real … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , | 4 Comments