Author Archives: Andrew Stuttaford

Pope Francis: Seeing What He Wants To See

Pope Francis on Good Friday: The Guardian: Pope Francis decried what he called Europe’s “indifferent and anaesthetised conscience” over refugees, during Good Friday prayers in Rome during which he also criticised pedophile priests, arms dealers and fundamentalists. Tens of thousands … Continue reading

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Two “Brothers”: Pope Francis and the Chekist

Cross-posted on the Corner. The Pope’s decision to meet his “brother”, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in, delightfully, Havana (you can find some details here of the way that the persecution of Christians has spiked since last year’s Francis-brokered deal between … Continue reading

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Pope Francis, (Partly) Explained

Hayek: But the near-universal acceptance of a belief does not prove that it is valid or even meaningful any more than the general belief in witches or ghosts proved the validity of these concepts. What we have to deal with … Continue reading

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“Three Parent” Babies? No, More Like 2.001 (If That)…

Bioethicists are, for the most part, a pretty presumptuous bunch: who on earth do they think they are? In this case, however, highlighted by the Washington Post, they have got things right: An elite panel of scientists and bioethicists offered … Continue reading

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Mosquito as “Enforcer” of Social Solidarity

America Magazine is, in its own way, an entertaining corner of the religious left published by Jesuits. It’s a reliable source of by-the-numbers leftism supplemented by pious distortions, holy evasions, extra helpings of sanctimony and regular hosannas for the Dear … Continue reading

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Evolving with Gods

Here’s John Gray in The New Statesman,  reviewing God Is Watching You: How the Fear of God Makes Us Human by Dominic Johnson: An evolutionary biologist trained at Oxford who also holds a doctorate in political science, Johnson believes that … Continue reading

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The Vatican and Brexit

The Roman Catholic Church has always been somewhat suspicious of the nation-state, an institution it regards as an obstacle to its own claims of universal authority, so this story from the Daily Telegraph comes as no surprise: The Vatican wants … Continue reading

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Multiculturalism as Sacred Idea

An intriguing suggestion from Ed West in The Spectator: I’d go as far as to say it that immigration has become a sacred idea, and that many believe multiculturalism to be a moral good in itself, whatever the end result. … Continue reading

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Isaiah Berlin: Half Right

Isaiah Berlin: As for the meaning of life, I do not believe that it has any: I do not at all ask what it is, for I suspect it has none, and this is a source of great comfort to … Continue reading

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“Another Emergency”

The Economist, at it again: THE political masters of the world are gathering in a Paris traumatised by terror to consider another sort of emergency, climate change. Trivialize much? Exaggerate much? The magazine’s ‘Erasmus’ goes on to note: The unusual … Continue reading

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