Dove’s recent “Real Beauty Sketches” ad campaign has sparked strong praise from those who think it opens the eyes of women to the way their self-image regarding their physical appearance can become twisted and distorted (for a whole number of reasons). Critics argue that the takeaway is that the women featured in the commercials really… Read More Why Notions of Attractiveness Poison Our Society
The 2011 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contraceptive mandate has garnered ample media attention as a polarizing issue among U.S. Catholics and the general public. A rhetorical icon for the religious liberty debate, contraception orients discourse about religious freedom to personal practices, political opinions, and religious beliefs. A vital issue for many… Read More Institutional Religious Freedom: Broadening the Scope
Boston has been my home for almost six years. It didn’t take me long to love it. I’m not sure if it’s the blue-collar feel to a city that prides itself in not being New York, if it’s the way Bostonians are so passionate about their hometown and hometown teams, or the patriotism that pervades… Read More A Virtuous Response to Terror?
Satire has been a salve for many Americans in the past week. Witness The Onion’s rapidly re-tweeted article, “Jesus, This Week,” which suggested that “Maybe next time we have a week, they can try not to pack it completely to the fucking brim with explosions, mutilations, death, manhunts, lies, weeping, and the utter uselessness of… Read More Liberty, Idolatry, and the Culture of Violence
The most moral, wise, pure members of our society are those who stand against all wars and condemn every use of force by the malicious American government, including bloodthirsty President Obama, all while saying nothing about mass murder abroad, except maybe to downplay the crimes of terrorists and violent authoritarian regimes. They are the true… Read More The Chicken Doves: Not Afraid to Exploit a Tragedy
[This post by Quang Tran, SJ is also featured on The Jesuit Post, where the author is an ATL Correspondent] January 2. Dr. Peter J. N. Linnerooth, 43, an army psychologist who spent time with troops in Iraq helping them cope with PTSD, shot himself at Reno, VA, after being denied the help to which he thought he… Read More On Suicide: Something has got to change
As the world gets to know Pope Francis, one thing is becoming overwhelmingly clear: this is a man who takes the symbolic meaning of his actions very seriously. From the way he travels to the way he preaches, from where he stays to how he prays, this is a man whose dispositions and actions reveal… Read More To Practice Resurrection
Millennial 