Category: Politics
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Halakhah and New York’s Recent Abortion Law
A month from its signing, I examine New York’s recent abortion law (the Reproductive Health Act, or RHA) under the lenses of Jewish law (halakhah). The RHA institutes two major changes: 1) it takes abortion out of laws regarding criminal activity, and 2) it allows abortion when “the patient is within twenty-four weeks from the…
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Justice, Politics, and Thomas Aquinas
A 2017 Gallup Poll found that Americans are becoming more and more partisan on a number of issues. The two parties are as far apart as they have ever been in the past half a century. More alarming is the separation between parties on a large variety of issues. In the past when party tensions…
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The Strange Image of America
It is common in American immigrant communities to view things from their ancestral homeland as sacred and holy, while viewing everything American as profane and disposable. This trend is difficult to quantify, and it is based solely on my observations. Yet I noticed it consistently throughout immigrants from Eastern Europe as well as even some…
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Taking Abortion Seriously
There is no issue in American politics like abortion. There is no issue as divisive that affects as many as deeply as abortion. Every year, millions of lives will be impacted by abortion. Primarily, the impact falls on the mother and the ‘being’ in the womb. But also, the father, the grandparents, the siblings, the…
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The Worst Argument of All
“You are not pro-life; you are pro-birth!” It is a common objection that the pro-life movement faces. In this article I will argue that this argument is not only fallacious and illogical, but also condescending, pathological, and destructive. It is the worst political argument ever made, and this fact should be common knowledge. I will…
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More on Words and Ecumenism
This post is a response to Zach, who responded to my article about words. The discussion goes back further than these articles and rallies around whether the word “ecumenical” should be used as a descriptor for Morning Walk. Fundamental issues such as the use of words have become the crux of the debate, which led…
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Political and Theological Divides
The Eastern Orthodox Church, of which I am a member, has had a schism within itself during this past fall. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow broke all ties with the Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople over a land dispute in Ukraine. Opinions on this event within the Orthodox community have been split, and the debate continues. Both…
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Response: Words and the Meaning of Meaning
This is a response to Vlad’s Words and the Meaning of Meaning. In this post, I mean to present neither hard nor fast rules for usage of words and language. Both carry the weight of complexities which
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Individualism and Christianity
Imagine two nutritional scientists arguing about cholesterol. One of them argues that it is good and cites all the benefits of high density lipoprotein (“good cholesterol”). The other argues that it is bad and cites all the reasons why low density lipoprotein (“bad cholesterol”) is unhealthy. This peculiar incident is an example of arguing over…
