É lisabeth-Paule Labat (1897–1975) was an accomplished pianist and composer when she entered the abbey of Saint-Michel de Kergonan in her early twenties. She devoted her later years to writing theology and an “Essay on the Mystery of Music,” published a decade ago as The Song That I Am , translated by Erik Varden . It’s a brilliant and beautiful essay, but what sets it apart from most explorations of music is its deeply theological character ..read more

Our desire is to obtain legal recognition for the principle that in cases of advanced and inevitably fatal disease . . . the sufferer, after legal inquiry and after due observance of all safeguards, shall have the right to demand and be entitled to receive release.” So began a 1936 debate  on the first bill seeking to legalize doctor-assisted death in Britain, eighty-eight years before Parliament advanced Kim Leadbeater’s “assisted dying” bill on November 29 ..read more

On December 14, Atheism UK and the Origins Project Foundation hosted a “ Merry Hitchmas ” event at the Royal Geographical Society in London to commemorate the life of atheist journalist Christopher Hitchens, who died of cancer in 2011 at the age of sixty-two. Four prominent atheists—physicist Lawrence Krauss, biologist Richard Dawkins, journalist Douglas Murray, and actor Stephen Fry— took the stage to reminisce about Hitchens, discuss literature, and, of course, mock religion . The event was, albeit unintentionally, a memorial not only for Hitchens, but for the New Atheist movement, which did ..read more

Ralph Fiennes is a remarkable actor. And if he wins an Academy Award for his brilliant performance in Conclave , this section of his masterfully delivered homily to the College of Cardinals, of which he plays the dean, is likely to be cited frequently ..read more

In the 2004 case Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union , the Supreme Court struck down Congress’s Child Online Protection Act (COPA) for violating the First Amendment. COPA required providers of commercial pornography to place pornographic material behind internet “screens.” Adults could access the pornography by verifying their age, but children, presumably, would be prevented from viewing some of the most objectionable content on the internet.  ..read more

At the end of 2024, Washington State implemented a month-long pilot program that allowed some pharmacists to prescribe mifepristone to patients via telehealth screening. Mifepristone is one component of the two-part drug regimen needed to end pregnancies up to ten weeks of gestation. (The second part, misoprostol, is widely available.) The program, Pharmacist Abortion Access Project, is spearheaded by Uplift International and aims to serve as a model for other interested states where abortion is legal. The medication was provided by the online pharmacy Honeybee Health . According to the New Yo ..read more

The Divine Comedy: Inferno by dante alighieri, translated by jason m. baxter angelico, 260 pages, $19.95 ..read more

One need not be a historian of the Puritans and their quest for a New Jerusalem to know that America has been influenced by the Old Testament. It’s evident from so many place names, such as Hebron, Kentucky; Bethesda, Maryland; and Rehoboth, Delaware. Less appreciated is how much Old Testament stories have inspired some of the country’s most original and powerful music. The homegrown gospel music of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the African-American Church of God in Christ, and white “fundamentalist” congregations is often so devoid of New Testament references, it would not be out of place ..read more

A year ago at this time, I devoted a column to “ Hopes and Wishes for 2024 ”—mostly hopes, as it turned out, but with a handful of wishes. (I was surprised and touched by the number of people I heard from after that column appeared.) Here I am looking back at the list and also looking forward, hopefully, to the year to come ..read more

When Barack Obama first won the presidency in 2008, he ushered in a distinctive left-liberal aesthetic of personal power. Young, handsome, eloquent, and black, Obama was cool, and in his coolness, he managed to appeal to constituencies whose express priorities are often at odds: the young, progressive professional managerial class (PMC), as well as older centrist boomers. When you voted for Obama, you weren’t doing so because of enthusiasm for the Democratic party or because of his policy platform. The person was the message ..read more