Op-ed Roundup

February 07, 2011

In noteworthy editorial columns appearing today:

• Joseph Bottum, writing in USA Today, calls attention to the persecution of Christians around the world. In recent years, he points out, US foreign policy has shifted away from efforts to protect embattled Christians. Pointing to the current unrest in Egypt, he warns: “Whatever happens, Egypt's Coptic Christians are going to be hurt, unless the United States makes a major diplomatic effort to help them.”
• Writing for the Wall Street Journal, two officials of the Becket Fund argue that the UN has compounded the problems facing Christians and other religious minorities with annual resolutions condemning public criticism of religion. The net effect, they say, is to encourage intolerant measures such as Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
• William Oddie of the Catholic Herald looks with a jaundiced eye on the latest round of Anglican-Catholic theological discussions, and wonders whether the time has come to abandon what is now—in light of the widening distance between the Catholic Church and the Anglican communion-- nothing more than a charade.
• John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter reflects on the release of another letter from a Vatican official, urging an American bishop not to disclose evidence of a priest’s misconduct. The latest discovery reflects attitudes at the Vatican very similar to those disclosed by another letter that became public a month ago. Allen observes: “Anyone who thinks these two letters are the end of the line is in denial.”
• Robert Royal examines the concept of “social justice,” and finds that the term lends itself to manipulation. Yes, the Church follows a great tradition of commitment to justice in society, he concedes:

  But Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and the whole Christian tradition until recently talked simply about justice, which always involves social relations and, therefore, doesn’t need to be revved up with “social.”

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Who will defend Mideast Christians? (USA Today)
• How the U.N. Encourages Religious Murder (Wall Street Journal)
• And now, ARCIC III: isn’t it time to bring this ecumenical farce to an end? (Catholic Herald)
• Avoiding the blame game on abuse (National Catholic Reporter)
• The Poverty of Social Justice (The Catholic Thing)