A common mode of argument is formally called reductio ad absurdum. The point of this is to take your opponents’ arguments and show absurd conclusions that follow from those arguments. The point of the reductio is quite obviously to argue […]
Read moreCategory: Theology
A Catholic Religious Exemption for Being Muslim?
We need to distinguish between religious and conscience exceptions. They have been confused in the debate about exemptions from vaccine requirements. I think even a brief examination would find this equivocation faulty. This argument is that due to Catholic teaching […]
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Aquinas: Some Sins Worse Than Sexual Sins (Updated)
This week, Pope Francis noted that sexual sins or sins of the flesh are not the worst kind of sins during an interview on a plane. There have been three mistaken reactions to this. First, many secular sources assumed he […]
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Fetal Cell Line Testing & Church Teaching
Despite claims to the contrary from some circles, the Church has never taught that medicine being tested on fetal cell lines is a significant enough moral issue to skip that medicine. I wrote this up in a semi-academic piece that […]
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What is Natural Law
This weekend, Aleteia published a piece I wrote attempting to explain natural law. I was at a theology conference so didn’t re-post it right away. This is designed to be a simple introduction for the average person as many other […]
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Anti-Vaccine Catholics Break Moral Theology Principles
I posted this over at Patheos, pointing out the errors of those pushing an anti-vax position with bad theology: Basic moral theology indicates that we can, and in most cases should, use the vaccines against COVID. I have repeatedly shown […]
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Issues with (Br) Alexis Bugnolo, Ordo Militaris & FromRome
I did a long-form investigative piece on a person who I keep seeing online promoting conspiracy theories and claiming they are Catholic. Alexis Bugnolo runs FromRome, Ordo Militaris, and Scholasticum online. The first is meant to be a news site, […]
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Food, Shelter, and Clothing are Basic Human Rights
This is from over on Patheos about private property, theft & our duty to the common good: I am surprised how adamantly some Catholics deny that life’s necessities are human rights. However, the overwhelming evidence from the Magisterium is that […]
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John Paul II Definitively Said “No!” to Women Priests
I posted an article over on the National Catholic Register about whether women could be priests: Last week, La Croix carried a story about Sr. Ruth Schönenberger wanting female priests. She explains, “It is surely only natural for women to be priests and I […]
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No, Our Lord Didn’t Have “Homosexual Tendencies”
I don’t believe I need to say this, but I do: I can’t believe I have to write this. Unfortunately, some people think this is an open question or want to imply Jesus might have had same-sex attraction. The most […]
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