ethics

When Tina Turner, often dubbed the “Queen of Rock ‘N’ Roll,” died at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, on May 24, 2023, at the age of 83, media headlines praised both her dynamism as a performer and her many career achievements. What…

In the absence of legal guidelines, companies need to establish internal processes for responsible use of AI. Oscar Wong/Moment via Getty Images The rush to deploy powerful new generative AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, has raised alarms about potential harm and misuse.…

The Vatican recently announced its plan to set up an “observatory” at one of its several academic institutions, the Pontificia Academia Mariana Internationalis, to investigate claims of apparitions and other mystical phenomena attributed to the Virgin Mary. As a scholar of global…

When Siddhartha Gautama was born, he was clearly no ordinary infant. According to Buddhist texts, he raised his hand to the skies and declared, “In the heavens above and below the heavens, I am the world’s most honored one. I will free…

After some hard-fought victories, women’s rights are threatened again in many parts of the world. In the United States, the Supreme Court overturned women’s right to abortion in June 2022; women have also been leaving the workforce since the COVID-19 pandemic, in…

For most American Jews today, Shavuot is not exactly a big-ticket holiday. Observance lags behind springtime Passover, and it pales in comparison to Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the fall “high holidays.” But 150 years ago, Shavuot was the one day when…

Many religious traditions preach the need to care for strangers. But what happens when caring for the stranger comes into conflict with government policy? After Title 42 restrictions at the U.S. border ended on May 11, 2023, debates about immigration have heated…

Early on in my writing courses, I ask students to define their sense of rhetoric. Responses range from “persuasion” to “manipulation,” but they tend to share a negative connotation. Little wonder: In America today, the word is often used to dismiss a…

While most love songs are inspired by the joys and heartaches of romantic relationships, love between friends can be just as intense and complicated. Many people struggle to make and maintain friendships, and a falling-out with a close friend can be as…

In the mid-1990s, I picked up the military classic “Art of War” hoping to find insight into my new career as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. I was not the only one looking for insights from the sage Sunzi,…

May 2023 marks 98 years since the birth of civil rights leader Malcolm X, formerly Malcolm Little. Malcolm X was a spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, or NOI, and helped to lead the organization until he left in 1964 – the…

The Supreme Court may soon transform the role of faith in the workplace, which could have the effect of elevating the rights of religious workers at the expense of co-workers. On April 18, 2023, the court heard oral arguments in Groff v.…

Buddhist saints are often described as maternally compassionate, with the endless patience of a mother who feeds, cleans and cares for children around the clock. In fact, the Theravada branch of Buddhism holds mothers in such high esteem that two men among…

In 1971, when Daniel Ellsberg arrived at a federal court in Boston, a journalist asked if he was concerned about the prospect of going to prison for leaking a 7,000-page top-secret history of the Vietnam War. Ellsberg responded with a question of…

As we approach Mother’s Day, many groups will hold special events or services to celebrate the holiday. In the United States, Mother’s Day was originally founded in 1908 at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in West Virginia and became a nationally recognized holiday…

Reading the Torah, there is no doubt about motherhood’s important role in Jewish literature and life. The Hebrew Bible is replete with stories of women who feel incomplete without children, although Orthodox interpretation holds that only men are commanded to “be fruitful…

As a father of three and the husband of an amazing woman, I know that one day a year is far too little to recognize everything mothers do. But my work as a scholar of ancient Greek literature has shown me how…

Every May 8, thousands of people celebrate White Lotus Day, commemorating a remarkable and controversial Russian American woman: spiritual leader Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, who died in 1891. HPB, as followers affectionately call her, is remembered as a co-founder of the Theosophical Society.…

On April 14, 2023, Sony Pictures released “The Pope’s Exorcist,” a horror film inspired by the life of the Rev. Gabriele Amorth. Amorth served as the exorcist for the Diocese of Rome from 1986 until his death in 2016 at the age…

Every year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) releases a report on religious oppression around the world, recommending that the State Department designate specific countries as especially severe violators. In this year’s report, released May 1, 2023, Iran came in…

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea When the main character of a kids TV show can both listen and respond to viewers by using advances in artificial intelligence, youngsters learn more from the program.…

The 2024 presidential election is still a year and a half away, but it can feel much closer: President Joe Biden has made his reelection bid official, presumed candidates are giving out-of-state speeches, pundits are already weighing in on nomination hopefuls, and…

If you’re like me, you’ve spent a lot of time over the past few months trying to figure out what this AI thing is all about. Large-language models, generative AI, algorithmic bias – it’s a lot for the less tech-savvy of us…

A common complaint in America today is that politics and even society as a whole are broken. Critics point out endless lists of what should be fixed: the complexity of the tax code, or immigration reform, or the inefficiency of government. But…