The Narthex

The Dawson Centre’s recent Colloquium, the big event of our year, lived up to our expectations and indeed soared beyond: all presentations were well and evenly matched in their force and relevance. One of our guests said, "Just the one day was more stimulating than my entire undergraduate degree!" Putting…

Among global leaders, only the Pope has repeatedly called for de-escalation in Ukraine. A quick scan of the front pages of major American news websites -- Fox News, CNN, MSNBC -- today shows almost no mention at all of the ongoing conflict (only CNN has a link to "live updates"…

The latest group to protest faceless and heartless technocratic control is Dutch farmers. According to Joe Barnes at The Age (July 10), huge protests are sweeping the Netherlands "triggered by the introduction of laws designed to cut nitrogen and ammonia emissions by up to 95 percent" in the agricultural sector.…

Recently the Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies hosted Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor of The Australian newspaper, who spoke to a capacity crowd on Christianity's Contribution to Western Civilization. Greg is a good friend to the Dawson Centre; he has visited on earlier occasions and always deservedly draws a large audience,…

Former confidants of Hitler did not get out of Germany alive, but Hermann Rauschning did. He later published verbatim private conversations with Hitler between 1932 and 1935, revealing a strategy to gain control of America that would have astonished the Allies. The author’s intimate revelations of Hitler’s personality, describing his…

Edmund Burke described society as “a partnership... between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” Conservatives feel this keenly, believing they have obligations to generations past and to come. Enemies of conservatism, often driven by deep resentment of traditional values, prefer to…

Over at The Federalist, author Joy Pullmann's article "The Left Has Effectively Banned Christian Kids From Public Pools, Libraries, And Summer Camps" paints a picture of what beleaguered Christian parents have to look forward to this summer (May 23). Pullmann's description of interactions with formerly benign groups like 4-H leaves…

Men and women are not biologically equal in function and physique. But the extreme liberal camp has promoted that baseless notion, insisting the sexes are interchangeable. Women are not physiologically built like men, as the task of raising the young requires specific biological and…

The widely read internet outlet CalMatters presents itself as a nonprofit and independent news source. Its mission, supposedly, is to explain California policy and politics. To that end, it offers a “compare and contrast” lesson on the gubernatorial candidates in the June 7th California Primary election. Several candidates have their…

Election integrity has been in the news a lot these past few years. A cloud long hung over the 2016 presidential election, for example. Did the Russians throw the contest in favor of Trump? Did James Comey and the FBI do the same by opening a probe into Hillary Clinton’s…

The first serious truce between warring parties in Yemen took effect earlier this month. The Yemen conflict has continued for six years and killed 400,000 people, has led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and involved the U.S., but American media gave it scant coverage compared to the invasion of…

You might recall, gentle reader, that I’m putting together an Open Letter to the Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Times. It’s their fault. They sent the ritual questionnaire for candidates interested in winning their endorsement. Well, I hardly expect to win their support for my gubernatorial campaign. I can…

John Bolton has a reputation as a fierce conservative. Fifteen years ago or so, I used to think he was, too. I would watch Bolton, who was President George W. Bush’s Ambassador to the United Nations, appear on the television and lay into Washington liberals like a dog going at…

The first recorded evidence of induced abortion is from the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus dated to 1550 BC. The only evidence in ancient laws of a death penalty for abortion is found in Assyrian law: the Code of Assura, c. 1075 BC. The epic Ramayana, c. 750BC, has a description of…

Last week The Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Times sent me a questionnaire. I was advised that if I want to be considered for a Board endorsement in the upcoming California Primary, I must complete the questionnaire. Well, I’m running for governor, so I did as requested. But I’m…