From Ethika Politika, our friends, and around the web. Compiled by David Mills.
From Ethika Politika
On the Irish Referendum: No Big Deal? The Irish vote for same-sex marriage doesn't really change anything, For one thing, writes Michael D'Emic, it's largely symbolic since the nation already approved civil partnerships. For another, not all that many people actually voted for it.
This is Frozen Music. Interviewed by Artur Rosman, jazz historian and cultural critic Ted Gioia reflects on the nature of music in worship. "People aren’t fools," he says. "They can tell when ritual music is a shallow facsimile of commercial fare, a contrived work made to formula. They can also tell when music arises from genuine spirituality and deep personal commitment."
Guttmacher and Abortion in America. The pro-abortion think tank makes dubious assertions in its recent fund-raising, explains Michael Bradley.
Against Exellence. Sam Rocha describes how little tests for excellence help us find and nurture true excellence.
Adopting a Lectio Approach to Life. The disciplines of reading Scripture force us to engage words we'd avoid on our own, and that way of reading should inform the way we face the world, writes Bart Price.
From Our Writers, Editors, and Friends
Br. Alan Piper's You Are Gods and Br. Constantine Sanders' What Is Culture to the Christians? from Dominicana.
David Lapp's Why the Road to Character Matters for Middle America from Family Studies.
David Mills' The Childish Ayn Rand from Aleteia.
His Old Men Deserving of Gratitude from The Stream.
Peter Blair's Benedict Option Reading Suggestions from Fare Forward.
Chad Pecknold's The Dominican Option from First Thoughts (from last October but relevant to the preceding).
From the Archives
Chad Pecknold's On Monastic Papacies.
Other Articles on Our Concerns
The New Religion, subtitled "How the emphasis on 'clean eating' has created a moral hierarchy for food," by Sarah Boisveld in The National Post.
The Ivy League Graduation Speech I Would Give by Owen Strachan from The Stream.
Michael Brendan Dougherty's In Defense of the Natural Family from The Week.
