The best articles from Touchstone magazine from 1998 - 2011; Edited by James M. Kushiner

Creed & Culture II: A Touchstone Reader

Anthony Esolen

Rod Dreher

Robert Louis Wilken

Robert P. George

Wilfred M. McClay, et al

St.James Press

Embryo: A Defense of Human Life

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

The Witherspoon Institute

National debates over embryonic-stem-cell research have divided citizens and lawmakers alike, as we seek a reasoned approach to these issues that honors our highest scientific and moral ideals. In this timely consideration of the nature and rights of human embryos, George and Tollefsen make a compelling case that we as a society should neither condone nor publicly fund research that kills or harms human beings at any stage of development including the embryonic stage. By looking rigorously at the science of embryological development and the moral norms that underwrite a just treatment of human beings, the authors make a purely scientific and philosophical case that the human embryo from the very beginning is a human being, entitled to all the moral and political rights inherent in that status. Just as none of us should be excluded from moral and legal protections based on race, sex, religion, or ethnicity, none should be excluded on the basis of age, size, or stage of biological development. George and Tollefsen forthrightly address the political, scientific, and cultural dimensions of the debate about embryo-destructive research and offer a summary of scientific alternatives to research that destroys or harms embryos. They conclude that the state has an ethical and moral obligation to protect embryonic human beings in just the same manner in which it protects human beings at later developmental stages. This revised, second edition includes an afterword addressing recent advances in stem-cell technology and appendix containing an exchange between the authors and William Saletan, who reviewed Embryo for the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Throughout, George and Tollefsen strive for the highest standards of analytical rigor and civil discourse in discussing this bitterly contested issue.

<div>Until yesterday, no society had seen marriage as anything other than a conjugal partnership: a male-female union. What Is Marriage? identifies and defends the reasons for this historic consensus and shows why redefining civil marriage is unnecessary, unreasonable, and contrary to the common good. Originally published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, this book&rsquo;s core argument quickly became the year&rsquo;s most widely read essay on the most prominent scholarly network in the social sciences. Since then, it has been cited and debated by scholars and activists throughout the world as the most formidable defense of the tradition ever written. Now revamped, expanded, and vastly improved, What Is Marriage? stands poised to meet its moment as few books of this generation have. Rhodes Scholar Sherif Girgis, Heritage Foundation Fellow Ryan T. Anderson, and Robert P. George offer a devastating critique of the idea that equality requires redefining marriage. They show why both sides must first answer the question of what marriage really is. They defend the principle that marriage, as a comprehensive union of mind and body ordered to family life, unites a man and a woman as husband and wife, and they document the social value of applying this principle in law. Most compellingly, they show that those who embrace same-sex civil marriage leave no firm ground--none--for not recognizing every relationship describable in polite English, including polyamorous sexual unions, and that enshrining their view would further erode the norms of marriage, and hence the common good. Finally, What Is Marriage? decisively answers common objections: that the historic view is rooted in bigotry, like laws forbidding interracial marria&ge; that it is callous to people&rsquo;s needs; that it can&rsquo;t show the harm of recognizing same-sex couplings, or the point of recognizing infertile ones; and that it treats a mere "social construct&rdquo; as if it were natural, or an unreasoned religious view as if it were rational. If the marriage debate in America is decided soon, it will be with this book&rsquo;s help or despite its powerful arguments.</div>

What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense

Sherif Girgis

Ryan T. Anderson

Encounter Books

Collection of previously published essays on cultural and legal issues relating to the marriage debate, abortion and embryonic stem cell research, political liberty, and religious freedom--

Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism (American Ideals & Institutions) (Volume 1)

Politics & Government

Intercollegiate Studies Institute

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Books by Robert P. George