Posts Tagged ‘Society’

How AI’s threatens our economies, societies, and democracies

Thursday, April 27th, 2023
AI

In six months, a year, or two, from now, the first wave of AI-made layoffs will hit the economy. A whole lot of execs, having figured out that a whole lot of people are beginning to use AI to do their jobs, are going to dispense with the middleman. They won’t care very much if Read more

Contemporary belief

Monday, October 10th, 2022
contemporary belief

“Faith seeking understanding” is a good definition of belief. Faith is our experience of God and belief is our attempt to express that experience in words and symbols. When we attempt to describe our experiences of God, we necessarily express ourselves in the symbols, words, and rituals that are products of our culture. All of Read more

Headlong race to finding fault demeans us all

Monday, May 10th, 2021
finding fault

The issue of finding fault has become a major pivot point for our society as more and more discourse resorts to this approach. We are exposed more now than ever to arguments, claims and accusations of fault. More, even, than the issue at hand is the question of who’s at fault. No-one is immune. No Read more

Why we must build a new civic covenant

Monday, April 19th, 2021

The age of individualism is passing. The past 50 years in the West saw a celebration of unfettered freedom. Citizens on both sides of the Atlantic were encouraged to liberate themselves from the relational constraints of family, history and even nature. Now Covid-19 has highlighted our mutual dependence on one another and a desire for community. President Read more

Men lose role as breadwinners

Thursday, November 5th, 2020
breadwinners

Two years ago, on mature reflection, Martin Nguyen Huu Thinh decided to stop working for a company in Binh Duong province and look after his seven-month son at home so that his wife could pursue her job at a communication company. At that time his wife took home a monthly salary of 12 million dong Read more

Against religious nationalism

Thursday, June 25th, 2020
nationalism

In some countries, a form of religious-cultural nationalism is back in vogue. Religion is exploited both to obtain popular support and to launch a political message that is identified with people’s loyalty and devotion to a nation. It is taken for granted that people have in religion a common identity, origin and history, and that Read more

Single mothers are saints

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

These days any single mother who decides to keep her baby is a heroine … even a saint. Ironically, for those who identify as Catholic, greater courage may be required. Catholic bioethicist Bernadette Tobin writes: “In order to understand the teachings of the Catholic Church in relation to questions about the beginning of life, we Read more

Sweet charity

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

New Zealanders rightly refuse to be awed by wealth. But just as we condemn the excesses of capitalism, so we should give credit to those who selflessly put their money to good use. They are opposite sides of the same coin. In any case, philanthropy is not the preserve of the very rich. On the Read more

Summing up a religion one meme at a time

Tuesday, May 6th, 2014

A “meme,” as defined by Richard Dawkins in 1976, is an idea, belief or behaviour that is spread through a given culture or social system via social or information sharing. Internet memes generally take the form of an image over which text is written and are, for the most part, intended to be humorous, often Read more

Evangelii Gaudium: The common good and peace in society

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014

217. We have spoken at length about joy and love, but the word of God also speaks about the fruit of peace (cf. Gal5:22). 218. Peace in society cannot be understood as pacification or the mere absence of violence resulting from the domination of one part of society over others. Nor does true peace act Read more