Rational Animal

Are we a Christian nation?

Column by John Muenzberg, lecturer of philosophy In making arguments for banning Muslim immigration into the U.S. or using school choice money to support Christian schools or passing laws that allow Christians to discriminate against certain people, support is often drawn from the idea that the U.S. is a “Christian nation.” Supporters assume that we, Read More

Can enforcing the law be wrong?

Column by John Muenzberg, lecturer of philosophy In 1931, police officers entered the family home of Ignacio Pina, then six years old. The police rounded up the family and held them until they could be deported back to Mexico. The problem was that Ignacio and his siblings were U.S. citizens with U.S. birth certificates. Even Read More

A repeat of the past

Column by John Muenzberg, lecturer of philosophy In November of 1938, Nazi operatives and sympathizers vandalized Jewish-owned businesses in Germany. This practice was called “Kristallnacht,” in reference to the broken windows, but along with businesses, hundreds of synagogues were burned and dozens of Jews were murdered. This was a warning to Jewish citizens that they Read More

Trying to prove a negative

Column by John Muenzberg, lecturer of philosophy Last fall, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election, but she did receive almost three million more votes than Republican candidate Donald Trump. After the election, then President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that he would have won the popular vote if it had not been for 2-3 million Read More

A vaccine for fake news

Column by John Muenzberg, lecturer of philosophy Recently, people began to discuss the appearance of  fake news reports. These reports are not just partisan news coverage nor simply mistakes. They are intended to deceive people. As the number of sensationalist news ads sprung up on Facebook, investigators discovered many of the stories were created by Read More

Artificial divisions

Column by John Muenzberg, lecturer of philosophy  Elections reduce a complex situation into a simplistic choice. We instinctively know that this reduction is a false narrative, and we react with frustration. While movies have obvious bad guys, real life rarely does. Yet elections require you to make a choice between just a few possibilities. Campaigns Read More

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