Scholars and Public Debate  

In her excellent, tightly reasoned “Against Academic Boycotts” (Summer 2007), Martha Nussbaum notes that the “main force of the boycott” is directed against “individual members of the [Israeli] institutions,” who are accused of not condemning their “government as much as …



Gay Marriage: The Third Option  

When the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in October 2006 that gay and lesbian couples must be guaranteed the same rights and benefits as heterosexual couples, the legislature saw only two possibilities: establishing civil unions or legalizing same-sex marriages. They …







Gay Marriage and the Domestication of Sex  

Canada’s decision to permit same sex-marriage and the recent Supreme Court decision striking down anti-sodomy laws have once again filled the air with familiar conservative arguments featuring “traditional morality” and “family values.” It is a rhetoric that allows talk of …



A Failure of Nerve  

It is very dangerous to teach religion in the wrong way. In order to achieve progress, you have to teach religion in its proper form. —Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz, head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Administration In our opinion the people who …



The Subversion of Citizenship  

The 2000 elections were marked by voter apathy, distrust of politicians, and a widespread cynicism that extended to the political process itself. A certain wariness of state power and those who wield it has been present throughout our history, but …



Of Private Vice and Public Virtue  

As the Lewinsky scandal unfolded, the New York Times was chronicling how New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani was straying from the straight and narrow path of political morality. The mayor’s actions deserve more attention than they have attracted, because, …





Institutionalizing Meanness  

Before 1982, if your Social Security benefit came to, say, $419.43 you would receive a monthly check of $419.50. If you began collecting Social Security in 1982, however, and were entitled to the same benefit, your monthly check would be …