The Sir John M. Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest, an international competition open to college students and untenured college teachers under 36 years old, is asking this year's contestants to examine the relationship between freedom, virtue, and civil society. Cash prizes will be awarded for outstanding...

By James M. Jacobs That the essence of human nature is to be free is a common theme of many otherwise disparate philosophical traditions. From Augustine to Sartre, the fact of human freedom has been the point of departure for the consideration of humanity’s essence. If philosophers are correct about...

Abstract: What role do religious communities, groups, and associations play – and, what role should they play – in our thinking and conversations about religious freedom and church-state relations? These and related questions – that is, questions about the rights and responsibilities of religious institutions...

Abstract: In his first encyclical letter, Deus caritas est, Pope Benedict XVI describes the Church as a community of love. In this letter, he explores the organized practice love by and through the Church, and the relationship between this practice , on the one hand, and the Church's commitment to...