Thomas More Institute

Category Archives: Human Rights

Published on
30 January 2012

Chimps may be ‘97% Human’, but they’re 0% Homo Sapiens

Posted in Culture, Education, Europe, Freedom, Human Rights, Moral Philosophy, Music & Art, Philosophy, Religion

From a guest blogger: What is it that St. Peter’s Basilica, Climate Change, the Euro Crisis and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy have in common? I shall not keep you guessing. All four demonstrate that humans are not only special, but also without doubt the most special of creatures on Planet Earth. Consider for a moment […]

Published on
23 January 2012

Violations of Conscience in ‘The Land of the Free’

Posted in Abortion, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Human Life, Human Rights, Liberty, Moral Philosophy

From a guest blogger: Not for the first time has ‘the land of the free’ been a hopelessly wrongheaded epithet with which to label the United States of America. Many developed western nations find themselves embarrassed by histories of racial subjugation and segregation and they are rightly sorry about these records. But slavery is not […]

Published on
20 January 2012

Chivalry, Equality and the Costa Concordia

Posted in Conscience, Culture, Human Rights, Liberty, Marriage & Family, Moral Philosophy, Virtue

From a guest blogger: Some right-of-centre blogs have recently caught the eye. They concern chivalry and the unfortunate running aground of the Costa Concordia. ‘Women and children first used always to be the cry when all else was lost’, is the rough line taken by one commentator. At this point one can assume that whatever […]

Published on
15 September 2011

Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and the Just War principle

Posted in Africa, Freedom, Human Rights, Islam, Military Ethics, United States of America, World Affairs

The world has just marked with due solemnity and regret the tenth anniversary of terrible terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Much has been written in recent days analysing the legacy of the events to date. The most notable 9/11 outcome has perhaps been armed intervention in Afghanistan by NATO and […]

Published on
27 May 2011

The Wasteland of Legal Highs

Posted in Civil Liberties, Conscience, Freedom, Human Rights, Liberty, Virtue

From a guest blogger: ‘What shall we do to-morrow? What shall we ever do?’ – T. S. Eliot If a substance were proved to be edible, legal, and productive of no physical or mental effects beyond an extremely pleasurable but incapacitating intoxication, would it be reasonable to say that there were any moral problems in […]

Published on
13 May 2011

Tough Moral Questions: Torture and the bin Laden Shooting

Posted in Human Rights, Islam, Middle East, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, United States of America, World Affairs

The slaying of Osama Bin Laden by US Navy SEALS earlier this month has generated much commentary in the media, and provides us with an opportunity to assess the quality of our public discourse on moral matters. Since the reported rumours that ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ yielded information which may have contributed to tracking down bin […]

Published on
11 May 2011

Freedom of Religion and the Limits of Secularism

Posted in Christianity, Human Rights, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Religion

From a Guest Blogger: A case that is about to go before the courts in which a former employee of the BBC is suing for wrongful dismissal appears to test some of the limits of what constitutes a belief worthy of government protection. The man in question, Devan Maistry, claims the Corporation wrongfully dismissed him […]