Commonweal

Anger or Hatred? Joshua L. Cherniss explores how anger, hatred, and lust for domination threaten liberal democracy, and asks whether speech is enough to hold the dark passions at bay.

"By the time hatred has become too powerful to ignore, it may also be too powerful to defeat."

Joshua L. Cherniss on the dark passions that threaten liberal democracy — and how they might be kept at bay:

Check out my new piece on Christian Democracy, which ends with a critique of JD Vance and postliberalism.

Keats and the Real World The great English poet tried to solve the problem of objectivity by destroying the boundaries between himself and his subjects.

Keats tried to solve the problem of objectivity by destroying the boundaries between himself and his subjects.

Peter Schwendener on the poet and the real world:

A Home Overflowing Kate Lucky reports on the parents choosing to have lots and lots of kids.

"Maybe there’s something satisfying in having a home overflowing with noise and color and sickness and growth and emotion."

Kate Lucky reports on the families choosing to have lots and lots of kids:
www.commonwealmagazine.org/large-famili...

Bonaventure’s Blind Spot If we wish to meet God in silence, we must seek to help liberate those whom our society has unjustly silenced.

"If we wish to meet God in silence, we must seek to help liberate those whom our society has unjustly silenced."

William Crozier on learning about silence from a class of Poor Clares:

"AI is a loaded gun in the hands of children." Good piece in @commonweal.bsky.social by @johnslatteryphd.bsky.social

Not Just a Mistake, a Crime The war on Iran is yet another reminder that the world will never be safe until the United States accepts and abides by international law.

"A turn away from this imperial arrogance would be a conversion like no other in American history."

George Scialabba writes on America's criminal war in Iran:

The First AI War Donald Trump will go down in history as the president who made AI a weapon of war.

"It feels right that Donald Trump is the one to bring AI into the mainstream of war-making. Trump is susceptible to all forms of sycophancy, for which chatbots are infamous."

@johnslatteryphd.bsky.social on Trump's AI war:

No Easy Answers Can I still keep using this Catholic education to understand the world if I’m no longer Catholic? Can I even still ask the curriculum’s questions if I’m no longer professing the faith that animates…

"Can I still keep using this Catholic education to understand the world if I’m no longer Catholic?"

Jessica Swoboda essays on the questions raised by a Catholic humanities education:

I feel very tender and vulnerable about this being out in the world, but i'm also quite proud of it?

It feels right that Donald Trump is the one to bring AI into the mainstream of war-making. Trump is susceptible to all forms of sycophancy, for which chatbots are infamous. His administration deplores accountability, ethics, and transparency. AI is an out-of-control technological marvel, but not in the way that tech CEOs want the public to fear: we aren’t in The Matrix, and we are not in danger of HAL taking command of the ship. AI is something else: a loaded gun in the hands of children. The children holding the gun happen to be in charge of the most powerful military the world has ever seen. Welcome to the first AI war.

Thank you for this, @johnslatteryphd.bsky.social.

www.commonwealmagazine.org/slattery-ai-...

My latest piece, about the nature of AI and the current war in Iran.

Do I Take the Living Water? Up until now, the bargain of Christianity has not always felt worth it to me. My work as an immigration legal-service provider has changed that.

"I did not want to undergo the mortifying ordeal of being known in order to be loved, did not want to be changed by this love I have so carefully avoided."

@olivalejandra.bsky.social pens a reflection for the third Sunday of Lent:

The First AI War Donald Trump will go down in history as the president who made AI a weapon of war.

Donald Trump will go down in history as the president who made AI a weapon of war.

Analysis from tech ethicist @johnslatteryphd.bsky.social:

Do I Take the Living Water? Up until now, the bargain of Christianity has not always felt worth it to me. My work as an immigration legal-service provider has changed that.

Up until now, the bargain of Christianity has not always felt worth it to me. My work as an immigration legal-service provider has changed that.

A reflection by Alejandra Oliva for the third Sunday of Lent:
www.commonwealmagazine.org/oliva-immigr...

A recently released scorecard from NETWORK, the Catholic political lobby, assesses whether members of Congress support legislation that advances Catholic social teaching.

Catholic Republicans do not perform well.

Read more from Schlumpf: www.commonwealmagazine.org/schlumpf-cat...

Vassalizing Europe With U.S. and Israeli bombs dropping on Tehran, Europe is once again cowed into silence because of its addiction to American power.

With U.S. and Israeli bombs dropping on Tehran, Europe is once again cowed into silence because of its addiction to American power.

@harrstetler.bsky.social: 'Vassalizing Europe'
www.commonwealmagazine.org/europe-trump...

Born Out of Catastrophe Christian Democratic parties rebuilt Europe after World War II. Could a renewed Christian Democracy rebuild the United States after Trumpism?

Christian Democratic parties rebuilt Europe after World War II. Could a renewed Christian Democracy rebuild the United States after Trumpism?

New from @tonyannett.bsky.social:

The Mad King’s War Trump’s war in Iran violates the Constitution, international law, and just-war principles. It has no clear objectives and no exit strategy.

Trump’s war in Iran violates the Constitution, international law, and just-war principles. It has no clear objectives and no exit strategy.

The Editors on the 'mad king's war':
www.commonwealmagazine.org/trump-editor...

The Mad King’s War Trump’s war in Iran violates the Constitution, international law, and just-war principles. It has no clear objectives and no exit strategy.

No clear objective & no exit strategy, Trump's war in Iran also violates the Constitution and just-war principles: from the editors of @commonweal.bsky.social
www.commonwealmagazine.org/trump-editor...

A Passport and a Baptismal Candle This Lent, let us learn from St. Óscar Romero about the meaning of Christian citizenship under a repressive regime.

This Lent, let us learn from St. Óscar Romero about the meaning of Christian citizenship under a repressive regime.

The Mad King’s War Trump’s war in Iran violates the Constitution, international law, and just-war principles. It has no clear objectives and no exit strategy.

"This is the way a mad king wages war. If he wants to stop tyranny, he should start at home."

NEW — The Editors on Trump's irresponsible and childish war in Iran:
www.commonwealmagazine.org/trump-editor...

John Updike’s writing attempted to capture what is ineffably precious and intangible about life. What will be lost if the culture forgets him?

The latest from senior writer Paul Baumann:

Glowing Enigmas A new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art introduces viewers to Helene Schjerfbeck’s understated, dreamlike paintings.

"The best works by the Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck leave you convinced they might vanish from one moment to the next."

Bailey Trela visits the Met's fittingly relaxed introduction to the artist:

The Remaking of Thomas Mann 'The Magic Mountain' testifies to the power of art to transform life. But before he could complete his masterwork, Thomas Mann had to transform himself.

"'The Magic Mountain' makes a strong case for the power of art not just to enrich life, but to remake it altogether."

Costică Brădăţan reviews Morten Hoi Jensen's new book on the transformation of Thomas Mann:

this is fantastic

A Passport and a Baptismal Candle For the second Sunday of Lent, Amiriah Orozco reflects on baptism, citizenship, and lessons from St. Óscar Romero for twenty-first-century America.

"Lent is an act of great hope that God truly is the God of life, despite all the death that surrounds us." — Amirah Orozco

‘Don’t Open the Door—It’s Sanders!' Poet Dan Chiasson's 'Bernie for Burlington' functions as a triple bildungsroman of Bernie Sanders, the city of Burlington, and Chiasson himself.

"Why might a poet be a good person to write political biography? One answer: because a poet, if he’s good, cares less about sweeping assertions than about precision and exactingness."

@tonydomestico.bsky.social on @dchiasso.bsky.social on Bernie:

Beyond Transactional The question facing Trump-supporting Evangelicals in 2026 is whether they’ve so internalized a MAGA political identity that no amount of wrongdoing can shake it.

"The Democratic Party is now cast, in many Evangelical minds, not simply as an opponent in the policy arena, but as a demonic threat to the very moral and spiritual foundations of the nation." — John Fea