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Speaking of Islam
Liberty and grievance in Canada

November 2, 2008  •  The Weekly Standard

The English-speaking peoples are justifiably proud of their tradition of free speech. When Thomas Macaulay reviewed the achievements of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, he observed that the victorious English Whigs had shown how "the authority of law and the security of property" could be reconciled with "a liberty of discussion and of individual action never before known."

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A Question of Religion

January 22, 2008  •  TCS Daily

Some years ago I was asked a question that has haunted me. It came during a telephone conversation I had with a young man whose Internet book club has selected one of my books to read. The young man wanted to find out more about me, and he began asking what I thought about various subjects. Finally, hesitantly, he said, "Would you mind if I asked you a very personal question?" How personal, I wondered briefly, but gave my consent anyway. His question was, "Are you for or against religion?"

I have lost a clear recollection of my reply, but I recall being shocked at the radical and remorseless either/or with which I had been confronted: Either a person is for religion, or a person is against it.

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Why We Are Still Arguing About Darwin

January 10, 2008  •  TCS Daily

Today, almost one hundred and fifty years after the publication of The Origin of Species, we are still arguing about Darwin. How is this possible? If Darwin's theory of natural selection is a scientific theory, as its defenders claim, then why hasn't it been able to establish itself securely in the public mind? Why, in short, is Darwin still the subject of continuing controversy and acrimonious debate?

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Revisiting the Stupid Party

December 27, 2007  •  TCS Daily

The nineteenth century English philosopher John Stuart Mill bequeathed to modern conservatism a lasting inferiority complex when he dismissed the conservatives of his day as "the stupid party." No one likes to be called stupid, as we can all agree, though Mill himself may not have understood this, since it is highly unlikely that anyone had ever called him by this disparaging epithet. In his famous Autobiography, Mill tells us that he was reading Plato in the original Greek when he was five, and by the time he was twelve, he was capable of discussing the fine points of economic theory with the leading authorities of his day—facts that may well have seriously skewed Mill's judgment about the intelligence of other people. Stupid, for Mill, may have meant those who only learned how to read Plato in Greek at the ripe old age of eleven, in which case the charge of belonging to the "stupid party" loses much of its sting.

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What Are We Celebrating When We Celebrate Christmas?

December 21, 2007  •  TCS Daily

As children most of us were taught that we celebrate Christmas because it is the birthday of Jesus. This is an easy idea for a child to grasp, since from a tender age we are made aware of the importance of our own birthday, by virtue of the celebration that attends it. We learn to blow out the candles on our cake, and we discover that the people in our lives will give us nice presents simply because we have survived yet another year. Because we eagerly acquire the concept of our own birthday, it is a simple step to grasp the notion that December 25 is Jesus' birthday, and to look upon Christmas as a kind of huge party celebrated in his honor, though with a very appealing difference: on his birthday we get gifts, just as we do on our own.

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Books by Lee Harris