The Conversation

Why Communion matters in Catholic life -- and what it means to be denied the Eucharist

Written by Timothy Gabrielli, Gudorf Chair in Catholic Intellectual Traditions, University of Dayton

Communion has been described as the 'fount and apex of the whole Christian life.'Geoffrey Clements/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

The biannual U.S. Catholic bishops’ meeting received more than its usual attention this June due to one particular item on its agenda: a proposed document on the Sacrament of the Eucharist, a ritual also known as Holy...

Far more adults don't want children than previously thought

Written by Jennifer Watling Neal, Associate Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University

The study found that child-free people were just as satisfied with their lives as those with kids.Aleksandr Faustov/EyeEm via Getty Images

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Fertility rates in the United States have plunged to record lows, and this could be related to the fact that more people are choosing not to have children.

But just how many “child-free”...

New York City or Los Angeles? Where you live says a lot about what and when you tweet

Written by Mayank Kejriwal, Research Assistant Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering, University of Southern California

Tweeting from NYC? There's a good chance you're talking about art. LA? More likely health care.Times Square: farmboyted/Flickr, Sunset Boulevard: Doug Kerr/Flickr, CC BY-NC

The Big Apple versus The Big Orange. The City of Dreams versus The City of Angels. I’m referring, of course, to the ongoing rivalry between New York City and Los Angeles. H...

Supreme Court strikes down California's nonprofit donor disclosure requirements: 4 questions answered

Written by Dana Brakman Reiser, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School

Who's giving to whom just became less transparent.crazydiva/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The Supreme Court tossed out a California law requiring nonprofits to report their major donors to state officials. In a 6-3 ruling, the court said the law, intended to fight fraud, subjected donors to potential harassment and violated their First Amendment...

Supreme Court blunts voting rights in Arizona – and potentially nationwide – in controversial ruling

Written by Cornell William Clayton, C.O. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Washington State University

The Supreme Court waited until the final day of its 2020-2021 term, July 1, 2021, to issue two controversial decisions, including one that may dramatically limit voting rights in the US.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Arizona may keep two voting laws that Republicans say protect election integrity and Democrats believe will make it harder for some...

Trump Organization indictment hints at downsides of having no independent oversight – unlike companies traded on Wall Street

Written by Bert Spector, Associate Professor of International Business and Strategy at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University

The Trump Organization is run by Trump's children and loyalists like Allen Weisselberg, seen here in the background.AP Photo/Evan Vucci

A Manhattan grand jury on July 1, 2021, indicted the Trump Organization and one of its top executives, Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, over his failure to pay taxes over 15 years. The company and...

'Megadrought' along border strains US-Mexico water relations

Written by Robert Gabriel Varady, Research Professor of Environmental Policy, University of Arizona

Lake Mead, which serves seven U.S. states and three Mexican states, is drying up.Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The United States and Mexico are tussling over their dwindling shared water supplies after years of unprecedented heat and insufficient rainfall.

The Colorado River Basin.U.S. Geological Survey

Sustained drought on the middle-lower Rio Grande...

Infighting in the Southern Baptist Convention shouldn't be a surprise – the denomination has been defined by such squabbles for 400 years

Written by Susan M. Shaw, Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University

Each local congregation of the Southern Baptist Convention is autonomous and self-governing. Disagreements take place frequently.Joe Raedle/Getty images

Concerned over the direction that some leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have recently taken, a number of pastors in the denomination have formed the “Conservative Baptist Network.&r...

A medical moonshot would help fix inequality in American health care

Written by Dana Goldman, Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair and Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Pharmacy, and Economics, University of Southern California

Medical breakthroughs like the COVID-19 vaccines need to be matched with programs that tackle health inequality. John Cherry/Stringer via Getty

COVID-19 has put the American health care system’s deeply entrenched inequities into high relief. The social, economic and political structures that predated the pandemic’s public health crisis...

Benjamin Franklin's fight against a deadly virus: Colonial America was divided over smallpox inoculation, but he championed science to skeptics

Written by Mark Canada, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Indiana University Kokomo

As a printer's apprentice in 1721, Franklin had a front-row seat to the controversy around a new prevention technique.ClassicStock/Archive Photos via Getty Images

Exactly 300 years ago, in 1721, Benjamin Franklin and his fellow American colonists faced a deadly smallpox outbreak. Their varying responses constitute an eerily prescient object lesson...