Today on Kresta - June 29, 2010

Talking about the "things that matter most" on June 29

4:00 – Belgian government defends raid of bishops’ meeting / US Supreme Court allows case against the Vatican to advance
The US Supreme Court has declined to hear the Vatican’s appeal of an Oregon judge’s decision allowing a sex-abuse victim to proceed with a lawsuit against the Vatican. The effect of the Supreme Court decision is to send the lawsuit back to the Oregon court for discovery and an eventual trial. Meanwhile, Belgian Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere has defended an aggressive police raid of a bishops’ meeting during an investigation of the clerical abuse scandal. The Vatican and the Belgian bishops have angrily protested two aspects of the search: the violation of the tombs of two deceased archbishops and the seizure of confidential files from the Church-authorized investigating commission. We talk to Matthew Bunson, co-author of Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis.

4:20 – Elementary School in MA approves condoms for elementary students
A Massachusetts elementary school could soon start handing out condoms to first graders. The school committee in Provincetown unanimously adopted a condom distribution policy for the elementary school and high school last week. Under the new policy at Veteran's Memorial Elementary School, which has students from pre-Kindergarten to the sixth grade, condoms will be available for any student of ANY AGE that asks. "I don't know a magic age to put on it, do you?" said Dr. Beth Singer, school superintendent. Exposing young children to condoms raises questions, but what's raising eyebrows is that parents can't say 'no' to the new policy. Dr. Miriam Grossman is saying “no” and joins us.

4:40 - Proposing a new way for Catholic colleges to teach science
A world-class physicist is proposing a new way for Catholic colleges to teach science. Murray Daw is a faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Physics, an organization dedicated to science education and research that integrates natural philosophy and modern science. Daw says such integration is essential. He says this integration needs deep intellectual study and that scientists should be trained in an integrated way so as to comprehend the full reality investigated by the base science of physics. Otherwise, he said, they will increasingly be divorced from the very starting points of knowledge upon which modern physics depends. To understand the profound truths of their science, they need to have a firmly anchored base that forms every aspect of their thinking, including the most esoteric math. Professor Daw joins us.

5:00 – Politics for Christians: Statecraft As Soulcraft
Politics is concerned with citizenship and the administration of justice--how communities are formed and governed. The role of Christians in the political process is hotly contested, but as citizens, Francis Beckwith argues, Christians have a rich heritage of sophisticated thought, as well as a genuine responsibility, to contribute to the shaping of public policy. In particular, Beckwith addresses the contention that Christians, or indeed religious citizens of any faith, should set aside their beliefs before they enter the public square. What role should religious citizens take in a liberal democracy? What is the proper separation of church and state? What place should be made for natural rights and the moral law within a secular state?