The latest Encyclical offers vital ideas for healing global crises — Living in the age of COVID-19, there are five words that most of us hear in virtually every conversation: “When this is all over.” Whether it’s a couple months or a couple years away, the thinking goes that the crisis will be over someday soon, and we will return to…

Global Protests for Are Awakening Bold New Possibilities — As people around the world march in solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives, there’s a clear message: justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others requires making systemic change. While these murders have sparked global awareness, the activism that underlies the protests have deep history. Today, there…

How Building a Culture of Belonging Can Help Us Meet the Challenges of this Pandemic and Prevent Future Ones — The current coronavirus pandemic is forcing us to answer some essential questions about our interconnectedness. We are clearly more interconnected than we’ve ever been. Look at our ability to trade, communicate, and interact with one another over long distances. And look at the speed of contagion of a global pandemic…

Leaving the EU is a false answer to a real human yearning. — Of all the historic high-stakes policy decisions in recent memory, Brexit might have been the most unabashedly emotional. …

Exploring the biological case for deeper connection — Over the weekend, I got a firsthand glimpse of how expert opinion on health is rapidly evolving. I spoke on a panel at the Sages and Scientists conference, which was held this year in Arkansas. It’s a gathering of academic medical researchers, technologists, philosophers, contemplatives, and business leaders from around…

Mayor Pete’s new plan for addressing addiction and mental illness shows the way. — It’s hard to talk about belonging in politics. Questions about whether we feel “at home” in our communities, schools, workplaces, and civic organizations can be deeply personal. These subjective questions don’t fit neatly into the boxes of public policy, economics, or law. And yet, questions of belonging are at the…

She built solidarity and transformed stigma. — Last month, I travelled to Cape Cod for a gathering commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Special Olympics Movement. …

There’s a moral necessity to recognize and address the refugee crisis on our own continent. — Kim Samuel and Jessica Farber Today, April 4th, is Refugee Rights Day in Canada. It’s an annual opportunity to raise awareness of an essential reality: People who have been forced to flee their homes deserve sanctuary, legal recognition, and the basic resources they need to lead healthy and dignified lives.

Here’s how we can build on the century-old legacy of global human rights to solve the modern crisis of social isolation. — One hundred years ago, some of the world’s brightest minds were assembled together in the French countryside to try to achieve something unprecedented: a global legal framework for the defense of human rights. …