Ten Things That Caught My Eye Today (June 27, 2018)

1. In non-Justice Kennedy news: John Allen in Crux on a religious persecution conference in Rome:

“I wish I could talk to you today about a happier subject but we have nothing beautiful in our lives to discuss, only a black history of the genocides that have plagued us throughout history,” said Salwa Khalaf Rasho, a Yazidi community activist.

The Yazidis, a religious and ethnic minority that speaks Kurdish and has a large presence in northern Iraq, have been officially designated by the U.S. government and other global actors as victims of genocide along with Christians at the hands of the Islamic State.

“In August 2014, ISIS attacked our region and committed horrendous atrocities against my people,” Rasho said.

“About 60 mass graves have been found in my town Sinjar,” she said. “More than 6,000 women and girls were kidnapped, including me and many of my relatives. We have been subjected to all types of sexual and physical abuse and violence.”

Rasho herself was one of those kidnapped women, saying she had been “subjected to unthinkable practices.”

“More than 3,000 of [these women and girls] are still missing, enduring a fate of daily rape and torture which has constituted their lives for the past four years,” Rasho said.

2. Mary Eberstadt in National Affairs: “Until there is a familial and religious revival, arguments on behalf of limited government are futile…No rollback of the sexual revolution, no rollback of the federal government.”

3. Karen Swallow Prior considers Christian hospitality.

4. Margarita Mooney: Being Human in the Modern World: Why Personalism Matters for Education and Culture

And the world needs more Margarita Mooney, as you’ll see here if you give yourself the time to watch this recent discussion on Msgr Luigi Giussani at The Sheen Center in NY.

5. There’s wisdom here from Jonathan Last.

6. Finding Jonah in a South Korea bookstore: