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Ross Douthat "The Age of American Despair" The New York Times Sept. 7, 2019 Ross Douthat opens this column by comparing climate change-related deaths to suicides. He expresses that since TV networks set aside a nice chunk of time to interview the Democratic presidential candidates about climate change, they should do the same regarding the ever-rising suicide levels in the United States. Douthat swiftly appeals to logic in the beginning of his piece by mentioning that an estimated 4,000-10,000 heat-related deaths are estimated to occur by the end of the century, while if suicides had stayed at 2000s-era levels, about 70,000 fewer people would have died this year. Douthat also jumps to appeal to his reader's sense of authority by citing prestigious sources like the Senate's Joint Economic Committee and the National Climate Assessment. Douthat gives his piece a unique touch by writing imaginary dialogue for how a debate on this issue might go. He mentions Bernie ...

Ross Douthat "The Slow Road to Catholic Schism" The New York Times Sept. 14, 2019 Ross Douthat discusses the possibility of a future schism in the Catholic Church due to Pope Francis's more progressive interpretation of Catholicism. Conservative Catholics fear that liberal theologians are leading Catholicism towards a more liberal stance on moral issues. Douthat had anticipated years ago that the Pope's liberalism would make progressive catholics keep pushing for reform while also making conservative catholics afraid of the direction their religion was going. Yet, Douthat argues that if a schism were to occur, it would not do so for a long time. Unfortunately he gives little meaningful evidence to support this claim. Douthat attempts to support this claim with another claim- that because most of the talk about a schism is online, the chances of it actually occurring are slim. He gives no backup for this claim either. However, Douthat does appeal to the audience...

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