JANUARY 2026

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 LETTERS 

FROM THE EDITORS

Trump and the free press

SHORT TAKES

A new conversation about Vatican II

    Massimo Faggioli

The problem with mask bans

    Matt Mazewski

Farm workers in the Salinas Valley

    Brandon McNeice

Amplifying citizens’ voices

    Laurie Johnston

Stanley Jaki’s idiosyncratic cosmology

    John W. Farrell

ARTICLES

The MAGA attack on science

    M. Anthony Mills

A post-literate future

    George Scialabba

Hans Urs von Balthasar and the American Catholic right

    Anne M. Carpenter

AI in medicine

    Ronald W. Dworkin

Churches practicing politics

    Nick Tabor

INTERVIEW

An interview with Martin Scorsese

    Alexander Stern 

ARTS

Fra Angelico in Florence

    Susan Saccoccia

BOOKS

Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth

    Reviewed by Brad East

When All the Men Wore Hats by Susan Cheever

    Reviewed by Anthony Giardina

Bread of Angels by Patti Smith

    Reviewed by Sharon Mesmer       

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

    Reviewed by William H. Pritchard

Homework by Geoff Dyer

    Reviewed by Paul J. Griffiths

POETRY

‘Ginkgo’ 

    Brian Swann

Two poems by Jim Powell

LAST WORD

Armenian sacred art

    Arthur Aghajania

AI in Medicine

The Dangers of Doctor Bot

Why health-care professionals must resist the temptation to defer to AI

Ronald W. Dworkin

January 19, 2026

" Yet I also knew that for many patients, a world without dreams, without illusions—yes, without lies—is a terribly empty world. Patients must have hope.

Artificial intelligence (AI) cannot practice this fine art of lying to patients, because if ever given permission to lie, how would it know when to stop? To boost a patient’s spirit, and by extension, a patient’s health and well-being, doctors must sometimes stretch the truth a bit. Fortunately for patients, doctors are burdened with moral scruples, bound by notions of social responsibility, and stricken with self-judgment the moment they tell a fib, which keeps such behavior from getting out of hand. Because AI lacks these qualities, it cannot be given permission to lie. It is part of why AI cannot totally replace doctors."

Free Discussion Guide from Commonweal