Luma Simms

Fellow

Luma Simms, a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, studies the life and thought of immigrants. As a humanist writer, she publishes on a broad range of topics, with a focus on the human (individual and communal), ethical, religious, and philosophical dimensions of immigration. She is particularly concerned with the crisis of rootlessness, identity, and dehumanization.

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Luma Simms, a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, studies the life and thought of immigrants. As a humanist writer, she publishes on a broad range of topics, with a focus on the human (individual and communal), ethical, religious, and philosophical dimensions of immigration. She is particularly concerned with the crisis of rootlessness, identity, and dehumanization.

Mrs. Simms’s essays, articles, and book reviews have appeared in a variety of publications including National AffairsThe Wall Street JournalThe Point magazine, Public DiscourseLaw and Liberty, the Institute for Family Studies, and others. She has been interviewed on Arabic television and American and Canadian radio on topics such as religious freedom in the Middle East, Congress and DACA, immigration and the Middle East, divorce, parenting, and elder care in Eastern cultures. Before joining EPPC, Mrs. Simms was an Associate Fellow at The Philos Project where her research and writing focused on a Christian presence in the Middle East, anti-Semitism, and immigrant life and thought.

Some of Mrs. Simms’s notable essays include Identity and Assimilation at National AffairsImmigration and the Desire for Rootedness at Public DiscourseI Am My Enemy: A Naturalized American Finds Herself at War with Her Homeland at Plough Magazine; and Thinking Is Self-Emptying at The Point magazine.

Her background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She studied law at Chapman University School of Law before leaving to become an at-home mom. Mrs. Simms was born in Baghdad, Iraq; her parents and ancestors are from Mosul, and she speaks Arabic with a Moslawi dialect.

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Immigrant Assimilation in the United States: Reihan Salam’s Melting Pot or Civil War?

Luma Simms

Our immigration crisis needs more than just policy. When making policy changes that relate to immigration, we need to consider the human cost.

Articles

Public Discourse / November 14, 2018

The Soul’s Need for Rootedness

Luma Simms

Yoram Hazony’s The Virtue of Nationalism is a much-needed pushback against modern globalists and imperialists who would erase human distinctions and offers a much-needed impetus to rethink current political paradigms.

Articles

Law and Liberty / October 9, 2018

Iraqi Refugees Deserve Special Treatment

Luma Simms

When it comes to Iraq in particular—and not only those Iraqis who directly helped the American military effort—the U.S. has distinct moral obligations.

Articles

The Wall Street Journal / September 23, 2018

Secular Nationalism, Islamism, and Making the Arab World

Luma Simms

What have we learned from our failed Middle Eastern endeavors?

Articles

Law and Liberty / September 17, 2018

We Will Not Yield

Luma Simms

What Newman said of his day is also true of our own: “The Catholic people, in the length and breadth of Christendom, were the obstinate champions of Catholic truth, and the bishops were not.”

Articles

First Things / September 11, 2018

Fathers, Help Us

Luma Simms

A plea to bishops and priests: defend this Church; defend the bride of Christ. Militate against this cancer in your midst.

Articles

First Things / August 21, 2018

How the Trend of Young Adults Living With Their Parents Could Boost Social Capital

Luma Simms

The American way is to view young adults still at home as a troubling trend; whereas, in the Middle Eastern culture, this extra time at home is a way to expand the social and economic capital of the family.

Articles

Institute for Family Studies / August 14, 2018

No, The Catholic Church’s Support Of Celibacy Doesn’t Make It Like Feminism

Luma Simms

A new book by a Reformed Protestant author is poorly sourced and poorly argued, and makes many unfounded claims in its attempt to link the Catholic Church with the ills of feminism.

Articles

The Federalist / May 16, 2018

How to Make a Caring and Critical Assessment of Pope Francis

Luma Simms

A new collection of essays offers up illuminating and respectful critiques of Pope Francis’ attitudes toward capitalism.

Articles

The Federalist / May 4, 2018

If You Stumble in the “Success Sequence,” a Strong Family Can Lift You Up

Luma Simms

Wealth is not just economic, but familial—that is, someone can be rich in the strong bonds of family and community without necessarily being rich in money. For many in the immigrant subculture, the family is strong enough to withstand a misstep in the success sequence.

Articles

The Road to Iranian Democracy

Luma Simms

A new book on the movement toward democracy in Iran is meticulous, bordering at times on repetitive. Yet it is a compelling description of the paths of democratization in developing countries, and of the Iranian situation in particular.

Articles

Law and Liberty / April 9, 2018

I First Read Humanae Vitae as a Protestant. Its Truthfulness Made Me Weep.

Luma Simms

The world is full of lonely souls who need a beacon in their darkness, an ointment for their wounds, and a means of grace for their bereft spirits. For many, Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae has been all that and more.

Articles

Catholic Herald (UK) / April 6, 2018