Joseph Knippenberg

As someone who has “flipped” from one position to another (left to right, atheist to Christian), I have some sympathy for Mitt Romney.  (To be sure, I had little to gain in the academy from either flip.)  But Kathleen Parker’s account of how Mitt Romney approached the . . . . Continue Reading »

Our friend Stanley Carlson-Thies writes in his invaluable newsletter (subscribe here) that many (including some of us ) have unfortunately followed our newspapers in misstating the scope of the opposition to the contraceptive mandate. Here’s what the (Protestant) Council for Christian . . . . Continue Reading »

Conor Friedersdorf has some serious reservations about the Tea Party’s constitutional conservatism, praised by Yuval Levin, which I’ve already discussed here . Better to be governed by a “constitutional conservative” than a populist or technocrat, or so I’d argue. But . . . . Continue Reading »

Amanda Marcotte thinks that the “Christian Right” have correctly identified their adversaries, and that the religious reaction—increasingly, she thinks, played out in the public square—amounts to the death throes of an old order.  Some of her arguments are historically . . . . Continue Reading »

My spare change often makes its way into the red kettles outside the stores I frequent during the holiday season. Now we’re being urged to direct our donations elsewhere, as the Salvation Army doesn’t serve gays and lesbians: “The Salvation Army has a history of active . . . . Continue Reading »

Perhaps I’m just addicted to indignation, but I can’t help myself. Today’s entry is a rather smug piece by Jacques Berlinerblau, who thinks that purely rational (and rationalist) standards are the only ones that can be considered truly and professionally academic.  A taste of . . . . Continue Reading »

Many have observed that the Occupy Wall Street movement contains various strains, united perhaps only by a certain anger at those who are said to be profiting at “our” expense in these hard times. Nonetheless, a number of obvious themes emerge from observing the Occupiers in action and . . . . Continue Reading »

I’ve posted more than once about the Obama Administration’s often rather weak and sometimes contradictory attitude toward religious freedom.  The high point may have been the Department of Justice’s stance in the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization case.  The . . . . Continue Reading »

Yuval Levin offers a characteristically learned and thoughtful account of the great political divide of our day: The difference between these two kinds of liberalism—constitutionalism grounded in humility about human nature and progressivism grounded in utopian expectations—is a crucial . . . . Continue Reading »

Ronald Reagan’s great biographer Steven F. Hayward courts charges of heresy by arguing that the Reagan Revolution was in some measure a failure, that its strategy of reining in the welfare state by “starving the beast” of revenues simply made it easier for us to enjoy the benefits . . . . Continue Reading »