Richard John Neuhaus

Gnosticism” may not be the right word for it, but it is what Harold Bloom in The American Religion calls a religion of the self.  Continue Reading »

Many who do not embrace the Christian faith nonetheless have a high appreciation of the importance of Christianity to the cultural and social order. Theirs is an instrumental view of religion. Edward Gibbon caught the idea nicely, and in his usual caustic manner, when describing the religious cults . . . . Continue Reading »

In a few days, the American bishops of the Catholic Church will be holding their annual fall meeting in Baltimore. High on the agenda is how Catholic bishops can better communicate Catholic teaching on social justice both in the Church and in the public square. It is understood that the priority . . . . Continue Reading »

The Public Square“This is beyond left or right, conservative or liberal.” So we are regularly told by those who are called the beyondists as they push familiar causes of the left or right. There are some things that really should be beyond partisan labels. For instance, that all human beings, no . . . . Continue Reading »

One can argue that every presidential election is a “historic” election. But some are more historic than others. Daniel Henninger had a provocative column yesterday making a strong case that this one is a “tipping point” between America continuing as an entrepreneurial society or . . . . Continue Reading »

There is a definite risk in giving a book a title such as American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile . That’s the book I’m working on at present. I expect it will be out from Basic Books some time next spring. The title very deliberately aims at stealing some of the thunder, so to speak, . . . . Continue Reading »

I admit to being more impressed than most commentators, including those with whom I usually agree, with the Wednesday night debate between Senators Obama and McCain. Political punditry is not my main shtick, and I have no idea whether the debate will contribute significantly to, as the pundits say, . . . . Continue Reading »

The Tuesday debate between Senators McCain and Obama was, it must be admitted, something of a bore. If the outcome is called a draw, it is hard to resist the conclusion that it was a win for Obama. It seems that all he has to do for the next few weeks is to keep his cool and not frighten the . . . . Continue Reading »

The argument of these last several Friday postings is that the no-establishment provision of the first freedom of the First Amendment is entirely in the service of the free exercise provision. I should note, at least in passing, that those devoted to the “original meaning” of the First . . . . Continue Reading »

What Happened at Vatican II by John W. O’Malley Harvard University Press, 372 pages, $29.95 Vatican II: Renewal Within Tradition edited by Matthew Lamb and Matthew Levering Oxford University Press, 462 pages, $29.95 When asked what he thought about the French Revolution, Zhou Enlai, China’s . . . . Continue Reading »