Richard John Neuhaus

A reader takes this site to task for not having commentary on proposed budget cuts, the Iranian president’s threat to destroy Israel, U.S. policy toward the thuggery of Chavez in Venezuela, and a dozen other items on the front pages. A clarification is obviously in order. This website is not . . . . Continue Reading »

Tonight is the annual Erasmus Lecture, this year delivered by Dr. Timothy George, a Baptist and dean of Beeson Divinity School. The subject is the men who shaped modern evangelicalism: Carl McIntire, Carl Henry, and W.A. Criswell, with a generous acknowledgment of Billy Graham. The Erasmus Lecture, . . . . Continue Reading »

Paul Greenberg, among my favorite columnists, writes on "The Balm of Time." He went back to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and had lunch with a local politician whom he had sharply criticized when, many years ago, he wrote for the local paper. It seemed not to matter now. On holding grudges, he . . . . Continue Reading »

Columnists say it should be irrelevant, and then go on to discuss it at length. I’m not at all sure it is irrelevant. It reflects a very major change in American public life. Of course, the Constitution prohibits a “religion test” and therefore it should be irrelevant to whether . . . . Continue Reading »

Catholics are reminded that this is All Saints Day, a holy day of obligation. If you haven’t been to Mass yet, there is still time. You say it’s thirty miles away? Inconvenience does not negate but sweetens duty. So here we go again. This time, however, it seems likely that the great . . . . Continue Reading »

The Public Square The notion that in matters of religion, but not only in matters of religion, one must make a choice between tolerance and truth is as persistent as it is false. It comes up again in connection with a study designed by sociologists James D. Davidson and Dean R. Hoge that explores . . . . Continue Reading »

We remember the big ones. There was Carla in 1961, Camille in 1969, and Andrew in 1992. Katrina will not be the last. When she hit, I checked the National Hurricane Center website, which indicated that names are already chosen for the next ones to hit the Atlantic Coast: Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, . . . . Continue Reading »

My, my, but aren’t we important. A few years ago a bishop remarked about a Catholic academic who blamed all the troubles of the Church on the fact that the bishops had over the years been ignoring his advice, “Father ________ suffers from a severe case of self-referentiality.” . . . . Continue Reading »

Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination to the Supreme Court, which is almost certainly for the best. Her statements in the early 1990s, unearthed earlier this week, drove in the final nail. Until then, social conservatives could tell themselves that, although she may not be possessed of a great . . . . Continue Reading »

Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in six words, which he did. (I’ll get to what he wrote.) Black Book magazine issued the same challenge to a slew of well-known contemporary authors. Norman Mailer wrote this: "Satan ¯ Jehovah ¯ fifteen rounds. A draw." . . . . Continue Reading »