Archive


More than thirty years of First Things articles at your fingertips.

Articles

Filter

Articles

Burying Barronelle Stutzman

Steven D. Smith

It’s deja vu: A Republican president (Nixon, Reagan, the first Bush, Trump) has a historic opportunity to appoint several justices to the Supreme Court, creating the expectation that the...

Why School Prayer Matters

Steven D. Smith

In his State of the Union address and elsewhere, President Trump has emphasized the importance of prayer in public schools. In one speech he promised “big action” on the...

Opinion

Steven D. Smith

The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America by Richard John Neuhaus Eerdmans, 292 pages, $28 When you revisit an important book after the passage of years, you...

The Wages of Advocacy

Steven D. Smith

Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality by Martha Nussbaum Basic Books, 320 pages, $27.50 Martha Nussbaum’s Liberty of Conscience is a blend mixed from...

Legal Theories Nobody Believes

Steven D. Smith

The Warren Court and American Politics by Lucas A. Powe, Jr. Harvard University Press. 566 pp. $35 Brennan and Democracy by Frank I. Michelman Princeton University Press. 148 pp....

The Constitution in the Cave

Steven D. Smith

There’s an old and famous story about a community of people who live in a cave. Fires burn behind them, throwing shadows of various shapes onto the cave wall;...

Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment: Essential Rights and Liberties

Steven D. Smith

John Witte’s book on religious freedom is a work of impressive erudition and formidable complacency. Witte capably surveys the historical developments preceding the First Amendment and supplies a helpful...