Suzanne Klingenstein of MIT reports on a new cache of Leo Strauss letters today in the Weekly Standard website. They confirm what I always have assumed, that Strauss’ work on Maimonides was intended to prove that the great Jewish legal scholar and commentator was a secret atheist. She . . . . Continue Reading »
[Note: Every Friday on First Thoughts we host a discussion about some aspect of popular culture. Have a suggestion for a topic? Send them to me at jcarter@firstthings.com] Since I was a boy I’ve been captivated by country music. But recently I’ve been dismayed by a disturbing trend in . . . . Continue Reading »
Tube supplied hydration and nutrition is deemed a medical treatment, like aspirin, surgery, or chemotherapy, and hence, can be denied or withdrawn under the law. Normal receipt of food and water, is not allowed to be withheld when it can be taken, since that isn’t medical . . . . Continue Reading »
Jennifer Fulwiler, atheist-turned Catholic apologist, runs Conversion Diary , a beautifully executed and winsome blog chronicling “what it’s like to be part of an orthodox faith after a life of nonbelief.” Several weeks back, she posted an audio file of her riveting yet refreshingly . . . . Continue Reading »
Studies show that a child’s perception of God is influenced by their parents : When parents are more supportive of a child’s autonomy– giving her a sense that she is control of her own life – a child is more likely to see God as a more forgiving God. God is an authority figure . . . . Continue Reading »
I gasped when I read the story in The New York Times . The folks at National Public Radio fired Juan Williams, ostensibly because of his comments on “The O’Reilly Factor,” which were judged by NPR to be “inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined . . . . Continue Reading »
A revealing list of what most people are using search engines to search for. A model of Minas Tirith made completely of matches . Oscar-winning actor F. Murray Abraham will play John Henry Newman in a “biopic” to be filmed in England called The Unseen World . An American scholar . . . . Continue Reading »
Making a point similar to R. R. Reno’s in The Bohemian Mystique is a writer for Mercatornet, reviewing the new book Pornland : Historically speaking, the 1950s are typically associated with the rise of suburbia and infamous for Leave It To Beaver style pro-family media representations. . . . . Continue Reading »
A piece in The New Republic wonders why people are so opposed to Obamacare and the mandatory purchase mandate. From “Who Doesn’t Want Health Insurance?” by Jonathan Cohn:There are obviously some people who don’t have health insurance and, furthermore, don’t want to have . . . . Continue Reading »
Greg Forster argues that the Tea Party movement taps into the full social and cultural power of transcendent moral appeals in a way that social conservatives have never been able to do: I expect social conservatives would generally agree that what’s most fundamentally wrong with our society is . . . . Continue Reading »
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