Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. on evangelizing young adults :
The current White House, and many others in our nations leadership classes, have a very different understanding of religious liberty from what our countrys founders intended. As a result, Ive thought a great deal about St. Thomas More. We revere the witness of Thomas More because we know his story. But the reason we know his story is the courage of his daughter Meg.
Also today, George Weigel on marriage and what states can’t do :
In his acute analysis of the character and institutions of the United States, Democracy in America , Alexis de Tocqueville, a nineteenth-century French liberal, stressed the importance of what we call civil society. American democracy, Tocqueville understood, wasnt just a matter of the state, here , and the individual, there . Between the state (or government) and the people there were the many free, voluntary associations that formed the sinews and musculature of America. Those free associations performed many essential social functions: they educated the young, served the poor, and cared for the sick.
Dear Reader,
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.