You probably read " Suing the Church ," an essay in the most recent issue of First Things in which Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver argues against attempts to suspend the statute of limitation in lawsuits against churches. Now a friend from Denver, Francis X. Maier, emails to say . . . . Continue Reading »
Thomas Albert Howard of Gordon College weighs in on the decision of Wheaton College to terminate a faculty member because he became Catholic. Writing in Books and Culture , Howard is deeply appreciative of the desire of evangelical schools to maintain their theological identity, but he thinks . . . . Continue Reading »
You might want to check out the Religious Coalition for Marriage to get the full text. The letter signed to date by fifty-one national religious leaders may not be unprecedented, but it is remarkable in its reach. The initiative has received considerable attention in the general media, but it . . . . Continue Reading »
Alan Wolfe is Boston College’s man on religion and public life. In Sunday’s New York Times Book Review he addresses several books dealing with religion and the American founding. Wolfe’s conclusion: Religion is so important to our country, and the founding fathers were so unusual . . . . Continue Reading »
Jonah Goldberg notes this front-page Washington Post story about the history of American immigration¯essentially claiming that debates about immigration in the United States are unchanged from generation to generation, and that the current crop of immigrants is no different from any other crop . . . . Continue Reading »
For decades, one of the best ways to sell a movie was to say that it was being protested by Christians. It was a narrative, a useful trope, by which it was announced that an established story, known to all, was being replayed one more time: Brave, speaking-truth-to-power artist attacked by prissy, . . . . Continue Reading »
James Piereson of the Manhattan Institute has a brilliant article in the current issue of Commentary , ” Lee Harvey Oswald & the Liberal Crack-Up .” You are readily forgiven if, at first, you wonder if Piereson is not making some improbable connections. Stipulating (as the lawyers say) . . . . Continue Reading »
Over on Catholic World News , a fellow who goes by the name of Uncle Di reflects on the way that clerics in recent decades have abandoned revealed truth and saving souls in favor of sundry causes of social justice. He recalls a 1942 essay by C.S. Lewis, “First and Second Things.” Lewis . . . . Continue Reading »
In last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine , Peter Beinart continued his musings about the Democratic Party that once was and may be again. Lifted up were the figures of George Kennan and Reinhold Niebuhr who, says Beinart, represented a kind of moral realism, or even just plain morality, that . . . . Continue Reading »
Last week, all week, was Vienna. Which, for readers of this site, had the advantage of a full week of Joseph Bottum’s inimitable reflections on what struck his fancy and elicited his considered fears. He was supposed to have been in Vienna as well, but last-minute editing of a new issue of . . . . Continue Reading »