Mark Bauerlein

Yuval Levin has an interesting commentary at the blog of National Review. It’s entitled “The Church of the Left,” and it argues for an important shift in the understanding of where religious objectors stand today after the Indiana affair.The shift goes back to the Bill of Rights. . . . . Continue Reading »

One of the first modes of critical thinking is knowing what others think and say. If we’re to be conscientious citizens in a free republic, we must follow the other side’s arguments and evidence, admitting those points that identify weaknesses in our own position. Continue Reading »

In Public Discourse this week is a forthright statement of religious liberty signed by five distinguished figures. It’s a point that needs to be made again and again.Religious liberty is the first freedom. It is one of the “moral roots” of our “constitutional system.” It is every American’s “birthright.” Without it, “civic harmony” is endangered. Continue Reading »

Dana Gioia may be best known to our audience for his essay in First Things last year entitled “The Catholic Writer Today.” The essay began with a dismaying regret that while 50 years ago one could scan the American literary scene and find Catholicism and Catholic writers playing a . . . . Continue Reading »

There is an op-ed in the Washington Post this morning by Apple CEO Tim Cook. It bears the heated title “Pro-discrimination ‘religious freedom’ laws are dangerous.” It’s a solemn warning of looming bias in America, the result of the spread of “religious liberty” legislation that will allow people to deny access and services to people on the spurious grounds of religious belief. Continue Reading »

“If I could go back and give advice to my younger self, it might be this: Competition is for losers.”That’s the epigraph to an essay by Peter Thiel in the Spring issue of the Intercollegiate Review. It’s entitled “The Competition Myth,” and it lays out Thiel’s thesis in his book Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. Thiel is an entrepreneur and a capitalist, but his wisdom derives not so much from Adam Smith as from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Continue Reading »

Randy Boyagoda’s biography of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Richard John Neuhaus: A Life in the Public Square came out last month and has already received significant notice. (See reviews and notices here and here and here and here) A few weeks ago, Boyagoda himself . . . . Continue Reading »

Last week, the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights held a briefing entitled “Examining Workplace Discrimination Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Americans” (you can watch the first panel here). Its purpose was to discuss the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would extend Federal anti-discrimination coverage to the categories of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” Continue Reading »

The New Republic posted a little forum yesterday under the title “Do Humans Still Need to Study the Humanities?” The editors asked four former presidents of major institutions to answer the question. All of them state their commitment to humanities instruction and their regret that the fields have become marginal in recent years. Continue Reading »

Two weeks ago First Things hosted a lively conversation between Randy Boyagoda and Sam Tanenhaus over the new biography, Richard John Neuhaus: A Life in the Public Square.C-SPAN was there to film the discussion, and it will be broadcast this weekend as part of the Book Notes program. Times . . . . Continue Reading »