R. R. Reno

♦ Students at Indiana University were atwitter on a recent Friday evening. Someone reported seeing a white-robed Klansman with a whip roaming the streets of Bloomington. Warnings were tweeted. One read: “iu students be careful, there’s someone walking around in kkk gear with a whip.” The . . . . Continue Reading »

It's time for our political intelligensia to wake up. So argues Walter Russell Mead in a thoughtful piece in The American Interest, “The Meaning of Mr. Trump.” Forget about handicapping the race between Trump and Clinton. Forget about itemizing Trump's liabilities and failings. What's important . . . . Continue Reading »

Free enterprise ain't what it used to be.

♦ A student-run, university-funded lecture series at Georgetown University invited Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, to speak on campus. University officials took the Pontius Pilate approach, arguing that the invitation was a matter of student autonomy and free speech. . . . . Continue Reading »

The Christian roots of Europe: The phrase puts me off. It points to something true, yes, and contemporary Europe remains profoundly indebted to its Christian past. Even the transnational ambition of the European Union reflects the desire for a secularized Christendom. Brussels builds on the memory . . . . Continue Reading »

Social media is aflame with interest in Barton Swaim's criticism of the heavily revised third edition of John Stott's classic of evangelical theology, Basic Christianity. I'm glad that so many share Swaim's desire that our theological inheritance not be ground into pablum by the relevance mill. But . . . . Continue Reading »

The Apostolic Exhortation on the Family, Amoris Laetitia, brings into the open a disturbing trend in this pontificate. Ironically, Pope Francis’s pastoral vision seems to entail the same use-oriented individualism that he so forcefully criticizes in social and economic life.Francis doesn’t . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at the Guardian, Paul Mason writes about the disintegration of Britain's working class. The occasion is the publication of a report on educational achievement, analyzed in terms of the ethnicity of pupils. It turns out that white British kids fall behind during their school years, with . . . . Continue Reading »

Trump didn’t just win in South Carolina; he won the white Evangelical vote. It’s a striking success for a thrice-married man with a penchant for profanity and a history of supporting Planned Parenthood. Evangelical leaders are wringing their hands. Back in January, when it had become evident . . . . Continue Reading »

Justice Antonin Scalia’s death was a blow. Like so many others, I depended upon Scalia to speak up for me. He did so clearly, forcefully, and with wit. That counted for a lot, especially in recent years. History is against us, we’re told. We’re the mean-spirited judges, the Pharisaical . . . . Continue Reading »