Dear Reader,
First Things is now in the second week of a two-week digital campaign to raise $20,000. And I’m pleased to report we have raised $5,305 thus far!
Will you help us reach our goal by making a donation today?
The challenges facing America’s conservative religious believers aren’t just political. Perhaps our most fundamental problem is the revival of philosophical materialism—the view that matter is all there is.
For a long time I was puzzled by the popularity of materialism, the view that we’re nothing more than biological machines programmed to propagate our DNA. After a while, though, I realized that a message of no soul and no freedom can seem like good news, for it means no consequences and no responsibility.
Materialism ministers to a secular dream: money, power, and pleasure with no strings attached. That’s not just a dream—it’s a fantasy, and a very harmful one.
The materialist worldview gets reinforced by academic culture: Stephen Pinker, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Greenblatt, and others. That why First Things is such an important voice. The depth and intelligence of what we publish challenges the secular conceit that God, truth, freedom, and the soul are fusty old myths that smart, educated people have left behind.
Please contribute today, and help us show our fellow citizens that millions of smart, educated people reject the materialist fantasy.
Click here to donate now.
Sincerely,
R. R. Reno
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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