God’s Image, Man’s Crimes

by James R. Rogers

Mosaic (and Noahic) teachings regarding the death penalty are revelations of God and teach us of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love. But how? Continue Reading »

29 Mar 2017

Calling Torture by its Name

by John Schwenkler

If torture is wrong, it’s wrong whether or not it works. It’s wrong because it’s torture. Continue Reading »

31 Jan 2017

Bioethics in 2017

by Wesley J. Smith

Here are five bioethical issues that have the potential to explode into controversy. Continue Reading »

6 Jan 2017

After Planning

by Andrew M. Yuengert

Thirty years ago, Lucy Suchman’s Plans and Situated Actions reminded us of the limits of our ability to control outcomes by careful, thoughtful planning. She analyzed the utter failure of early “smart” photocopiers to help people make copies. The designers and programmers of these “smart” . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2017

A Grim Harvest

by Allen H. Roberts II

Upon learning of his son’s fatal heart disease, a father arranges to donate his own heart in order to save his son’s life. The surgery will result in his death; his son will learn of it only after the fact. Should the hospital administrators allow the surgery to proceed?Ethicist Paul Ramsey . . . . Continue Reading »

1 Jan 2017

A “Merciless Assault on Human Dignity”

by George Weigel

In Ontario today, doctors who decline to euthanize their patients are required to provide an “effective referral”: They are obliged, on pain of losing their license to practice, to send a troubled patient to a doctor of lighter conscience who will kill that patient. Cardinal Collins is fighting this abomination. Continue Reading »

28 Dec 2016

Chaplains of Death

by R. R. Reno

A Canadian document shows cowardly bishops accommodating the culture of death and sanctioning a grotesque misuse of the sacraments. Continue Reading »

14 Dec 2016

Culture, Anti-Culture, and Nostalgia

by Carl R. Trueman

Responding to two common criticisms of my view of the rise of the anti-culture. Continue Reading »

10 May 2016

A Guide Through the Thicket

by Jordan Hylden

For some time now, First Things has sought to bring Catholics and evangelicals together. Richard John Neuhaus, Charles Colson, and their fellow travelers have engaged in an fruitful ecumenism of the trenches, discovering as they went along that they had more in common than they knew, particularly with respect to Christian ethics and the church’s public witness. And much though not all of First Things’ work has been in the service of a religiously informed “public philosophy,” seeking to find a common language for perennial truths about marriage, life, freedom, and other issues in the public square. Continue Reading »

22 Sep 2015

Why Some Refuse Even to Anesthetize the Unborn

by John M. Grondelski

Can we ever achieve consensus on divisive social issues? The just-concluded session of the Montana Legislature sent Governor Steve Bullock the “Montana Unborn Child Pain and Suffering Prevention Act” (HB 479), which would have set the anesthetization of any unborn child twenty weeks gestation or . . . . Continue Reading »

5 Jun 2015