Few New Yorkers ever have been so admired as police officer Steven McDonald—and not only because he placed himself in the line of fire. McDonald’s recent death from respiratory failure at the age of 59 brought back memories of the painful day that changed his life forever—plunging him into an . . . . Continue Reading »
Many commentators on both right and left agree that President Trump’s recent executive order temporarily banning refugee resettlement and immigration from certain countries was an incompetently written and poorly executed snafu. The underlying issues are more contested: To what degree can the . . . . Continue Reading »
This year marks the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. It is a year of celebration, because the Reformers accomplished what they claimed: They stripped away idolatries that had encrusted and obscured the gospel of grace, and they reformed the Church’s worship and ministry to . . . . Continue Reading »
Never, ever settle for anything less than the spiritual and moral grandeur that the grace of God makes possible in your life: That was John Paul II’s challenge. Continue Reading »
Just as Peter was not the dazzling originator of new teaching, his successors have more often served as a brake on innovation than as its impetus. This is as it should be. The Pope serves the Church best by saying “no” to errors and heresies. Continue Reading »
A fresh round of sordid revelations will probably not hinder some evangelicals from the dream of golfing with our current president. But exile and defiance are certainly among the movement’s infinite translations as well. Continue Reading »
A protest isn’t only a way to gauge the strength of feeling or strength of numbers on a side; it is also a way of judging character. A person on the other side, or who hasn’t made up his or her mind on an issue, observes a protest and asks: “If they win, what would it be like to live in a community in which their side is ascendant?” Continue Reading »
A preview of The Public Square, forthcoming in the March issue of First Things.There is an understanding of liberal pluralism that is compatible with Islam. Sherman Jackson, a black American Muslim, argued the case well. Continue Reading »
There has been much handwringing about the news that scientists injected human stem cells into pig embryos, creating a mostly-pig-but-a-little-bit-human chimera. Here are some other questions that must be debated about this emerging technology while it remains in the gestational stage: Continue Reading »