The first amendment prohibited the federal government from making any laws "respecting" the establishment of religion (either for it or against it). Its intent was not to derogate from religion, but to signal its intense importance to the American people. Over the next 175 years or so, as . . . . Continue Reading »
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, President Bush criticized “activist courts” and their attempt to “redefine marriage,” and then said this in the context of his discussion of a more hopeful America: A hopeful society has institutions of science and . . . . Continue Reading »
Conventional wisdom seems to say that the Left has gone around the bend, is jumping off cliffs, is stark raving mad. But there is a method in the madness of the Left. There has always been a method in it. The Left is not engaged in an “argument,” it is engaged in a revolution in the . . . . Continue Reading »
The New York Times had a pleasing article on Tuesday, providing a small glimpse into the life of a genuinely modest author whose name you know (though it’s possible you didn’t know she was a Southern lady, or anything else about her, including the fact that she is still alive and . . . . Continue Reading »
According to a report by Reuters, religious leaders on the left are ratcheting up their opposition to the foreign policy of the Bush administration. A statement of conscience calling the war “an unjust and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq” has been signed by 99 bishops and more . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at the Against the Grain website , Christopher Blosser has done a first-rate job collecting links to the various initial reactions to Deus Caritas Est , the new encyclical from Pope Benedict XVI. The immediate press reports, as he summarizes them, seem to vary from the silly to the . . . . Continue Reading »
For the last year, the marvelous John Rose and Mary Angelita Ruiz have been our Junior Fellows at the magazine, and they seem to have had a good time, despite having to put up with such shady characters as Joseph Bottum and Richard John Neuhaus. NOW F IRST T HINGS has two Junior Fellowship . . . . Continue Reading »
As you might imagine, I spend a good deal of time talking with reporters. I usually don’t mind it. It comes with the territory. With notable exceptions, reporters are people of good will working hard to write a story that will please their editors. It is true that they are not always the . . . . Continue Reading »
America , the official Jesuit weekly, had not editorially commented on the recent instruction from Rome when I wrote “Gays and the Priesthood,” which appears in the current issue of F IRST T HINGS . America ‘s editorial response was a very delicate matter, and I am told it . . . . Continue Reading »
And so, nine months into the pontificate, Benedict XVI has issued his first encyclical. (It is dated December 25, Christmas, although released on January 25, the Conversion of St. Paul.) The title is Deus Caritas Est —“God is Love”—and it is an extended commentary on that . . . . Continue Reading »
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