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Joseph Bottum is the former editor of First Things.

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Archbishop Chaput & the American Media

From Web Exclusives

Last Friday, September 24, the archbishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput, gave a talk to a conference of the Religion Newswriters Association. Called “Religion, Journalism, and the New American Orthodoxy,” it was an intelligent and sophisticated analysis”and really, quite uncontroversial in its conclusion, although you wouldn’t know that from the response of the religion reporters who were present… . Continue Reading »

In Colorado, November 1 to 3

From First Thoughts

So, I’ll be making a swing through Colorado, lecturing and reading, from November 1 to 3. More information as things finalize, but, for now, save these dates: 1) Lecture, “Hope and Apocalypse: Where We Are Today,” at 7:00 p.m., at Bonfils Hall at the John Paul II Center, 1300 South . . . . Continue Reading »

Killing Children for the Sake of the Children

From Web Exclusives

Valerie Tarico, Ph.D., has a new book out, Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light. Or maybe it’s a reprint of her old book, The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth. It’s hard to tell. Once an author starts down the road of making a living off being a “former something-or-other,” everything begins to sound the same… . Continue Reading »

Jewbaiting

From First Thoughts

It was a tradition I was rather fond of: Once a year or so, like the turning of the leaves, my friend Christopher Hitchens would take aim at something I’d written. His most recent , just pointed out to me by an acquaintance on Facebook, is in the journal Free Inquiry . Appearing under the . . . . Continue Reading »

Lining Culture

From Web Exclusives

So, I spent the weekend watching snippets of What’s My Line?, the game show that, running on television from 1950 to 1967, involved panelists who attempted to guess the professions of unknown contestants and, blindfolded, to guess the names of celebrity contestants … Continue Reading »

America as Greece?

From First Thoughts

Ron Johnson, a Republican running for Feingold’s Senate seat in Wisconsin, says America is becoming Greece , collapsing in financial crisis. True? There is this fact to add to the mix. Over at super economics blogger Megan McArdle’s web page , a commenter complained, in another context, . . . . Continue Reading »

Left Behind?

From First Thoughts

Ann Althouse ducked into the library to escape a rainstorm the other day and picked up a copy of the Utne Reader —a magazine she says she loved thirty years ago and hasn’t read since. Her conclusion, reading it now? The ” Utne Reader is not a young man’s world—or a young . . . . Continue Reading »

Holy War Over Ground Zero

From Web Exclusives

There, the sign that says “Sharia,” the hand-drawn letters dribbling down in streaks as though they were bleeding. And there, another sign”this one reading “No Mosque at Ground Zero” in patriotic red, white, and blue. And there, the off-duty policemen come to join in, and there, the bikers up from Pennsylvania, and there, the microphoned speakers crying out “This is our cemetery””“This is sacred ground.” … Continue Reading »