Some years ago David Brooks wrote a column, “Who’s John Stott?,” that challenged the parochialism of our secular elites. As Brooks observed, John Stott, unknown to nearly all New York Times readers may have been one of the most influential intellectuals of the second half of the twentieth century. His books have been translated into many, many languages, and are read by millions of Christian evangelicals around the globe.

Well, if you are in Omaha, Nebraska this weekend—which, by the way, I can recommend on the basis of my ample experience in that fine city—check out a lecture by Dr. Alister Chapman, Westmont College professor: “John Stott and the Renewal of the Church.” The lecture will be on Satuday, May 19th at 2pm at West Hills Church, 3015 South 82nd Ave, Omaha NE. Free admission.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has posted a slide-show presentation of changes in support for same-sex marriage. There’s no new news here. Rising support for same-sex marriage has been widely reported. Not surprisingly, secularists are most supportive, religious people less so. Democrats are more supportive, Republicans less so. Young people more so, older people less so.

There are some small details worth noticing. Support has recently declined among Catholics, as well as among people over 50. Conservative resistance is hardening.

But the trend remains: people are more supportive of gay marriage today then they were ten years ago.

As I wrote in the October Public Square in First Things, we face a real challenge in making our resistance to homosexual marriage persuasive. This is a problem, because without compelling reasons most American default to a libertarian stance: as long as nobody is being harmed, then it’s their right….
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For a very nice remembrance of Chuck Colson, see Timothy George’s piece in the National Catholic Register.

Fitting that our baptist friend would remember an evangelical founder of Evangelicals and Catholics Together in a Catholic journal.

Vatican watcher Rocco Palmo flags the Wednesday release of a four-year-long study of women religious.

Even the most casual observer knows that many female orders are, well, in disorder. A particular virulent version of the post-Vatican II flu ran through various orders of nuns, and there has been a catastrophic  decline in vocations.

The Vatican has named Archbishop Peter Sartain to the job of overhauling the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Although there are certainly some vital communities of women religious in the United States, far too many are moribund, often because they are dominated by an aging leadership that is far more liberal than even the ordinary liberalism of many lay Catholics–and often aggressively and bitterly so. That’s not a way to attract vocations.

Archbishop Sartain faces a tough job, and we should all be praying for success. The further renewal of the Church will turn on the renewal of religious life, including and perhaps especially religious life for women. In fact I’d say the same for renewal of culture in the West. We are heading into a crisis of sex, gender, and reproduction. Women in habits may be a very important witnesses in the midst of this crisis.

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

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Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Mohammed Merah, the Muslim murderer, was cornered and killed yesterday in France. He had shocked France and the world with his ruthless killings at a Jewish school. Among the dead were Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, and his sons Gavriel and Aryah.

This remarkable open letter was recently released by the wife and mother of these innocent victims.

People often talk about how religious conservatives are divisive, sparking passions that threaten to burst into open conflicts. Mrs. Sandler’s letter suggests otherwise. Faced with the horrible darkness of death—and not just death but vicious, violent murder—her message to us is that of Moses: Choose life!

We need policemen, and I’m grateful that Merah was tracked down. But Mrs Sandler’s letter strikes a remarkable blow—the most powerful imaginable blow–against the substance and spirit of Mohammed Merah’s deeds.

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

Dear Friends,

What you read on firstthings.com makes a difference. Today we face an increasingly hostile intellectual culture, one that presumes that faith undermines reason, and that religion creates conflict and hostility in society.

Our goal is to demonstrate how wrong this prejudice is. We provide you with intelligent commentary, pointed when a point is called for, but fair-minded and sober. We represent faith that takes responsibility—for truth, for culture, for the common good.

We can only do what we do because of your support. Twice a year, we send mail to those who subscribe to First Things, asking them to make a contribution to our mission. And they do. And with striking generosity.

The only way we can reach you is right here and right now. So please donate to our March web campaign. Your gift keeps the voice of faith strong.

R. R. Reno, Editor

I recently read Geoffrey Kabaservice’s lament for the eclipse of old-line Republicanism, Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party from Eisenhower to the Tea Party (Oxford University Press, 2012).  It’s a flawed book in many respects, not the least because Kabaservice can’t adequately distinguish the social trends that roiled the 1960s from the political sentiment of moderation that he wishes to commend to readers.

But I found the historical detail very engaging and informative. Before reading Kabaservice I had not seen that a conservative anti-establishment revolution predated the New Left’s ascendancy. The first years of the 1960s were not dominated by leftist activists attacking the “system,” but instead by movement conservatives who wanted to overthrow the comfortable establishment mentality that then dominated the Republican Party. The John Birch Society exemplified the revolutionary character of right-wing ferment in those years, a ferment that thoroughly engaged young people. In 1962 a space alien plopped down in Southern California would have concluded that the 1960s and its youth culture would be dominated by movement conservatism.

As Kabaservice shows in well documented detail, movement conservatism gained control of Young Republican clubs, and then the GOP itself. The result was the nomination of Barry Goldwater in 1964, an electoral disaster for the Republican Party, but a harbinger  of an increasingly self-confident and strident conservatism. (more…)

While reading the Wall Street Journal review of journals by the English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, I was struck by the following:

We learn in the “Wartime Journals” about the momentous day in Oxford when Trevor-Roper’s realization that he no longer needed to concern himself with metaphysics lifted a burden as surely as the mist rose from Christ Church meadow that morning . . .

Yes, exactly. The sentiment described strikes me a typifying what we’re up against. It’s not all that hard to imagine what a relief it is to decide that life has no meaning other than what we give to it. Nihilism lightens life nicely, and therein is it’s appeal in the present age.

Our ongoing work on the web and in First Things magazine assures that your religious ideals and convictions have a voice in the public square. To do that well we need your support. Please click and donate.

Our ongoing work on the web and in First Things magazine assures that your religious ideals and convictions have a voice in the public square. To do that well we need your support. Please click and donate.

Our ongoing work on the web and in First Things magazine assures that your religious ideals and convictions have a voice in the public square. To do that well we need your support. Please click and donate.

Our ongoing work on the web and in First Things magazine assures that your religious ideals and convictions have a voice in the public square. To do that well we need your support. Please click and donate.

Our ongoing work on the web and in First Things magazine assures that your religious ideals and convictions have a voice in the public square. To do that well we need your support. Please click and donate.