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R.R. Reno is editor of First Things.

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Teachers Without Students

From Web Exclusives

Here’s an arresting statistic that economist Richard Vedder thinks goes a long way to explaining the rapid rise in college tuitions: 80 percent of faculty at the University of Texas at the flagship campus in Austin teach fewer than half the students. In view of the fact that faculty salaries make up the largest expense at the university, one simple change would reduce tuition. Get the 80 percent back into the classrooms… . Continue Reading »

Why Liberalism Can’t Endure

From Web Exclusives

What makes life worth living? For the most part Western society has settled on an individualistic answer: whatever I decide or desire. It’s judgmental”an act of cultural imperialism, as we’re taught to say at fancy colleges”to suggest that there’s a right answer to this question. Rather, we are told, people should be able to organize their lives around what they feel or think best. We’re happiest, the present-day liberal presumes, when we can make up our own minds about what makes life worth living”or even if life is worth living… . Continue Reading »

The Dangers of Perfectionism

From Web Exclusives

Here in New York, as you might expect, the news of Osama bin Laden’s death was mostly greeted with fist-pumping expressions of satisfaction. Some, however, have expressed dismay. As our executive editor David Mills noted on these electronic pages, not a few European commentators have denounced the killing of Osama bin Laden as yet another example the cowboy mentality in America that shoots first and asks questions later. What we should have done, they say, is arrest bin Laden and put him on trial… . Continue Reading »

He is Risen!

From Web Exclusives

I spent Easter in Omaha. The Great Vigil liturgy at St. Cecilia’s Cathedral was transcendent, with the music of Vittoria, Palestrina, and Byrd providing exquisite accents to contemporary plainsong. But it’s the beginning that always hits me in the gut. My heart beat faster with each urgent declamation of the Exsultet, the ancient hymn sung after the procession of the paschal candle that culminate: “This is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.” … Continue Reading »

Our Failed Establishment

From First Thoughts

Over at Public Discourse today, Matthew Franck provides a perceptive analysis of a recent episode of politically correct intimidation: ” Same-Sex Marriage and the Assault on Institutional Integrity .” A gay rights group put pressure on King & Spaulding, a prominent Atlanta law firm, to . . . . Continue Reading »

Attention All Young Professors

From First Thoughts

Of theology, that is. The Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is hosting a conference in September, ” The Intellectual Tasks of the New Evangelization .” The purpose? “The Committee hopes this conference will provide an occasion to build . . . . Continue Reading »

Religion: Encouragement Is Not Establishment

From Web Exclusives

On April 14, in Freedom from Religion Foundation v. Obama a three-judge panel from the U.S. Seventh Circuit overturned a lower court ruling that a 1998 statute designating the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. Meanwhile, earlier this month, in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, the Supreme Court handed down an important decision allowing an Arizona tax policy that ends up providing financial help to private schools, including religious ones, to continue… Continue Reading »

The God Debate Revisited

From First Thoughts

Sam Harris is the poor man’s Richard Dawkins, and he was recently at Notre Dame University to debate whether or not God is the source of morality. In an amusing and at time affecting meditation on the entire phenomenon of our Latter Day Atheists and their determined efforts to set science . . . . Continue Reading »

First Things?

From Web Exclusives

What makes First Things First Things? It’s a question I’ve puzzled over during the decade or so that I’ve been associated with the magazine. The question has become quite a bit more urgent for me in the last couple months. Being appointed the new editor wonderfully concentrates the mind. The first thing to say about First Things is that it stands for the conviction … . Continue Reading »