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The Roots of Conservative Class War

The Romney flap has revealed a divide among conservatives about those who receive government transfers. Those who insanely, self-destructively urge Romney to keep sticking it to the 47 percent are advocating a type of rhetoric that conservative outlets like the Wall Street Journal and National Review deliberately abandoned in the 1960s as they sought to build a broad-based political coalition… . Continue Reading »

The Bride of Christ?

“Oh no,” I thought, “here we go again.” News of a long lost textual fragment which many will think could undermine traditional Christian faith is breaking, the latest in a long line of interesting discoveries sensationalized by the media into something supposedly subversive of traditional Christian faith. Whether the frenzy concerned the claims of The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, the Secret Gospel of Mark, St. James’ supposed ossuary, or the Gospel of Judas, when the smoke cleared, traditional Christianity was left standing… . Continue Reading »

How Planned Parenthood Outwitted Komen for the Cure

It is a story of relentlessly unforced errors, also of profound naiveté bordering on at least misdemeanor incompetence. It is also the story of a masterful, even breathtaking, political takedown. On one side was the much loved Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a foundation that in 30 years became the world’s largest funder of breast cancer research, founded by the striking Texan Nancy Brinker, a woman of the center right who nonetheless practically walked on water for liberals… . Continue Reading »

Campaign 2012: Religious Freedom vs. Exclusive Humanism

Some years ago, the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor coined the term “exclusive humanism” to describe a disturbing phenomenon in Western societies: the determination of some intellectuals, activists, and politicians to scour public life of transcendent religious and moral reference points in the name of “tolerance” and “inclusion.” … Continue Reading »

Makers vs. Takers

In a secretly taped video that became public on Monday night, Mitt Romney tells a group of donors that 47 percent of Americans”those who pay no federal income taxes”“will vote for the president no matter what” because they are “dependent upon government” and “believe that they are victims.” … Continue Reading »

Benedict XVI in Lebanon: Encouraging Us to be Children Again

In his illuminating glimpse into the life of Pope Benedict XVI (Light of the World: The Pope, the Church, and the Signs of the Times), Peter Seewald’s conversation with the Holy Father contains a question and answer that always struck me as breathtaking. Seewald asks: “Are you afraid of an assassination attempt?” Pope Benedict XVI responds, with his shortest answer in the book: “No.” And that was it. No explanation. No second thought. No fear. … Continue Reading »

Kristen Studioso’s Conjured Remembrance

Our ability to remember past events, feelings, and experiences, then preserve them or impart them to others, is an incredible one. But this very human act can also become a temptation to indulge our individuality, since each person observes and feels differently, and shares these experiences in varying ways… . Continue Reading »

Ryan Outrage Syndrome

We saw it with George W. Bush. Liberals would lose all sense of balance and proportion, falling into patterns of bitter denunciation. Now it seems to be happening with Paul Ryan. A recent issue of the New Republic features an extended tirade of sorts in which Leon Wieseltier sets out to show that the Paul Ryan “likes his capitalism cruel.” … Continue Reading »

The Nude in a Pornographic Age

We live in a pornographic age that falls dismally short of creating what Pope Paul VI called a “climate favorable to education in chastity.” But we misconstrue the problem if we worry only about the sheer number of unclothed bodies, the sheer expanse of exposed flesh, that appears on TV, in film, or on the web. The fundamental problem is not a lack of clothing but the widespread failure of mass and high culture to represent the truth about the human body… . Continue Reading »

2016: Dinesh D’Souza’s Misguided Film

The success of Dinesh D’Souza’s new movie, 2016: Obama’s America, leads me to revisit my thoughts about his recent book on which the film is based, The Roots of Obama’s Rage. I was and remain unconvinced by the argument that Obama’s anti-colonialist father explains his governing mentality. By my reckoning, the emerging postmodern liberalism of Columbia University circa 1982 (where I was for a semester as a visiting student) explains Obama pretty well… . Continue Reading »

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