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How to Think About Religious Freedom

From First Thoughts

I’m resurfacing after a couple of months of submersion in the work of the Witherspoon Institute , including our summer seminars , preparation for the American Political Science Association (canceled due to Hurricane Isaac!), and some September weeks on tour to various colleges and other . . . . Continue Reading »

On Mau-Mauing the Chicken Sandwich Guy

From First Thoughts

The highly successful Atlanta-based restaurant chain Chick-fil-A has been much in the news these days, because president and chief operating officer Dan Cathy (whose father founded the family-owned business) apparently came out in opposition to same-sex marriage.  Or did he? Terry Mattingly of . . . . Continue Reading »

Not Even a Decent Interval

From First Thoughts

Every observer of the American political scene could predict that in the hours after yesterday senseless massacre in Aurora, Colorado, two topics would surface.  Some would call attention to the failures in our approach to mental illness in recent decades—the assumption being that only a . . . . Continue Reading »

More on the Arlington Five

From First Thoughts

Last week I blogged here about a group of former catechists in northern Virginia whom I dubbed the “Arlington Five,” who had been written up in a front-page Washington Post story for their refusal to continue teaching Sunday school if they were to be required by the bishop of Arlington . . . . Continue Reading »

Something of a Head-Scratcher

From First Thoughts

Courtesy of the aggregator RealClearReligion , I chanced upon this story at the ABC News website by Erin McLaughlin, titled ” First Military Base Same-Sex Wedding Held .”  It concerns a male couple, one of them an Air Force noncom, the other a civilian, who were . . . . Continue Reading »

The “Arlington Five”—a Round-up

From First Thoughts

On the front page of yesterday’s Washington Post (and already online the night before) appeared a story about five—count ‘em, five—catechists in the Catholic diocese of Arlington, Virginia who will no longer be catechists in the next school year because they declined to make . . . . Continue Reading »

When “Myths” are Truths

From First Thoughts

The Washington Post runs a weekly feature in its Sunday “Outlook” section, examining “Five Myths About” something new each week.  Of course the whole point about such a feature is to have a guest writer debunk some notions that are widely believed to be true but . . . . Continue Reading »

An Inhumane Humanities Lecture

From Web Exclusives

“Established in 1972, the Jefferson Lecture is the highest honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual and public achievement in the humanities.” So says the website of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since few of us are such renaissance persons as to be acquainted with the work of all the Jefferson Lecturers as they make their annual appearances in Washington, the lecture itself is potentially a valuable introduction for those making their first acquaintance… . Continue Reading »