Nathaniel Peters

Ryan, you’re certainly right about one thing, namely my misuse of the term “rights.” I don’t actually believe that we have a right, under natural or constitutional law, to receive tax breaks for donations to non-profit organizations. My primary assertion was that the . . . . Continue Reading »

In the May 2006 issue of First Things , Thomas Farr argued that the US needed to pay attention to religion in its foreign policy decisions in order for those decisions to have any lasting effect: In other words, there is evidence that liberal democracy in religious cultures will not emerge without . . . . Continue Reading »

Lent is not especially known for its music, but Allegri’s Miserere captures the season’s grace, sorrow, and repentance better than any other. More information about the music can be found here , including a translation of the Vulgate text. The clip below contains all but one of the . . . . Continue Reading »

Last week I wrote about what I perceived as the constant barrage of press against universities and colleges with large endowments: “These are rumors of war—of people building for an attack on private institutions with lots of money. I expect the drumbeat will grow louder.” . . . . Continue Reading »

Every three years, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship , one of the nation’s largest evangelical student groups and part of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), hosts a missions conference called Urbana . The name came from the long-time host campus of the University of . . . . Continue Reading »

The US has “In God We Trust,” the French have “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité,” but the British don’t have anything. And they seem to like it that way. Recently the Times of London sponsored a motto-writing contest, the winner . . . . Continue Reading »

In the past few months, there have been a string of articles¯particularly in the New York Times ¯aimed at the evils of well-endowed, elite universities.First there was a Times editorial calling for a tax on large endowments to redistribute their wealth to colleges with less money.Then came . . . . Continue Reading »

We’ve had an article on transgressive art and one on pornography (subscription required) in the last few issues of First Things . So what should I find when I open up this week’s New Yorker but an article by Calvin Tomkins about an artist who has combined the two, sort of (at this time, . . . . Continue Reading »

David Warren at Real Clear Politics has a very good article on Canada’s “human rights commissions,” which put people on trial for saying things that these human rights commissions dislike. That’s a bit glib, but only a bit. Ezra Levant published the Danish cartoons on the . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m registered to vote in Belmont, the small suburb of Boston, and since I will be in New York on primary day, February 5, I requested an absentee ballot, which arrived today. On the left is a simple column with the usual suspects, where I get to select my “presidential . . . . Continue Reading »