Richard John Neuhaus

I’m not convinced that this week’s Supreme Court decision on partial-birth abortion is as good as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says it is , but I certainly hope she is right. She says it is alarming; it reflects manifest hostility to the unlimited abortion license imposed by Roe ; it . . . . Continue Reading »

In the context of his Urbi et Orbi address on Easter Sunday, Pope Benedict observed that "nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees." An Italian-speaking friend tells me a better translation would be, "There is no good news from . . . . Continue Reading »

“Through Mary he received his humanity, and in receiving his humanity received humanity itself. Which is to say, through Mary he received us. In response to the angel’s strange announcement, Mary said yes. But only God knew that it would end up here at Golgotha, that it had to end up here. For . . . . Continue Reading »

To look at the big picture of the relationship between Christ and culture is, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, a dizzying experience. Our most immediate cultural world is chiefly Europe and the Americas. We do well to keep in mind, however, that the majority of Christians, and the most . . . . Continue Reading »

Valparaiso University had an inestimable part in shaping my understanding of the Church and its mission in the world, as it did for many Lutherans of the time. There at Valparaiso was the Lutheran Human Relations Association under the leadership of the sainted Andrew Schulze. There was the annual . . . . Continue Reading »

Herewith a peek at a forthcoming installment of "The Public Square" in First Things . Darwin’s Conservatives: The Misguided Quest is a vigorous polemic by John G. West of the Discovery Institute . Dr. West properly takes to task prominent conservatives such as George Will and Charles . . . . Continue Reading »

Herewith an item from "The Public Square" in a forthcoming issue of First Things : It has been almost fifty years since C.P. Snow fixed the world’s attention on the way in which there are "two cultures," with scientists living in one and humanists in the other. Snow’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Taoiseach . I’ve been listening to the way the Irish pronounce it, and you’re safe in going with "T-shirt." It is, of course, the title of the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland, who for the last decade has been Bertie Ahern. He’s in the country, as Irish prime . . . . Continue Reading »

Talk about "criminalizing political differences" is again rife in the wake of the conviction of Scooter Libby. I very much wish it were not so, but the phrase is all too accurate. Prosecutors bring one set of charges and, when they don’t hold up, then actually prosecute . . . . Continue Reading »

I see that Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali has made it to the bestseller lists. Hirsi Ali, it will be recalled, is the Muslim from Somalia who sought refuge in the Netherlands and took up the cudgels against Jihadism, and indeed against Islam, which she believes is inseparable from Jihadism. As a . . . . Continue Reading »