Stefan McDaniel

Upon the occasion of Zimbabwe’s independence, Bob Marley wrote a song unimaginatively titled “Zimbabwe.” Marley may not have been the sage many of his fans take him for, but Zimbabwe’s post-independence decline into bloody tyranny makes these lines from the song seem . . . . Continue Reading »

A great comfort to many of my socially liberal interlocutors in college bull-sessions was the seemingly inevitable leftward drift of Western Europe, reflected in the increasing permissiveness of elected officials across the political spectrum. But The Economist says that Britain’s Tories may . . . . Continue Reading »

First Things is pretty cool, but The Onion is quite simply the greatest magazine in America. . . . . Continue Reading »

Heavy-handed didacticism is the great danger that all religious artists must fear, because it compromises art and renders faith no great service. Our beloved Flannery O’Connor avoided this danger admirably. In most of her stories, ‘Christianity’ is either absent or repulsive, yet . . . . Continue Reading »

Britain has long been a reliable ally of the United States, but Britons are far from immune to the anti-Americanism that pervades Europe. Many patriotic Americans are likely to think that this attitude must come from some combination of envy and wrongheaded ideology, but a poll commissioned by . . . . Continue Reading »

In keeping with our journal’s spirit of unremitting morbidity , I spent this past Saturday morning in a graveyard. This was no ordinary graveyard, mind you, but Princeton Cemetery , which has been called the “Westminster Abbey of the United States.” Dozens of luminaries, including . . . . Continue Reading »

A couple of months ago, assistant editor Nathaniel Peters linked to an article in the Atlantic which made the disturbing suggestion that what you are doing right now is making you stupider. Nathaniel didn’t think that he, at least, had suffered much: Since coming to First Things, I’ve . . . . Continue Reading »

Most people I interact with, whatever their stated moral views, seem so basically sane, sensible, and decent that I’ve lately begun to wonder whether cultural conservatives exaggerate when they proclaim a national decline into everlasting adolescence. But then again, no. While waiting for the . . . . Continue Reading »

If you read On the Square with any regularity (which I am sure you do) you are probably familiar with the thoughtful and instructive writings of Denver’s Bishop Charles Chaput . This past Tuesday saw the release of the Bishop’s new book, Render Unto Caesar , which tackles the . . . . Continue Reading »

Most observers agree that education in the sciences in the United States is not where it should be. Commentators like Richard Dawkins think that the lion’s share of the blame must go to that tireless agent of premodern darkness, the religious right. Since the test of intellectual seriousness . . . . Continue Reading »