On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Anna Broadway on sex trafficking at the Super Bowl : When sports fans descend on New Orleans this weekend, they will encounter not just the city’s legendary hospitality, but very possibly opportunities to buy sex as well. If they do so, those men—johns, as they are often called—may . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Russell E. Saltzman on finding his inner gun owner : I am getting in touch with my inner gun owner, that primal part of my reptilian brain that says “I must weaponize.” Blame it on the Obama administration, I say. The president’s proposals of firearm abatement got me thinking: If I . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Jon A. Shields on debating Roe ’s legacy : In response to recent claims (including my own in First Things ) that Roe aided pro-lifers in unexpected ways, Daniel Williams argues that such views are mistaken. The decision, according to Williams, neither hurt pro-choice momentum nor breathed new . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Elizabeth Scalia wonders how we respond to “ so what? ” The repeated thesis was simply this:  “so what?” Such a disarming question; the sort of question society has long-regarded as adolescent, arrogant, disdainful, and yes, more than a little snotty. It is a question that . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

R.R. Reno on freedom from religion : For the most part intellectual techniques of critique help us break free. Elaine Pagels specializes in books that call orthodoxies into question. Why privilege the New Testament over the suppressed and supposedly heretical Gnostic gospels? When it comes to God, . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Wesley J. Smith on environmentalism’s deep misanthropy : In recent years, deep misanthropy has seeped into the popular culture. For example, the 2008 remake of  The Day the Earth Stood Still  starred Keanu Reeves as Klaatu, an alien come to earth to commit total genocide to . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Joe Carter on the Pentagon’s removing the ban on women in combat : In response to the news I won’t offer an argument, only a lament. The arguments against allowing women in combat have for decades been made with force and vigor, but to no avail. Because the rational commonsense of the . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

John Daniel Davidson asks, “Has American Fiction Lost Sight of God?” In an article in the New York Times Book Review last month, Paul Elie ponders why Christian belief figures, “as something between a dead language and a hangover,” in current fiction. He observes that the . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

John Murdock on marching for life : I was pro-life from a young age. Though hardly full of fiery zeal, there was no doubt where our family stood. Copies of the National Right to Life Committee’s newspaper could be found in our home, and my normally quiet father might snarl at the TV whenever . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

From First Thoughts

Micah Mattix on the morality of modern cycling : Last week, in an interview with Oprah, Lance Armstrong admitted what everybody already knew: that he took performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career. Last year, the head of USADA (United States Anti-Doping Association) stated that under . . . . Continue Reading »