Charles Krauthammer has written a timely and provocative piece critical of Senator John McCain’s effort to ban all forms of torture. In particular this debate regards whether “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment” should ever be used with detainees who operate outside the . . . . Continue Reading »
Looking back at World War I, Winston Churchill was moved to write: “When all was over, torture and cannibalism were the only two expedients that the civilized, scientific, Christian states had been able to deny themselves: and these were of doubtful utility.” The “Great War” . . . . Continue Reading »
Christians in America are being asked to support the war on terror. For Christians this means saying “yes” both to the proposed war and the methods waged to fight the war. Trying to decide the justice of your country’s proposed war and the methods used to wage it is not always an . . . . Continue Reading »
At The Corner, Marc Thiessen responded to my contention that his defense of torture is more in line with the tradition of Zeus and Odin than of Moses and Christ. I’m not surprised that he would take offense at such a suggestion, but since he is a Catholic I presumed he would provide a . . . . Continue Reading »
Yesterday, I posted about a bioethics article that advocated dropping human intrinsic dignity as a fundamental premise to be applied in bioethical analyses. This meme is profoundly dangerous to the medically vulnerable. Moreover and alas, human unexceptionalism is the mainstream view in . . . . Continue Reading »
Over the past few years we’ve seen controversies arise when ministers consider denying communion to unrepentant politicians. But there once was a time when pastors were so hardcore they were willing to refuse to give the sacrament to a contrite Founding Father . . . on his deathbed! Although . . . . Continue Reading »
Christopher Caldwell on how sentimental chronology skews our sense of time : Time may slow down from hour to hour, but from year to year it has a uniform tendency to accelerate. We can demonstrate this with a little game. We are now in the year 2010. Measure the number of years back to a certain . . . . Continue Reading »
No doubt the publication of a commentary on Genesis by our own R. R. Reno will be of interest to First Things readers. It’s the latest installment of the big Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series that he also oversees as general editor. The series has already stirred things up in . . . . Continue Reading »
A person is not always a human being, but is a human being always a person? Examples abound of non-human persons: Christians believe that the Godhead consists of “three Persons of one substance”; U.S. judges have ruled that corporations are “artificial persons”; fans of Star . . . . Continue Reading »
For all of you Walker Percy fans (and I am one of them), be on the lookout for the new Walker Percy documentary by Winston Riley. Mr. Riley’s previous documentary—on the artist Walter Anderson—won a number of awards and was broadcast on PBS. According to Mr. Riley, the Percy film is . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
