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First Links — 6.12.14

Homeless and at Home in St. Francisville Peter Lawler, Postmodern Conservative In Praise of Typos John Higg, Us Vs Th3m A Type House Divided Jason Fagone, NY Mag Ayn Rand, Cat Fancier Mallory Ortberg, The Toast Meet David Brat, the Man who Brought Down House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Michael . . . . Continue Reading »

Why Corporations Are People

Cornerstone has published a short essay of mine on whether a corporation qualifies as a person for purposes of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act—a main issue in the Contraception Mandate case the Supreme Court will decide this month. Relying on a comment from Chief Justice John Roberts at . . . . Continue Reading »

Fr. Najeeb Asks For Your Prayers

As you will have read by now, Sunni militants have driven the Iraqi government from the city of Mosul in a sudden and violent offensive. The non-combatant civilian population has been imperiled as a result, among whom are some Dominican friars. One friar living in Mosul, Fr. Najeeb Michaeel, O.P. sent a letter describing the dire situation and asking for prayers. UPDATE: In a second note, the friar has indicated that his initial letter contained inaccurate information based on erroneous reports that he had received. He asked websites who have posted his report to remove it. The situation in his location has stabilized, but remains “very dangerous.” He also reports that “all the brothers and sisters” in his city are “OK.” Continue Reading »

Christians at College

In the name of tolerance, colleges are becoming increasingly unwilling to tolerate Christian student groups. In an attempt to “rid their campus of bias,” university administrators have moved against organizations that restrict positions of leadership to believers. For many Evangelical bible study groups, the core belief often stipulated for leadership is typically a personal commitment to Jesus Christ, belief in his divinity and resurrection, and personal commitment to continence before marriage. Continue Reading »

N. T. Wright on Gay Marriage

N. T. Wright—hailed by Time as “one of the most formidable figures in Christian thought”—first captured my imagination with the early volumes of his series  Christian Origins and the Question of God. In them, he frames the Christian story precisely as a story, a . . . . Continue Reading »

Piketty’s Apocalyptic Tone

“The past devours the future.” So writes Piketty in his conclusion to Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Because r>g, wealth accumulates faster than the general welfare of society increases. The rich get richer and richer and richer and richer. Inheritance of the tremendous (and tremendously concentrated) wealth becomes more and more important. Democratic values decline. A plutocracy dominates. It’s a “potentially terrifying” prospect. Continue Reading »

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