50 Memorable (But Obscure) Movie Quotes

Every Friday on First Thoughts we host a discussion about some aspect of popular culture. Unfortunately, I didn’t prepare a topic in time for this week so I’m recycling a previous post. Have a suggestion for a topic? (I need some fresh ideas.) Send them to me at jcarter@firstthings.com] . . . . Continue Reading »

What in the WORLD Did She Just Say?

I was shocked and saddened to see WORLD magazine—where I once served as blog editor—publish a piece of syncretistic drivel by their longtime columnist Andrée Seu:It was obvious to me that [Glenn Beck] was a new creation in Christ. I know he’s Mormon and all that. I also remember . . . . Continue Reading »

A Possibility That Had Never Occurred to Me

According to a new poll , a press release for which I’ve just received, only about one in six Americans think Glenn Beck would be a good leader for a religious movement. This strikes me as similar to polling people on whether the First Things editors should try out for the New York Knicks, . . . . Continue Reading »

What Did Stupid People Ever Do To You?

Economist Bryan Caplan pushes back against the high-IQ misanthropes : Out of all the reactions I’ve heard to  Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids , the most disturbing are all variations on “Except stupid people.  They shouldn’t have kids.”  I could snark, . . . . Continue Reading »

Nose-rings as Religious Expression

Another apparently unsolvable conflict of church and the state in the guise of public schooling: a girl in North Carolina has been suspended from school for wearing a (very small) nose ring, which is against the dress code, unless the child has a religious reason, which this child claims to do, as . . . . Continue Reading »

Beautiful and Stirring

Pope Benedict’s extraordinary celebration at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow was one for the ages. The liturgy was beautiful and stirring, the people’s faith obviously heartfelt, and Benedict’s homily —recalling Scotland’s Christian heritage, and the true destiny of . . . . Continue Reading »

Selling Confession

At Inside Catholic, David Mills explains how the Church can interest believers in confession : Confession ought to be a great selling point for the Catholic Church. Years ago, I saw some young Evangelicals ask an older Catholic convert about confession, with the guarded but lurid interest of . . . . Continue Reading »

The ‘Sanctification Gap’

In 1973, Richard Lovelace penned an important article detailing the causes of an acute problem that persists in the lives of many evangelical Christians. He calls it the “sanctification gap” and zeros in on the history of Protestantism to explain why evangelicals have so many problems . . . . Continue Reading »