First Thoughts

Love and Hate in a Foreign Country

Long after Indiana's RFRA crisis is past, the changes in our political culture which it has revealed will continue to have consequences for religious conservatives. Continue Reading »

Love Flowers

Long before we learned to love, we learned to lose; this is an education the world offers free of charge. As children, we first mourned the roses in October, the neighbor’s night-blooming cactus when we left for school, the rotting tree wrung out by lightning. (Once, at four, I stooped down to . . . . Continue Reading »

A Note from Creator Cakes

A fictionalized note from a Christian baker:To our dear and beloved customers, Creator Cakes has served this community for over two decades. That we run our business in accordance with our Christian faith is well known in the community. We've grown very concerned over the last week's events that saw . . . . Continue Reading »

First Links—4.6.15

79 Theses on Technology, for Disputation
Chad Wellmon, The Hedgehog Review

Religious Liberty and Equality
David Brooks, The New York Times

Tintern Abbey
Anthony Daniels, The New Criterion

The End of College? Not So Fast
Donald E. Heller, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Who Will Stand?

Who if anyone will courageously stand up to the mob? Who will resist? Continue Reading »

First Links — 4.2.15

A Preview of Vol. 34: “Sailmaker's Palm”
Ansel Elkins, Parnassus

The Herod Procedure: After Birth Abortion Arrives
Jeffrey Lord, The American Spectator

‘I Would Prefer Not To': The Origins of the White Collar Worker
Nikil Saval, Longreads

Poetry & Truth
David Yezzi, The New Criterion

Duck and Cover Catholicism

As I expected, the leaders of the Catholic Church have done everything they can to avoid saying anything in response to the furor over the Indiana RFRA. Their counsel is “dialogue,” an unfortunate weasel word long used by administrators who don't want to take a stand. Continue Reading »

Ironies in Indiana

On the basis of distortions, mistakes, and uncertain predictions, we seem ready to abandon a foundational principle that exists, not only in American law, but in legal systems across the world. Continue Reading »

Praying the Lord's Prayer in Gethsemane

In Gethsemane, the Lord prayed the prayer he had earlier taught his disciples to pray. This provides the fullest interpretation of what it means for the will of heaven to be done on earth. Continue Reading »

Indiana, Religious Freedom, and the Hysteria

Yesterday I put forward my analysis of the extraordinary propaganda blitz and its implications. In doing so, I said that no prominent Republicans have come forward to back Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana currently under attack. This is not true, and I've updated the post. Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, and Scott Walker has expressed support in one way or another. Continue Reading »