First Things Campaign Report

by R. R. Reno

First Things is now in the second week of a two-week digital campaign to raise $20,000. And I’m pleased to report we have raised $5,305 thus far! Continue Reading »

19 May 2014 0

Watching Liberals Give Way to Technocrats

by R. R. Reno

Good for William Bowen. The former president of Princeton spoke at my alma mater Haverford College’s commencement on Sunday and has sharp words for the students who successfully campaigned against another commencement speaker, Robert J. Birgineau, former Chancellor of Cal Berkeley. They accused him of violating a sacred principle—thou shalt not require progressive protestors to obey the law—and issued a list of nine things he needed to do in order to properly repent and receive absolution. Continue Reading »

19 May 2014 0

The Rise of Nationalism

by R. R. Reno

It’s a global phenomenon. Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi won in India. Shinzo Abe in Japan hits nationalist notes. Svoboda, an ultra-nationalist party in Ukraine, has become an important player. The Golden Dawn in Greece is another ultra-nationalist party. Great Britain’s anti-EU party is on the rise, as are nationalists in France and the Netherlands. Continue Reading »

19 May 2014 0

What’s So Bad About Editing DNA?

by Audrey Schaengold

We cannot alter a person’s DNA without disrespecting the intentions of the Author and Creator of human life, Matthew Hennessey recently argued. To support this claim, he offered an account of what it means to be an editor: “When I edit, I attempt, to the extent possible, to conform my work to the author’s original intent. I know I must resist the temptation to rewrite every piece to suit my own ear.” For Hennessey, editing is about improving someone else’s writing, not about the editor exerting his or her own preferences. Continue Reading »

16 May 2014 0

On the Importance of Place

by Dale M. Coulter

One of the natural loves that humans possess is a love of place. Bubbling up from love for home and love for creation, the love of place shapes humans, conforming them to the topography of the landscapes they inhabit. As C. S. Lewis notes, to speak of a love of home is to conjure up images . . . . Continue Reading »

7 May 2014 0

Yesterday’s Decision in the Legislative Prayer Case

by Mark Movsesian

Most of our fights about the Establishment Clause boil down to this: What can a religious minority reasonably require of the majority? Or, put differently, how far must the majority go to accommodate the sensibilities of the minority? Here, the Court seems to be saying, if a town is overwhelmingly Christian, non-Christians cannot legitimately expect that legislative prayers will be anything but overwhelmingly Christian. To insist on something else would be unreasonable. Continue Reading »

6 May 2014 0

Jesse Jackson’s Children

by Pete Spiliakos

While reading The Party Decides by Marty Cohen and David Karol, it struck me that over the last thirty years we have seen a new kind of presidential candidacy that has no hope of actually winning the presidency. We have gone from favorite son candidates to identity politics candidacy. Continue Reading »

6 May 2014 0

Putin: Ideological, not Irrational

by Mark Movsesian

Last Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”—the breakfast salon of the bien pensant—Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Rick Stengel took on Vladimir Putin. Stengel attempted to explain how Putin’s conduct in Ukraine damages Putin’s own interests. Putin, Stengel told his interlocutor Steven Rattner with an air of frustration, “is making fundamental errors” that would get him in trouble with the Russian people. “He’s moving further away from the West,” Stengel said, at a time when “people want to be closer to the West.” Rattner agreed that Putin is being “irrational.” Isn’t it obvious? Continue Reading »

5 May 2014 0

So You Believe in “Marriage Equality”? Why Not For throuples?

by Robert P. George

The story of a female throuple in Massachusetts (with a baby on the way) provides further confirmation, as if any were needed, of the proposition that “ideas have consequences.” Once one has abandoned belief in marriage as a conjugal bond (with its central structuring norm of sexual complementarity) in favor of a concept of “marriage” as a form of sexual-romantic companionship or domestic partnership (“love makes a family”), then what possible principle could be identified for a norm “restricting” marriage to two-person partnerships, as opposed to polyamorous sexual ensembles of three or more persons? Continue Reading »

25 Apr 2014 0

St John’s/Villanova Joint Colloquium in Law and Religion

by Mark Movsesian

For those who are interested, here’s a brief writeup of the inaugural Joint Colloquium in Law and Religion, which the St. John’s Center for Law and Religion and Villanova Law School co-hosted this semester. The Joint Colloquium used “virtual classroom” technology that allowed . . . . Continue Reading »

17 Apr 2014 0