Matthew Schmitz

Steven Pinker (l) with stuffed panda (r). Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker has sent a letter of protest  regarding the University of Miami’s dismissal of Colin McGinn for harassing a female graduate student. “Such an action,” says Pinker, “would put a chill on . . . . Continue Reading »

At the five-minute mark of this video, we see a sort of ersatz secular liturgy done with all the intelligence of Richard Dawkins and all the taste of Charles Saatchi. Next time your church music director’s choices tempt you to atheism, remember the sort of liturgy that awaits you on the other . . . . Continue Reading »

Speaking before 2000 young people upon his recent arrival in Ireland, President Obama raised the old canard that religious education is divisive : If towns remain divided—if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Protestants have theirs, if we can’t see ourselves in one another . . . . Continue Reading »

Fr. George Rutler, pastor of the vibrantly orthodox Church of Our Saviour in midtown Manhattan, is being reassigned to St. Michael’s Church in Hell’s Kitchen. In his latest weekly column , Rutler acknowledges a quiet campaign against the reassignment: I was gratified that so many wanted . . . . Continue Reading »

The  Weekly Standard ‘s outstanding John McCormack asked Nancy Pelosi to identify “the moral difference between what Dr. Gosnell did to a baby born alive at 23 weeks and aborting her moments before birth?” (Pelosi opposes legislation that would ban the latter.) “As a . . . . Continue Reading »

Noted philosopher of the mind Colin McGinn is resigning from the University of Miami : Mr. McGinn . . . denies allegations that he behaved improperly. Those allegations were lodged by a female graduate student who has said that the professor sent her a series of sexually explicit e-mail and text . . . . Continue Reading »

Andrew Cuomo’s abortion bill may lead to forced abortions, warns New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan in a June 4 press release issued jointly with the bishops of New York state: We are profoundly distressed by the introduction of a bill in New York State today that would ease restrictions . . . . Continue Reading »

Even as Chris Christie announced that he would fill Frank Lautenberg’s senate seat with an August 13 special election , conservatives banded together under the hashtag #appointRPG to call for the interim appointment of one of their most articulate leaders: Princeton professor Robert P. . . . . Continue Reading »

A new app called “Texas Bible” replaces “you” with “y’all” in English bible translations wherever the original language used a second-person plural. John Dyer, its creator, explains : Just about any time I teach from the Scriptures I have to point out . . . . Continue Reading »

Today the British House of Lords began debate on a bill that would create a right to gay marriage. Speaking before the body, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby panned it : The result is confusion. Marriage is abolished, redefined and recreated – being different and unequal for different . . . . Continue Reading »