Matthew Schmitz

Rachel and Harmony Korine We can get as close as we want so long as we maintain critical distance. This philosophy, primitively grasped, guides the four young women in Harmony Korine’s  Spring Breakers , who skip through frame after frame of booze, bongs, and omnipresent breasts only to . . . . Continue Reading »

Academy-Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons raised questions about same-sex marriage in an interview yesterday with HuffPostLive. “Could a father not marry his son?” asked Irons. “Well, there are laws against incest,” said the host. “It’s not incest between . . . . Continue Reading »

A new play written by a Russian Orthodox priest depicts Harry Potter discovering he has been baptized and then battling Voldemort with the help of Saint Cyprianus : Harry rushes to see Dumbledore, who tells him to find “the one who created everything”, as he’s the only power that can . . . . Continue Reading »

” Throughout, the cardinal was the very picture of tranquility .” Richard John Neuhaus and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 1988. Read Ratzinger’s lecture on behalf of the Institute on Religion and Public life here . . . . . Continue Reading »

When Pope John XXIII was asked, “How many people work in the Vatican?” his response was, “About half.” via reddit . . . . Continue Reading »

“We will appeal. We’re fighting it. This is not dead. This is a place where religion destroyed American lives.” -American Atheists’ President Dave Silverman protesting a ruling allowing the display of the “9/11 cross” via @yair_rosenberg . . . . Continue Reading »

Google’s decision to display the visage of Cesar Chavez on Easter Sunday has provoked immediate fury from many corners. The decision indeed is difficult to justify. Yet Google’s odd choice should remind us that whatever one thinks of Chavez’s politics, they are impossible to . . . . Continue Reading »

Ayn Rand was no fan of C.S. Lewis. She called the famous apologist an “abysmal bastard,” a “monstrosity,” a “cheap, awful, miserable, touchy, social-meta­physical mediocrity,” a “pickpocket of concepts,” and a “God-damn, beaten mystic.” (I suspect Lewis would have . . . . Continue Reading »

Our former junior fellow and current editorial advisory council member Ryan T. Anderson appeared on Piers Morgan last night. . . . . Continue Reading »

Congratulations to our friend Russell Moore on being named head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). His predecessor Richard Land issued the following statement : I am delighted that the Holy Spirit has led the ERLC’s trustees to Dr. . . . . Continue Reading »