Matthew Schmitz

Marshall McLuhan believed that the microphone led to the priest facing the congregation and the end of the Latin Mass, explains Kevin White : In 1974, Marshall McLuhan argued that the microphone was the proximate cause both of the elimination of Latin from the Mass and of the turning around of the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Love and Fidelity Network , national umbrella for campus chastity clubs like Princeton’s Anscombe Society, has issued a press release opposing Harvard’s new BDSM group: PRINCETON, NJ – Harvard University’s formal recognition of the “Harvard College Munch” last . . . . Continue Reading »

Breaking news from SCOTUS Blog : Prop. 8 is granted on the petition question — whether 14th Am. bars Calif. from defining marriage in traditional way. Plus an added question: Whether the backers of Prop.. 8 have standing in the case under Art. III. The DOMA case, known as Windsor , will turn . . . . Continue Reading »

Prompted by the recent revival of Uganda’s so-called “Anti-Homosexuality Bill,” Saddleback Church’s Rick Warren has once again sent out his 2009 “encyclical video” (interesting phrase, that) to his fellow pastors in Uganda: We can never deny or water down what . . . . Continue Reading »

Noah Millman has offered a thoughtful, clarifying reply to Ross Douthat’s column on declining fertility. Among a host of helpful qualifications and questions, Millman wonders if it really makes sense to speak of a “child-centered” family life : Douthat talks about a cultural shift . . . . Continue Reading »

Scott Johnson publishes an email from Wilfred McClay noting the oddly cool critical reception Dave Brubeck received : I thought the  Los Angeles Times obituary  was pretty good, and remarkably honest about the shameful and shabby way that the critics stubbornly refused to acknowledge his . . . . Continue Reading »

The icy hand of Bloombergism extends its reach : Pro-smoking protesters rallied Thursday in front of the Bulgarian parliament in Sofia holding banners that read “Ban Increases Number of Smokers,” and “Equal Rights for Smokers and Non-Smokers”. Protesters demanded repeal of . . . . Continue Reading »

“I have said that it is not a common thing to meet an American who belongs to no denomination of Christian worship. This I think is so: but I would not wish to be taken as saying that religion on that account stands on a satisfactory footing in the States. Of all subjects of discussion, this . . . . Continue Reading »

After its upcoming debut was announced, rumors abounded as to which Twitter handle the Vatican would use for personal tweets from Pope Benedict XVI. Rocco Palmo suggested it might be @BenedictusPPXVI . The real address, which will be updated beginning on December 12, is @Pontifex —-an . . . . Continue Reading »

In response to my criticisms of the thoughtful—-but ultimately misguided—-defense of anti-Sharia laws published by John Witte in  Christianity Today , Matthew   Tuininga worries that while legal neutrality works in theory it falls apart in practice : In  theory  an . . . . Continue Reading »