Matthew Schmitz

Here is a video from the University of Pennsylvania’s Stephanos Bibas on his new book,  The Machinery of Criminal Justice ,  which I am currently reading for a review and can already recommend. Bibas recently wrote for First Things on what made Chuck Colson “the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Pew Forum’s annual report on religious freedom is out, and for the first time in its four-year history, it reports a rising tide of religious restrictions in the United States. This increase has moved the U.S., again for the first time, from Pew’s “low” to . . . . Continue Reading »

If not, here’s what you’re missing. A typical item from the wry humorist’s “Press Clippings” bureau: More here. . . . . Continue Reading »

Jonathan Reyes, director of social ministry and head of Catholic Charities and Community Services for the Archdiocese of Denver, has been appointed to succeed John Carr as the Catholic bishops’ point man on justice, peace, and human development in Washington, D.C. Many of the reactions . . . . Continue Reading »

What’s missing from this appeal to Catholic principles? . . . . Continue Reading »

It seems that Mitt Romney took up —-though admittedly in a private gathering—-the dangerously misleading statistic about how 47 percent of Americans pay no income taxes. I pushed back against this last year after Tom Neven wrote a misguided First Thoughts post on the subject. . . . . Continue Reading »

Last week I discussed how the Euro crisis can be understood at the cultural level as a conflict between two ethics: northern European bourgeois prudence on the one hand and southern European extravagance—-the sort of extravagance that gave us Bernini and St. Teresa of Avila—-on the . . . . Continue Reading »

In the above video, aired by the BBC this week, Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of Britain, discusses science and religion with three scientists, including Richard Dawkins. The two entered into a dispute at a related BBC-sponsored debate this week over whether or not Dawkins’ attacks on the God . . . . Continue Reading »

Emily Esfahani Smith profiles  Victor Davis Hanson, who shakes his finger at the profligate Greeks and praises the generous and “prudent” Germans: “What’s happening in Greece is fascinating. The Greeks started rioting because they couldn’t borrow more money from . . . . Continue Reading »

Here is a delightful example of St. Thomas’ sense of humor, from Questions on Whatever (Quaestiones Quodlibetales), Question 12, Article 20:  Whether truth is stronger than either wine, the king or woman. Objections:  It seems that wine (is stronger than the others) because it affects . . . . Continue Reading »