Matthew Schmitz

A study by British researchers has found that men and women are unable to detect any difference between statements on women made by convicted rapists and those drawn from so-called “lads’ mags.” More from the University of Surrey: The research due to be published in the British . . . . Continue Reading »

In an interview with Terri Gross, Jimmy Fallon weighs in on liturgical innovations: GROSS: Do you still go to church? Mr. FALLON: I don’t go to – I tried to go back. When I was out in L.A. and I was kind of struggling for a bit. I went to church for a while, but it’s kind of, . . . . Continue Reading »

“The season of Advent often gets combined with Christmas, thanks to retail and academic calendars encroaching on the liturgical calendar and a general love for celebration and excess. Our duty as preachers and teachers, however, remains to remind our people that Advent is a time of quiet and . . . . Continue Reading »

The Christian Leadership Center at the University of Mary in North Dakota—-which is led by frequent On the Square contributor Leroy Huizenga—-is launching a new website on homiletics. An ecumenical endeavor involving Protestants and Catholics, it includes treatments of the Gospels, . . . . Continue Reading »

Today President Obama performs the annual light-hearted tradition of the turkey pardon. But behind the fluff is a chillingly stingy record of pardons for actual, you know, people . Brandon Watson lays it out: [T]he Office of the President has over the past several administrations been absurdly . . . . Continue Reading »

The Washington Post  has come out with a piece on Mitt Romney’s role as a leader in the Mormon Church (retreading an earlier piece in the Times ) that is already being picked up by modern-day anti-Mormon zealots. On Twitter, Chloe Angyal of Feministing describes it thus: In which Mitt . . . . Continue Reading »

Many writers (including, ahem, one guest poster to this blog) have fretted that the 47 percent of Americans who pay nothing in income taxes are freeloaders who pose a threat to the nation’s moral fabric. This worry has issued recently in the unusual spectacle of a Republican presidential . . . . Continue Reading »

Stephen Colbert has conducted a brilliant interview of two representatives of Occupy Wall Street. One of them, a committed and articulate young woman, describes herself as a “female-bodied person”: (Skip ahead to the 5:15 mark for the quote.) How did such radical body-self dualism . . . . Continue Reading »

Christopher White points out that contraception is not the most powerful way to promote maternal health: What about those women and girls in Africa who, as Kristof mentions, “have never heard of birth control”? Won’t they be faced with unwanted pregnancies and possibly die during . . . . Continue Reading »

Is the fight to protect the unborn as misguided”and ultimately as passing”as the push for Prohibition? So suggested David Frum in a recent column for CNN. After I objected to his column, Frum said that I, along with all pro-life advocates, should be willing to accept a regime where abortion is safe, legal and rare … Continue Reading »