R. R. Reno

Now it’s certain. This will be a populist papacy. Denunciations of unfettered free market economics in Evangelii Gaudium—“an economy of exclusion and inequality”—attracted a great deal of attention in the secular press. But for the most part commentators ignore the fact that Francis’ populism has a very strong ecclesial dimension as well… . Continue Reading »

How to Limit Government The United States is no more likely to become Europe than China America. But the worry many have that we will become a comprehensive welfare state and regulatory behemoth is, however ill-framed, well-founded. Our culture doesn’t do a good job of limiting political . . . . Continue Reading »

’Tis the season to be jolly. ’Tis also the season for me to ask for your financial support! Our mission is important. Our need is great. First Things magazine and firstthings.com are published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life, a 503(c)(b) non-profit that depends on people like you for donations… . Continue Reading »

The cultural climate today isn’t very congenial for men and women of faith. Graduate students tell me they need to be very careful. There are religious colleges and universities, to be sure, but for the most part institutions of higher education are dominated by an aggressively secular culture hostile to faith. These days the love of God often seems to be the one love that cannot speak its name. How, then, should the Christian intellectual proceed? … Continue Reading »

Christopher Lasch, where are we when we need you? Today’s Wall Street Journal has a good column by William Galston that lays out in clear terms what we all feel in our bones: The great middle-class consensus that once dominated our society is dissolving. The middle class is eroding down . . . . Continue Reading »

Benjamin Disraeli was one of the main architects of modern conservatism. He made it a successful political movement during the Victorian era. American conservatism is quite different from the English version. But we can learn from Disraeli’s success… . Continue Reading »

Against Symbolic Killing We weren’t, President Obama emphasized, going to use force to achieve a strategic goal. Whatever was being planned, it would not tip the balance of power in the Syrian civil war one way or another. “Unbelievably small,” as John Kerry put it, or as the . . . . Continue Reading »

Christians can learn from Jews. We can learn how to thrive in the secular world that no longer regards faith as central. So argues Rabbi Jonathan Sacks at the 2013 Erasmus Lecture. Speaking to more than five hundred people on the evening of Monday, October 21st at the Union League Club in New York, Sacks outlined a vision in which religious communities—Jewish and Christian—can function as creative minorities. . . . Continue Reading »

Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action. This case involves a challenge to Michigan’s Proposal 2, a 2006 ballot measure designed to put an end to affirmative action preferences in programs and policies of public institutions in the state… . Continue Reading »

Every Last Detail In “The Gay Guide to Wedded Bliss,” the cover story for a recent issue of the Atlantic , author Liza Mundy advances a simple thesis: “By providing a new model of how two people can live together equitably, same-sex marriage could help haul matrimony more fully into . . . . Continue Reading »