Almost exactly one year ago in this space, I offered anecdotal evidence of a previously unthinkable development: the growing distrust among senior citizens for a mainstream press whose credibility was, until very recently, so sterling that arguments among their set were definitively settled with the declaration, “It has to be true! It’s in the paper!” … Continue Reading »
I recall watching Richard John Neuhaus address the National Association of Evangelicals when still a Lutheran pastor. He intoned in his sonorous voice at the start of his talk, “We evangelicals …” all the time smiling like a Cheshire cat. … Continue Reading »
When Dorothy Day was born, in 1897, no one could have imagined her eventual religious standing”least of all her parents, who rarely attended church. But a full century later, in cities throughout the world, Day was proposed for sainthood, and celebrated for her heroic work. The Washington Post summed up that anniversary well … Continue Reading »
When I was practicing law from the mid-1970s into the 1980s, there was tremendous emphasis given in the popular media and within the bar association to the cause of suicide prevention. Hotlines proliferated, anti-suicide billboards were ubiquitous, and a great deal of attention was paid to saving the lives of despairing people… . Continue Reading »
The Romney flap has revealed a divide among conservatives about those who receive government transfers. Those who insanely, self-destructively urge Romney to keep sticking it to the 47 percent are advocating a type of rhetoric that conservative outlets like the Wall Street Journal and National Review deliberately abandoned in the 1960s as they sought to build a broad-based political coalition… . Continue Reading »
“Oh no,” I thought, “here we go again.” News of a long lost textual fragment which many will think could undermine traditional Christian faith is breaking, the latest in a long line of interesting discoveries sensationalized by the media into something supposedly subversive of traditional Christian faith. Whether the frenzy concerned the claims of The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, the Secret Gospel of Mark, St. James’ supposed ossuary, or the Gospel of Judas, when the smoke cleared, traditional Christianity was left standing… . Continue Reading »
It is a story of relentlessly unforced errors, also of profound naiveté bordering on at least misdemeanor incompetence. It is also the story of a masterful, even breathtaking, political takedown. On one side was the much loved Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a foundation that in 30 years became the world’s largest funder of breast cancer research, founded by the striking Texan Nancy Brinker, a woman of the center right who nonetheless practically walked on water for liberals… . Continue Reading »
Some years ago, the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor coined the term “exclusive humanism” to describe a disturbing phenomenon in Western societies: the determination of some intellectuals, activists, and politicians to scour public life of transcendent religious and moral reference points in the name of “tolerance” and “inclusion.” … Continue Reading »
In a secretly taped video that became public on Monday night, Mitt Romney tells a group of donors that 47 percent of Americans”those who pay no federal income taxes”“will vote for the president no matter what” because they are “dependent upon government” and “believe that they are victims.” … Continue Reading »
In his illuminating glimpse into the life of Pope Benedict XVI (Light of the World: The Pope, the Church, and the Signs of the Times), Peter Seewald’s conversation with the Holy Father contains a question and answer that always struck me as breathtaking. Seewald asks: “Are you afraid of an assassination attempt?” Pope Benedict XVI responds, with his shortest answer in the book: “No.” And that was it. No explanation. No second thought. No fear. … Continue Reading »
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