The sexual and physical abuse of children and young people is a global plague; its manifestations run the gamut from fondling by teachers to rape by uncles to kidnapping-and-sex-trafficking. In the United States alone, there are reportedly some 39 million victims of childhood sexual abuse… . Continue Reading »
A kind of exhaustion always settles in, murky and miasmatic, after battle. The nation’s conservatives foresaw the apocalypse if the Democrats’ plan for health-care reform passed, and on Sunday”yesterday, as I write”it did pass. The world didn’t end. The people didn’t rise up in rage. Furious lightning didn’t descend from the heavens to smash the apostate Capitol into rubble… . Continue Reading »
Sr. Maureen Joyce, CEO of Catholic Charities in Albany, New York, described its recent decision to implement a needle exchange program for HIV/AIDS prevention as mere “common sense””a perfect reflection of the conventional, which is to say misguided, wisdom of favoring “harm reduction” techniques over other methods of confronting drug abuse… . Continue Reading »
“Hard s-f” is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes scientific accuracy. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are two of its most successful practitioners. In 1976 they teamed up to write Inferno, a novel that might be characterized as hard fantasy… . Continue Reading »
Last night 219 members of in the House of Representatives proved what many of us have suspected for decades: Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton are the twin pillars of the Democratic Party… . Continue Reading »
I hope you guys all know that it’s a bit daunting having this much expert firepower trained on my little book“kind of like having the National Symphony Orchestra sit in on a first grader’s piano recital. I can only hope that if in the course of the book, or this talk, I commit any literary sins of the theological variety, all the eminent religious leader here will just do the obvious Christian thing”and keep quiet about them. Remember, it’s Lent… . Continue Reading »
However the national debate on health-care reform ends this week, the struggle has shown the worst side of a certain kind of “Catholic” witness… . Continue Reading »
The April Issue of First Things is now available on newstands and online! This issue is filled with thoughtful essays, critical reviews, and lovely poetry”all of which, for a limited time, you can access for free below! For starters, here’s film critic Armond White’s excellent piece in this issue, “Do Film Critics Matter?””the perfect piece to read following Hollywood’s recent Oscars season. Continue Reading »
It’s always a good year at the movies, even if the great films can be counted on a few digits and never get mentioned at the Academy Awards. That’s why we need film critics”to help us understand the state of movies, our cultural life, and our general moral and political being… . Continue Reading »
A group of Muslim raiders with machetes attacked another Christian village in Nigeria on Wednesday morning. The attackers killed twelve villagers”seven women, four children, and one man”and cut their tongues out… . Continue Reading »
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