Conservative Bible: Include me out
Rod Dreher calls it “insane hubris”. These right-wing ideologues know better than the early church councils that canonized Scripture? They really think it’s wise to force the word of God to conform to...
View ArticleSpeaking of "Ameridolatry"…
It’s a discussion I think is really valuable, for all Christians. If we forget that we actually are living in exile, and where our true home is, we really will be lost! I link to a whole bunch of...
View ArticleOut of Iraq: the Gospel Message Writ Large – UPDATED
Our Lady of Salvation Church, Iraq In the gospels, Our Lord made it very clear that to claim His salvation and his Name was to put oneself at odds with the world. His cross is a sign of contradiction,...
View ArticleSurrender unto Surrender for Peace – UPDATED
I admit, my Tuesday column requires some patience. If you jump too quickly you’re going to think I’m saying Christians should never defend themselves. Jesus surely didn’t preach that; he didn’t preach...
View ArticleThe Toxicity of Idolatry – UPDATED
My Tuesday column at First Things is up, and today we’re talking about the strange gods we put before us and the toxic effect it has had on our politics: [In Barack Obama] . . . chattering classes,...
View ArticleAmerican Heretics Abounding
In my First Things column of last week, I quoted a small portion from Ross Douthat’s remarkable book Bad Religion; How We Became a Nation of Heretics, which will be released this week. I plan on...
View ArticleMandates, the IDEA of America and the Worrisome Line
Someone wondered why I seem less plugged in to the “Fortnight for Freedom” than he had expected me to be. I’m not sure why he is surprised; I’ve never been much of a joiner. But he’s right. I am...
View ArticleCatholicism and Nationalism Do Not Really Mix – UPDATED
The neighborhood where I grew up was a block of “mutts”, and my own family boasted Irish-Italian-English-Scots-German muttage, but if you asked any of us “what are you?” the answer, our answer would...
View ArticlePutting Away the Labels to Hear/See Each Other
Under it’s new editor, Matt Malone, S.J., America Magazine is doing a very good thing: America aspires to nothing more than to live up to the fullest meaning of our motto, to pursue the truth in love,...
View ArticlePatheos Hits the Public Square
I am strangely remiss and should have announced this last week, but I will plead family issues and a kid with pneumonia as reasonable distractions that made me forget to tell you about Patheos’ latest...
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