Another great piece from The Federalist, this time from an atheist: I am an atheist, which puts me firmly on the secular right. There aren’t a whole lot of us, but we’re out here, in some surprising places. Yet I consider the current campaign against religious liberty—the attempt to coerce Christians into providing service to gay weddings or to provide abortifacient drugs to their employees, against the dictates of their faith—to be a deep cultural crisis. On the difference between... Read more
I was watching a detective show recently (doesn’t matter which one) featuring a smart, competent, nerves-of-steel female lead. A genuinely likeable character. I was irritated that while the male characters all dressed like the serious business-types they were, there seemed to be a mandatory minimum of exposed flesh for all their female colleagues. It was as if the female characters were being cast for their cleavage. I like detective shows, so I set aside my feminist indignation and watched anyway. ... Read more
We’ve been graced with a delightfully candid neighbor boy, and a few years ago he asked us point blank, “Are you poor?” No, most certainly not. The appalling situation in which some of our children must share a bedroom not withstanding, let’s be clear: I live luxuriously. Hot water, indoor plumbing, coffee, books, very many shoes . . . everywhere you look, my home is the very picture of superabundance. Elizabeth Scalia shares a letter from a mom who actually... Read more
I don’t go in for the whole “strong language” defense of everyday profanity. Sam Guzman makes the case for not cussing here, and it’s good enough for me. My own conversion to the anti-profanity league is more historical than apologetic. I grew up in a non-cussing household, not because we were anything amazing, but because back then most folks did. The occasional strongish word was let loose when tempers flared, but overwhelmingly my parents kept it civilized, and kept us... Read more
Link for Rebecca Hamilton: a Palm Sunday homily against cowardice. At minute 5:38: The temptation to refuse to witness to one’s faith, and to act according to a well-formed conscience, is a temptation to cowardice for us all. . . . It is not only a temptation for individuals, but a temptation for the Church herself, as she is increasingly pressured by civil authorities and public opinion to be silent on the great moral questions of our time. From the... Read more
If you haven’t been this Lent, today’s the day. Check for your nearest parish, and drop in for confession. What if my last confession was 47 years ago? You should definitely go today. What if I don’t know what to do? If there’s a brochure laying around that tells you what to do, you can do that. Or you can tell the priest, “I haven’t been to confession in 47 [insert your amount here] years, can you help me along?” ... Read more
The Federalist says, thoroughly, what I wish I could have done half so well: The Rise Of The Same-Sex Marriage Dissidents. On marriage: So why is marriage singled out throughout all time and human history as a different type of recognized relationship? Well, what singled it out was that sex was involved. On the Eich affair: There’s much to be thankful for in aftermath of the madness of the Eich termination. For one thing, many people have rightly figured out that what... Read more
Elizabeth Scalia’s post on the value of Catholic kitsch reminded me I had a bleg: What gift should I get #4, and a smattering of other various 1st communicants in the neighborhood, for their 1st communions? What I *should* do is visit my local Catholic gift and book store, browse around, and spend way too much money. That’s my usual method, and it works great. Unfortunately, “going out and browsing around” is right out just now. So I started reading... Read more
This morning I was considering a remark from my combox comparing those who uphold the sacrament of marriage with, for example, supporters of the KKK. The comparison was made in the context of some charitable and thoughtful arguments, however erroneous I found the reasoning to be. What struck me: How have we come to this? How have we gone from recognizing the various forms of unchastity as the sins that they are, to comparing the virtue of chastity to the... Read more
A friend of mine works at a public school in a conservative, overwhelmingly Evangelical Christian community. She told me that she feared for her job if the other staff found out she is in favor of legalized abortion. I was appalled. I think my friend is terribly, terribly wrong on the question of abortion. But still, it seemed wrong to me that a government employee might be fired for favoring the existing laws of that very government. Which I suppose... Read more
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