Flannery O’Connor wrote, “In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness.  And tenderness leads to the gas chamber.” Whaat? Here’s what she’s getting at: People who have left the Christian faith wish to retain the remnants of the Christian faith. They want beauty without truth. They want spirituality without religion. They want forgiveness without sacrifice and they want a life that has tenderness without toughness. They want Christianity without a cross, compassion without control and charity without discipline. The liberal... Read more

You can ask me. I’m a Bob Jones graduate remember? When I was at Bob Jones the term “fundamentalist” was only just beginning to get traction as a pejorative term. The Protestant fundamentalists at Bob Jones wore the label with pride. It set them apart from the Evangelicals they considered to be sweet, soft and spineless. Those types were called “neo Evangelicals” and went to Wheaton and thought Billy Graham was okay. In fact the term “fundamentalism” belongs originally to... Read more

As we enter Holy Week we must remember the huge consequences of the choice made by human beings on that fatal week. The death of Jesus is not simply the tragic death of a good man. It is not just the heroic death of an idealistic martyr. It is not just the unjust execution of a political prisoner, nor is it only the unfair death of a scapegoated victim. When we chose Barrabas instead of Jesus we chose to kill... Read more

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.” I’ve been pondering this for some time from a couple of different perspectives. First of all, in the present political maelstrom, when all seems uncertain and insecure, where the old definitions are dissolving and new alliances are being forged one looks for a different kind of democracy. The “democracy of the dead.” In other words, when we value... Read more

They’re finishing an exciting re-make of the classic film Ben Hur. Ben-Hur is a major Paramount Pictures/MGM motion picture hitting theaters nationwide on August 12, 2016. Bursting with action – including a new chariot race for the ages – and elevated by Christian themes of justice, liberty & radical forgiveness, it tells the classic story of Judah Ben–Hur (Jack Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), an officer in the Roman army. Stripped... Read more

In reading the daily gospels this passion week it is frightening to see the traits of the religious leaders who killed Jesus. They exhibit the kind of anti-religion that develops within any religious system. It has shown its ugly face with many different names. In one place Manicheanism, in another age Jansenism, in another place Calvinism, in another place Jihadi Wahhabism, in another place Protestant fundamentalism, in another place Hindu extremism, in another place Catholic extremism. This anti-religion is universal.... Read more

My article for Imaginative Conservative this week discusses the visual age we live in and why it is increasingly like the Middle Ages. One of the reasons I sometimes wax nostalgic for the Middles Ages is for the religious spectacle. This was an age of the dramatic gesture: St. Francis standing barefoot in the snow or the penitent Henry IV crossing the Alps barefoot while wearing a hair shirt. It is the age of the passion and mystery plays—rumbustious and... Read more

Yesterday the Boston Globe pulled the plug on its support for the Catholic website CRUX. I had the privilege of attending the star-studded launch of CRUX about a year and a half ago. I was in Boston at the time and went along to meet the folks and find out what was up. I knew John Allen and had hopes for his vision of a new Catholic website that would avoid what Allen called the “tribalism” in American Catholicism. I was... Read more

…Why would you do that? My blog posts on Catholic fundamentalism this week have provoked the predictable tempest in a teapot. Some have questioned why I do not have a comments box on my blog and suspect it is because I do not have the courage to debate with people. The fact of the matter is simpler. As my blog readership has expanded the comments grew to such an extent that I did not have the time to monitor them... Read more