At the Intersection of Faith and Culture

Mitt Romney is now the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee.  Mitt is also a Mormon.  There has already been much talk over whether this last fact should be of any relevance to his bid for the presidency.  A shocking number of people—it seems like most—think that Romney’s religious commitments should be off limits for discussion. It…

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. This morning, on Bill Bennett’s nationally syndicated radio program, his substitute host exchanged reflections upon the significance of patriotism with a fellow from the Claremont Review of Books.  I didn’t catch the latter’s name. In any event, though, it’s not relevant, for his view, as well as that of…

George S. Schuyler, a black cultural critic, was among the greatest popular writers that twentieth centuryAmerica had produced.  A particularly astute observer of political circumstances generally and race relations in particular, a staggering array of the nation’s most well known publications from across the ideological and racial spectrums eagerly sought his services for over five…

George S. Schuyler was among the most distinguished American writers and pundits of the twentieth century.  He was also a conservative. And he was black. Today, it is on the rare occasion indeed that his name is mentioned.  Most of the members of our generation, black and white, have never heard of him. There is…

You simply—and sadly—don’t hear much about George Schuyler these days. Schuyler was born in Rhode Islandin 1895.  From the 1920’s to the 1960’s, he was widely regarded as perhaps the most prominent black columnist in the country.  Yet it is probably safer to say that he was among the ablest of writers, black or white,…

The death penalty is, as we say, “the ultimate penalty.”   Both its friends and foes alike acknowledge this. Traditionally, the debate over capital punishment has involved the notions of deterrence and retribution.    Those proponents of capital punishment who are of a utilitarian bent argue that the ultimate penalty is necessary in order to deter…

Connecticut just became the 17th state in the union to outlaw capital punishment.  It now joins the company of such illustrious former colonies as my own home state,New Jersey. This is a tragic turn of affairs. Call me quaint, but among those figures from the past that I would love to see resurrected, and with…

One can only hope that all of this talk over the controversial issue of “the liberty” of homosexuals to “marry” will get us to thinking a little harder about marriage and liberty. Marriage is a more vulnerable institution today than it has ever been in the past, it is true.  Yet I don’t think that…

The partisan weighing in on the issue of so-called “gay marriage” has one simple choice to make. On the one hand, he can choose to either join the consensus of the vast majority of people who have ever lived by choosing to preserve the exclusively heterosexual character of marriage.  On the other hand, he can…

Joe Biden and Barack Obama have finally expressed what many of us, friend and foe alike, have long known is their real position on the contentious issue of “same sex marriage”: President and Vice President alike favor it. All that matters, Biden says, is that two people love one another. Notice, from the perspective of…

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