By Mickey L. Mattox, First Things. Working in my Marquette office one afternoon in the spring of 2010, I heard unusual sounds coming from the normally quiet lawns outside my window. I was surprised to see a modest assembly of students and professors preparing to march in protest. Against what? Minutes later, an email arrived…
By George Weigel, First Things. The Monuments Men was a disappointing movie, but one of its most chilling scenes sticks in my mind as an analogue to the appalling wickedness underway in the Middle East. In the film, SS Colonel Wegner supervises the destruction of art works plundered by the Nazis: treasures intended for Hitler’s…
By George Weigel, First Things. Written from Jerusalem: Walking through the narrow, winding streets of Jerusalem’s Old City on my first visit here in fifteen years, I was powerfully struck once again by the grittiness of Christianity, the palpable connection between the faith and the quotidian realities of life. For here, as in no other…
By Robert A.J. Gagnon, First Things The senior pastor and elders of San Francisco’s evangelical City Church will no longer require members to abstain from homosexual practice, so long as the homosexual activity occurs in the context of marriage. According to a letter written by senior pastor Fred Harrell on behalf of the Board of Elders, “We…
A new “sign here” document called “The Marriage Pledge” is now circulating among clergy who are opposed to same-sex marriage. Presbyterians, along with clergy from virtually every stripe have signed it. Many recognizable Christian-thought leaders have weighed in as to the relative value of signing or not signing. So, the presenting question is “should you…
By R. R. Reno, First Things It’s time to make a clear distinction between the government-enforced legal regime of marriage and the biblical covenant of marriage. In the past, the state recognized marriage, giving it legal forms to reinforce its historic norms. Now the courts have redefined rather than recognized marriage, making it an institution…
By Russell E. Saltzman, First Things Here’s an idea. Roman Catholic priests might, as a matter of “principled resistance,” refuse the role of marriage registrars for the civil government. This was the suggestion of His Eminence, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, delivered at the Erasmus Lecture in New York last Monday evening. This, he indicated, would be…
By Timothy George, First Things Many colleges and universities open the new academic year with a special assembly or convocation that is generally an upbeat occasion of welcome and new beginnings. The Catholic University of America held such an event several days ago, and it included, appropriately enough, a beautiful mass led by Washington’s Cardinal…
Do religious business owners have a right to seek protection from compulsory affirmation of same-sex wedding ceremonies? Does a baker have to bake a cake for a wedding reception between two men? Can a photographer refuse to be hired to snap the pictures of a lesbian couple’s ceremony? This issue is not going away. Last…