Some years ago, I served at a parish with a priest—let me call him Father Micawber—who frequently asked me to preach. It seems he was satisfied with my homilies, with a single exception. “You should be more upbeat,” he told me. “We want people to leave Mass happier than when they came in the door.” … Read more
The Trump administration’s decision to kill Iranian general Qasem Soleimani eliminated a longtime opponent of American interests in the Middle East, but also raised questions about how the strike integrates with the United States’ support for religious minorities in the volatile region. President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have prioritized … Read more
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the January 1991 print edition of Crisis Magazine. Nothing is deader than dead politics, we have been told. Why, then, revive the political essays of the philosopher, polemicist, and Catholic publicist Orestes Brownson (1803-1897)? Because the questions raised by Brownson confront us still. The “American Idea,” much discussed … Read more
Author and political scientist Darrell West is deeply concerned about the current climate in the United States. “Societal tensions have metastasized into a dangerous tribalism that seriously threatens U.S. democracy,” he warns. “Unless people can bridge these divisions and forge a new path forward, it will be impossible to work together, maintain a functioning democracy, … Read more
We live in a culture that says you can become—and, in fact, are— whatever you think you are, so few people dare question the transgender person’s idea of reality. Of course, it’s possible that nature may in some rare instances “cross-wire” a male by feminizing his brain before birth so he feels more like a … Read more
What are your pronouns? How do you self-identify? As recently as when I was in college, earlier this young century, those two questions would have elicited confusion, if not mockery. Now, they are increasingly part of the grammar of our introductions to others. During an LGBTQ town hall this past fall, Sen. Kamala Harris stated … Read more
As everyone knows, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives have passed a bill of impeachment against the president of the United States, Donald Trump. Oceans of ink have and will be spilled over this matter—and I am happy to add to the literary carnage. There is a great deal to be mulled over here. From the … Read more
One of the commentators on a recent Crisis article of mine declared that “Charles Coulombe is a weird person who desires the destruction of democracy and its replacement with monarchy again. There is a bizarre thread in Crisis now that desires such stupid stuff.” I suppose I am a weird person, so I can’t disagree … Read more
President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order that interprets Judaism as a nationality or race—i.e., it should not be seen exclusively as a religion—so that the federal government can threaten to withhold funds from schools deemed to be fostering anti-Semitism in school activities, programs, curricula, and classrooms. The order was signed the day after … Read more
Integrity in the political arena is rare. Regardless of facts or circumstances, people so instinctively align with their party or “tribe” that many Americans have become nearly indifferent to critical thought or the search for truth. This is partly why Christianity Today editor Mark Galli’s December 19th editorial supporting the impeachment of President Donald Trump … Read more
Just a day after the second World Conference on Persecuted Christians ended this November in Budapest, Hungary, a “reformed” jihadi terrorist stabbed two innocent people to death in London, before being shot by police. The inability of the liberal secularists, who are at the center of most Western governmental policies and who control most of … Read more
What if Catholics invested the kind of political and spiritual energy in combatting pornography as they have in abortion? What if there was an annual march on Washington demanding that politicians take action to limit, if not eradicate, pornography from our public landscape? What if our dioceses distributed car magnets featuring hotlines for pornography addiction? … Read more
Now that we have Brexit, Catalonian separatism, the yellow vests in France and elsewhere, as well as ongoing clashes between pro- and anti-immigration forces, one may well wonder where the dear old Mother Continent is headed. One should bear in mind that these events are taking place against a backdrop provided by the European Union, … Read more
During the Season of Advent, as we approach the celebration of the Nativity of Our Savior, we should stop to consider that “the first witnesses of Christ’s birth, the shepherds, found themselves not only before the Infant Jesus but also before a small family: mother, father and newborn Son. God had chosen to reveal himself … Read more
Lest anyone think that American politics is in any danger of receding back to pre-2016 partisan boundaries, Tucker Carlson used his Fox News segment last week to go after hedge fund manager and GOP mega-donor Paul Singer… for his free-market economics. Catholics should be thrilled by this development. Carlson condemns what he calls “vulture capitalism,” … Read more
Do you get the feeling that you’ve seen this movie before? On Friday, December 6, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a member of the Saudi military, killed three and wounded seven others at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. The New York Times immediately reported that his motive was unclear. If standard procedure is followed, it won’t be … Read more
In his seminal work On War, Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831) provided the definition of war most civilized nations still largely subscribe to: “War is the continuation of politics by other means.” In many respects, and especially in our current political climate, it appears that the converse is also something of a truism: “Politics is the … Read more
The shock troops against Conservatism, Inc. have arrived. Witness the rise of the groypers. These cowboys sent people ducking beneath barstools the moment they set a spurred boot in the Culture War saloon. It has been amusing, to say the least, but not everyone is laughing. Some have even warned that the pale rider of … Read more
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the January 1988 print edition of Crisis Magazine. It has been edited for brevity. CRISIS: Is abortion really a political issue? It seems not. After all, politics is a dispute over the arrangements by which a community lives. Abortion raises a prior question: who belongs to the community? … Read more
The United States Naval Academy is granting Satanist midshipmen a “study space” in which they may conduct “Satanic services” and study “Satanic philosophy,” according to a leaked email. This was not the first time I heard of this news, as Rod Dreher had previously documented the story at The American Conservative. The latest revelations of … Read more