Topics

Merchants of Casual Sin

AMERICA'S DISCONNECT FROM REALITY

Jason M. Morgan

Oprah and the age of casual sinning she embodied, coupled with therapeutic celebrations of the same, must be met with a heavy dose of hard reality.

Jack Kerouac’s Creedal Moment

DECLARATION OF HIS CATHOLICISM

James K. Hanna

Jack Kerouac should be remembered as an artist, specifically a Catholic artist. This is what he asked of us in front of Bill Buckley and the world, a year before his death.

Mystic Chords of Memory

REVERT'S ROSTRUM

Casey Chalk

Would I have learned to appreciate classical music — and even the very best of jazz or blues — if I hadn’t first learned to appreciate the best of rock and pop?

Quackery Reducks: A Discussion of Spiritual Consumerism in Post-Christian America

FRIENDLY GHOSTS, KARMIC REVENGE FANTASIES & COSMIC HAMSTER WHEELS

Pieter Vree & Jason M. Morgan

People today are perhaps more gullible than at any time in history and likely to believe just about anything.

The Golden Age of Quackery

CULTURAL COUNTERPOINT

Jason M. Morgan

The West's turning away from Faith and the sacraments has opened a void we now try to fill with whatever hucksters come up with next.

Social Media & the Decline of Human Reason

THE TYRANNY OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Christopher M. Reilly

Christians need to be aware of how the structure and agendas of tech platforms like Facebook establish tyranny over religious and rational discourse.

Why I’ve Tuned Out National Public Radio

ON THE WORSHIP OF THE MOLOCH OF EQUALITY

John Lyon

NPR’s programming has drifted downward and to the Left: the expectable, inevitable, massive movement of most institutions in a democracy.

The Hollywood Scandal Behind the Clerical Scandal

STATE JUDICIAL SYSTEMS AND MEDIA HOLD A DOUBLE STANDARD

Jesse Russell

U.S. media and the American judicial system will gladly go after a high-ranking Catholic priest or bishop but will run cover for powerful Hollywood directors and actors.

Finding Security Behind Closed Doors

CULTURAL COUNTERPOINT

Jason M. Morgan

The sexbot is a tool that uses us and mocks our weakness. It is a vision of Hell: inhuman, ruthless, mendacious, comfortless, and cold.

The Strange Magnetism of Virtual Fisticuffs

REVERT'S ROSTRUM

Casey Chalk

What happens when a fairly obscure writer picks a fight with a Christian YouTube celebrity who has over 200,000 followers?

Emblem of an Exhausted Era

CULTURAL COUNTERPOINT

Jason M. Morgan

"Novitiate" is a film to be expected at the bitter, burnt-out end of the sexual revolution. It is not so much a movie as a cry for help.

The Rise of the "All-Conquering Female"

GUEST COLUMN

Robert Barron

In movies today, it is not enough to show women as intelligent, savvy, and good; they have to portray men as stupid, witless, and irresponsible.

Nothing Sacred, Nothing Profane

GUEST COLUMN

David C. Stolinsky

If we leave our young people with a hollow core, they may fill their emptiness with whatever they find, no matter how poisonous it might be.

The Curse of Total Sexual Freedom

GUEST COLUMN

Robert Barron

The valorization of unrestricted freedom in regard to sex — precisely because it is morally corrupt — proves psychologically debilitating as well.

The Canticles of Genderspirit

LADY GAGA, MACKLEMORE & THE SEXUAL SELF

Jason M. Morgan

The entire premise of gender theory is that the mind and the body needn't be in concert with each other at all. But hit pop songs say precisely the opposite thing.

Anthem of the Auto-Confessing Bad Doctrine

GUEST COLUMN

Jason M. Morgan

Liberalism is pop culture, and pop culture is liberalism. It flows out in a torrent from the amps of the tattooed crooners of our woe-befallen land.

The Birth-Control Box in the Living Room

Research has uncovered a link between soap operas and lower fertility rates in Brazil, Mexico, and Kenya. In fact, some countries have "a history of using soap operas to cut fertility."

Is Adulthood in America Dead?

Consumerism smothers culture and production is a thing of the past. Is it any wonder that men of today are alienated from the very concept of manhood, and are retreating into the cocoon of childhood?

The Apotheosis of Sports

THE GOD EVER BEFORE OUR EYES

Frederick W. Marks

Sports stadia are replacing cathedrals as places of weekly assembly. Center court at England's Wimbledon has, in fact, been dubbed "the cathedral of tennis."

The Fourfold Problems of Facebook

THE PRESCIENT POSTMAN

J. Jacob Tawney

Neil Postman's ideas about media are timeless, and many of his observations about television can be applied to social media.

The Primetime Blues

GUEST COLUMN

Arland K. Nichols

The family's natural orientation toward becoming a school of virtue and love demands difficult decisions by parents on the media they and their children consume.

It's Always the Family

Whoever said that pornography is a victimless crime? The family is usually the first to suffer.

Illicit Investments

HOLY PORN !

Thomas Strobhar

Hundreds of Catholic groups -- dioceses and religious orders -- help fund their work through investments in porn-related companies.

Fox TV Is Violent, Profane & Obscene

Fox TV, the neocons' heaviest cultural artillery, has done some of the greatest damage to the conservative cause in the culture wars.

The Department of Defense -- Porn Trafficker

The Department of Defense wants to sell pornography, and even though the law prohibits them, they found a way to do it.

The Filthy Speech Movement

Free Speech Movement of the 1960s-era was about civil rights. Nowadays, it's about broadcasting the "s-word" and the "f-word."

A Double Standard

In the wake of the Imus affair: Either there should be freedom of speech for everyone, or there should be censorship for most everyone.

Sean Hannity Promotes Contraception, Abortion & War

Neocon Catholic Sean Hannity supports abortion, contraception and the war -- and a prominent Legionary priest supports Hannity.

MTV: A Recruiting Ground For Priests?

GUEST COLUMN

Michael S. Rose

No diocese that has successfully attracted vocations has enlisted marketing professionals to make the priesthood attractive.

The Folly of Trying to Outdo Wagner

Mike Dodaro

Review of All Shook Up: Music, Passion, and Politics

The Alchemy of Consumption

Go out and buy something — it's your patriotic duty!

Smoke If You Must, But Get Rid of That Execrable TV

TELEVISION IS WORSE THAN TOBACCO

Jack Taylor

Television use is linked to a significant loss of intellectual ability in young children, increased violent behavior, and loss of morals.

Needed: Warning Labels On Television Sets

GUEST COLUMN

Wayne Lela

Besides being a divisive medium, TV is also a destabilizing medium, a revolutionary medium, and thus a medium not very receptive to traditional values.

"Crime Must Not Go Unpunished" — Or Was That "Unpaid"?

The "Seven [Remaining] Dirty Words You Can't Say on TV" just became six.

Feminism in the Service of Exploitation

The splashy success of The Vagina Monologues simply requires comment.

The Inalienable Right to Be Entertained

A DANGEROUS NOTION

David C. Stolinsky

We should consider the possibility that habitual electronic amusement has moral as well as emotional and intellectual implications.

Fanfare for the Not-So-Common Humanoid

Our culture has developed a real phobia about the simple word, "man."

Skinheads & Rock Stars -- or Saints?

ON CHOOSING HEROES WISELY

Eric J. Scheske

Hero-worship is so ingrained in our natures that if we cannot find a hero we may follow a pseudo-hero.

Workers of the World, Unite! — In Front of the Boob Tube

"Prime-time roles" for "people of color on the small screen"

In the "Culture of Clinton": A Time for Defiance

THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE FERTILE

Allan C. Carlson

Spirituality for the Self-Centered

SELF MAGAZINE GETS RELIGION

J. A. Gray

SELF magazine boasts, “Ten Eloquent Writers Take on the Mighty Ten Commandments.” Each gets four or five hundred words to do it.

Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, & the Media

CAN WE STILL DISTINGUISH BETWEEN SAINTHOOD AND CELEBRITY?

Wesley D. Avram

Can Teenagers Survive Marilyn Manson?

TRYING TO BE ANYTHING BUT A NERD OR A NOBODY

James K. Fitzpatrick

TV, Computers, & the Gnostic Grail

LOST IN CYBERSPACE

Will Hoyt

A Case for Censorship

DEFENDING THE POOR FROM THE JADED RICH

Thomas Storck

Why the Entertainment Industry Is Bad for Children

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO GOOD OLD-FASHIONED FUN?

Mitchell Kalpakgian

Talk Shows

HARVARD DIARY

Robert Coles

American Addictions

BAD HABITS & GOVERNMENT INDIFFERENCE

George F. Kennan

The Propaganda America Can't Resist

GUEST COLUMN

Rawley Myers

Inside the Dream Factory (or “It’s Chinatown, Jake!”)

Ronald Austin

Review of The Unreality Industry

On Our Fascination with Royalty

GUEST COLUMN

Ken Russell

Children and Media Violence

HARVARD DIARY

Robert Coles

A Religious Revival?

CHRIST AND NEIGHBOR

John C. Cort

The Triumph of Lust

CHRIST & NEIGHBOR

John C. Cort

Short-Term Thinking & the Decline in Values

THE REWARDS OF PATIENT CAPITAL

Norman Lear

We are controlled by numerical systems run amok — creating lists and statistics, SAT scores and Nielsen ratings, Gallup and Harris polls, and the fearsome “bottom line.”

Bruce Springsteen: American Working-Class Hero

GUEST COLUMN

Greg Erlandson

Springsteen describes a difficult, often lonely America, yet he is an idealist speaking of plain virtues — strength of will, hard work, generosity.

Evangelical Television

BORN-AGAIN CHIC

Bruce L. Edwards Jr.

The current identification of the Christian life with consumerism, suburban as­pirations, and a gamut of other materialistic concerns denies the incarna­tion — makes it incredible.

Socrates on “Rock”

THE POWER OF MUSIC

Peter Kreeft

Socrates would say that good music is music that makes the soul better, that is, more harmonious, and bad music is music that makes the soul unharmonious.

Television’s Impact

Wightman Weese

TV is an effective teacher of a worldview diametrically opposed to the Christian worldview.

Communicating Our Faith on Television

“GOOD NEWS TIME”

Miles O’Brien Riley

TV news is be­coming the best place to tell our story. It offers opportunities for believers to express their faith in a prime time context.