[link removed]
** Daily Newsletter: FEBRUARY 5, 2026
------------------------------------------------------------
** In today’s newsletter:
------------------------------------------------------------
CARL R. TRUEMAN: Save the Fox, Kill the Fetus ([link removed])
VIRGINIA AABRAM: Introducing The Protestant Mind ([link removed])
KATY FAUST: Christians Are Reclaiming Marriage to Protect Children ([link removed])
RAYMOND J. DE SOUZA: When the Means Undermine the End ([link removed])
R. R. RENO: The Evangelical Elite Gap ([link removed])
[link removed]
** Save the Fox, Kill the Fetus ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
** CARL R. TRUEMAN
------------------------------------------------------------
Columnist Carl Trueman hones in on the spectacularly dumb argument of an Irish politician: There should be no waiting period for abortion because Viagra can be purchased over the counter. That same politician is an impassioned advocate of the right to life . . . of foxes.
“Some lives matter, it seems, just not those of human beings in the womb. Her commitments, from her flip-flop on women to her war against the womb to her impassioned concern for foxes, reflect the usual concatenation of contemporary progressive tastes, with little or no concern for consistency.”
For further reading: John Duggan is our usual Cassandra of the British Isles. Last July, he wrote that “Ireland Erases Its Catholic Inheritance ([link removed]) .” The July before, he wrote “‘Uncivilized’ Catholic Ireland ([link removed]) .”
[link removed]
** Introducing The Protestant Mind ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
** VIRGINIA AABRAM
------------------------------------------------------------
First Things newsletter editor (and regular author of this newsletter) Virginia introduces the latest collaboration between First Things and the John Templeton Foundation. We’re launching a new, topical newsletter: The Protestant Mind ([link removed]) . Authored by Dale Coulter, this twice monthly newsletter will look deep into “the intellectual, historical, and spiritual forces that have driven and still drive the continual reformation of American Christianity.”
Subscribe with one click. ([link removed])
For further reading: If, like me, you’re a little bit more popish, subscribe to The Fourth Watch ([link removed]{{email}}) , our Catholic newsletter by Jim Keating. Or, better yet, subscribe to both.
[link removed]
** Christians Are Reclaiming Marriage to Protect Children ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
** KATY FAUST
------------------------------------------------------------
A new alliance of religious opponents to gay marriage is forming, the Greater Than campaign. Faust argues that any debate over gay marriage must center on the rights of children. Obergefell will not be overturned by bakers and photographers; it will be overturned by the “inconvenient problem[s] for any attempt to redefine marriage around adult desire rather than natural reality.”
“The definition of marriage is a matter of justice to children. After ten years of child victimization at the hands of adult ‘equality,’ the Greater Than campaign intends to fight back on behalf of the only class of people who never consented to this social experiment.”
For further reading: For the 2025 June/July issue, Matthew Schmitz detailed how proponents argued that gay marriage would strengthen the institution of marriage, but that strengthening—for heterosexuals and homosexuals alike—failed to materialize: “How Obergefell Failed ([link removed]) .” And, this issue, Scott Yenor wrote a seminal cultural-historical essay on gay rights (“The Rise and Fall of Gay Activism ([link removed]) ”). He closes the essay thusly: “The arc of history need not bend toward acceptance of sexual deviance. Today, it is possible to imagine the rollback of the gay rights revolution.”
[link removed]
** When the Means Undermine the End ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
** RAYMOND J. DE SOUZA
------------------------------------------------------------
Fr. Raymond is a voice always worth listening to. Today, he writes about how the Trump administration’s deportation tactics may well undermine the otherwise popular end of restricting illegal immigration.
“Twenty-five years ago, Republicans spoke of immigration enforcers as ‘stormtroopers’ (Rudy Giuliani) and ‘jackbooted thugs’ (Tom DeLay) when aggressive tactics were employed by a Democratic administration. It turns out that killing citizens under a Republican administration is also bad politics.“
For further reading: Last month, our editor, Rusty Reno, compared the civil unrest in Minneapolis to several eruptions against the civil rights regime: “From Little Rock to Minneapolis ([link removed]) .” Normal people, parents and churchgoers, have taken to the streets to try and make federal law too unpalatable to enforce.
[link removed]
** The Evangelical Elite Gap (ft. Aaron Renn) ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
** R. R. RENO
------------------------------------------------------------
Listen: Aaron Renn joins Rusty on The Editor’s Desk podcast to discuss his recent essay, “The Problem with the Evangelical Elite ([link removed]) ” from the January issue of the magazine. Renn argues that Evangelicals are systemically underrepresented in elite circles. From there, he asks two questions: Why? And, how can this be fixed?
For further reading: In February 2022, Renn wrote one of First Things’ most influential essays, “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism ([link removed]) .” Through a neologism that has entered popular usage, he argued that Evangelicals live in a “negative world,” one where their faith is a social detriment.
Upcoming Events
* February 10, 2026: The Protestant Mind newsletter launch by Dale Coulter | Subscribe here ([link removed]) .
* March 5, 2026: Annual D.C. Lecture: “Our Crisis is Metaphysical” ft. Mary Harrington | Washington, DC. Register here ([link removed]) .
Until next time,
** [link removed]
JACOB AKEY
------------------------------------------------------------
Associate Editor
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
Copyright © 2026 First Things, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in at firstthings.com.
============================================================
Our mailing address is:
First Things
9 East 40th St Fl 10
New York, NY 10016
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
