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Time for a Southern culture break. Caroline Langston writes an affectionate appreciation of Southern Baptists she grew up with in Mississippi, and takes note of the ambiguous phrase “Big Baptists,” with which many Southerners will be familiar. Excerpt: So what was a Big Baptist? Depending on my mother’s mood, the phrase could be a compliment…

John Tierney reports on doctors who are revisiting the therapeutic effects of psilocybin, psychedelic compound. Excerpt: The subjects’ reports mirrored so closely the accounts of religious mystical experiences, Dr. Griffiths said, that it seems likely the human brain is wired to undergo these “unitive” experiences, perhaps because of some evolutionary advantage. “This feeling that we’re…

Father Tom Reese, S.J., has a good column in America suggesting how the European bishops can and should learn from the painful experience of the American bishops in our Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis. Excerpt: Finally, the American bishops excused themselves by saying they made mistakes but were not culpable because of their ignorance. Sorry,…

…at poping, that is. Ross Douthat, the non-ridiculous Catholic on the Times columnist roster, makes an important point that can’t be said often enough: though John Paul II was by far the more charismatic figure, Benedict XVI will likely be remembered as the better pope. Excerpt: So the high-flying John Paul let scandals spread beneath…
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