[Torie]

I think he tells us way too much about himself. It's hard not to lose some respect him at this point.

I am interested as to why you have that sensibility. I found his essay thoughtful and candid, warts and all. I am not quite on his page (particularly about religion in the public square and his ignoring the tremendous changes that have occurred in Catholicism, and among Catholics, with and since Vatican II - yes the Church really did comes to terms with democracy, liberty and individual conscience IMO), but not far from it.

[jwalsh07]

In all honesty Torie I get the same whiff of elitism reading this that I get when listening to the John Kerry's of the world. It simply turns me off and I tune it out.

[x]

I am interested as to why you have that sensibility.

For starters, I could have done without the tirade about Peron, de Valera, etc. It was honest enough, but after that, it was hard to care so much about whether or not he believes in the afterlife, etc.

Derbyshire makes some provocative observations -- "the experience of raising two kids — mine are now 13 and 11 — was one I found de-spiritualizing" -- but personally the format didn't grab me.