Richard John Neuhaus and the perils of theologically motivated hyper-partisanship

The late conservative thinker was once one of the country's leading intellectuals — until he lost his way

Richard John Neuhaus.
(Image credit: (Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press))

I knocked on Richard John Neuhaus' office door in late 2002 to tell him I wanted to write an essay for the next issue of First Things making a conservative case against invading Iraq. Neuhaus was the editor-in-chief of the conservative magazine, and I was his associate editor. I ran the book review section at the back of the book, helped editor James Nuechterlein line-edit the journal, and sometimes wrote essays and columns for its pages.

Neuhaus responded to my proposal in a tone of grave seriousness. "Oh Damon, that's really not a good idea. You don't want to get a reputation for being unreliable."

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.