A better textilize helper that doesn't use the :hard_breaks option of RedCloth, like Rails' built-in textilize does (for whatever reason). Also escapes any HTML entered by the user (instead of dismissing it, as RedCloth's :filter_html option would do).

This my not be what you need, but it's exactly what I need. :)

  def textilize(text)
    RedCloth.new(text.gsub(/</, '&lt;').gsub(/>/, '&gt;')).to_html
  end