Jordan J. Ballor

Jordan J. Ballor (Dr. theol., University of Zurich; PhD, Calvin Theological Seminary) is director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy at First Liberty Institute.

Posts by Jordan J. Ballor

October 26, 2005

Taxing the wages of sin

A lively discussion is going on over at the evangelical outpost on the idea of the “sin tax,” spurred on by Rev. Sirico’s paper on that subject. A key point to remember: once the state gets to decide which activities are immoral (but not illegal) and has a vested financial interest in them, you’ll find more and more activities becoming “sins.” Continue Reading...
October 21, 2005

War and religion

“I don’t think many of the conflicts I’ve covered were really about religion. It’s about territory. It’s about power. It’s about other things. It’s just broken down along religious lines.” James Nachtwey, war photographer, 56, New York City (Interviewed by Cal Fussman, Esquire, Oct 01 ’05) Continue Reading...
October 21, 2005

‘The Dignity of the Human Form’

Spurred on by the specter of miraculous cures to horrible diseases, Irving Weissman, director of Stanford’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, is working on experiments combining human brains and mice. Continue Reading...
October 19, 2005

Folsom Prison Blues

I received an email today from the InnerChange Freedom Initiative, an independent outreach of Prison Fellowship Ministries. It seems the initiative is facing rising program costs due to legal battles over the legitimacy of its Christian makeup. Continue Reading...
October 18, 2005

The Post-Edisonian double eclipse

We’ve discussed textual interpretation a bit on this blog here before. Paul Ricœur, who is famous for his “attempt to combine phenomenological description with hermeneutic interpretation,” passed away earlier this year. Continue Reading...
October 17, 2005

Fast-food fête

On the heels of a proposed city-wide tax on quickservice restaurants in Detroit, a state bill has been introduced in the Michigan House to implement a 2% tax on fast-food establishments. Continue Reading...
October 07, 2005

Church-backed international development

In between dire warnings from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) about the evil neo-liberal economic order and calls for more money from its member denominations, this gem arrived today via Ecumenical News International: Church bank says its loans are at forefront of anti-poverty fight Utrecht (ENI). Continue Reading...
October 07, 2005

Ethical ‘Super Speculation’

This interview with Charles Sandmel, a veteran of the municipal bond market, gives us some insights into current trends in the ethical investing movement. Some key points: The leading market sectors over the last few years are in areas that “most of them [ethical investors] avoid, such as energy.” Continue Reading...
October 05, 2005

The poor suffer most

Also from last week’s McLaughlin Group, Mort Zuckerman from U.S. News & World Report makes the important point that rising costs of gasoline greatly impact the poorest and most vulnerable populations. Continue Reading...