Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Bible and Theology

December 16, 2015

Pastors, Pulpits, and Politics

This week’s Acton Commentary is adapted from an introduction to a forthcoming edited volume, The Church’s Social Responsibility: Reflections on Evangelicalism and Social Justice. The goal of the collection is to bring some wisdom to principled and prudential aspects of addressing the complex questions related to responsible ecclesial word and deed today. Continue Reading...
December 15, 2015

The Church as Cultural Lifeblood

After years of rejecting or downplaying so-called “organized religion,” evangelicals are beginning to appreciate the church not only as organism, but as institution. As Robert Joustra explains at Capital Commentary, a “minor renaissance in thinking” is taking place, wherein the church is viewed “not as a gathering of hierarchy-allergic spiritualists” but as “a brick and mortar institution, something with tradition, and weight, and history.” Continue Reading...
December 11, 2015

The Joyful Seriousness of Christmas

As Christians living in a secular age, there’s a temptation to use Christmas as a wedge to wage epic new battles to restore Christendom. But despite the flurry of hackneyed “War on Christmas” tropes, there is, alas, something rather amiss. Continue Reading...
December 09, 2015

Aslan’s Song of Stewardship

When we think about “stewardship,” our minds tend to revert to the material and the predictable. We think about money or the allocation of resources. We think about growing crops or creating goods or financial investment and generosity. Continue Reading...
December 04, 2015

The Power of Prayer

This is just a brief note, a cohortative: Let us pray! For those tempted to disdain prayer in favor of work in alleviating the ills of the world, I recommend C.S. Continue Reading...
December 04, 2015

Seeking Justice Must Always Be Personal

Conversations about justice tend to quickly devolve into debates over top-down solutions or mechanistic policy prescriptions. But while the government plays an important role in maintaining order and cultivating conditions for society, we mustn’t forget that justice begins with right relationships at the local and personal levels. Continue Reading...
October 29, 2015

China Ends One-Child Policy, Still Limiting Births

The BBC reported today that China is ending its one-child policy, providing the following overview: Introduced in 1979, the policy meant that many Chinese citizens – around a third, China claimed in 2007 – could not have a second child without incurring a fine In rural areas, families were allowed to have two children if the first was a girl Other exceptions included ethnic minorities and – since 2013 – couples where at least one was a single child Campaigners say the policy led to forced abortions, female infanticide, and the under-reporting of female births It was also implicated as a cause of China’s gender imbalance Before everyone celebrates, China did not, however, eliminate all limits but changed the limit to two children. Continue Reading...
October 15, 2015

Only in Jerusalem: Building Institutions Of Freedom

Religious liberty and economic freedom in the heart of … Israel? In September, the foundational message of the Acton Institute was featured at “Judaism, Christianity, and the West: Building and Preserving the Institutions of Freedom,” a conference that brought together Jewish and Christian scholars in Jerusalem. Continue Reading...