Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Christian Social Thought

April 18, 2018

Is economics an ideology?

Richard H. Spady, research professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins, has recently published a piece at First Things entitled ‘Economics as Ideology’ in which he explores some contemporary trends among economists and their use of economics as a Procrustean bed to reshape society in its own image, A body of thought is “ideological” when it will­fully projects its own first principles on its subject matter and actively seeks, perhaps unconsciously, material changes to bring social realities into conformity with these first principles. Continue Reading...
March 22, 2018

The bishop, Balaam, and communism

Lester DeKoster begins his book Communism and Christian Faith, now out in a new edition from Christian’s Library Press, with a quote from Bishop Joseph Butler’s sermon ‘Upon the Character of Balaam’: “Things and actions are what they are, and their consequences will be what they will be: why then should we seek to be deceived?” Continue Reading...
February 26, 2018

Catholic social teaching and the Janus v. AFSCME case

The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments this morning in an important case involving free speech and public unions. Mark Janus is a child support specialist at the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the plaintiff in the case of Janus v. Continue Reading...
February 09, 2018

Unreality reigns at the Vatican

The team the worked on the original Macintosh computer claimed that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had a “reality-distortion field.” As Andy Hertzfeld explains, the “reality distortion field was a confounding melange of a charismatic rhetorical style, an indomitable will, and an eagerness to bend any fact to fit the purpose at hand.” Continue Reading...
January 26, 2018

Jennifer Roback Morse on the economic consequences of family breakdown

The 2018 Acton Lecture series got off to a great start yesterday with an address by Jennifer Roback Morse, a longtime friend and collaborator with the Acton Institute. She addressed how the breakdown of the family unit within culture generates significant problems, both socially and economically, and suggested some ways we can all work to address the issue going forward. Continue Reading...