Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Christian Social Thought

July 11, 2017

The ‘end’ of work

In the Q&A part of a session I led at last month’s Acton University on Abraham Kuyper and Leo XIII (based on this recent volume), I was asked about specific areas where the two figures have something concrete to contribute today. Continue Reading...
June 29, 2017

How God makes a smartphone

“Everybody has a cell phone,” Steve Jobs told John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Pixar, “but I don’t know one person who likes their cell phone.” The frustrated CEO of Apple decided to do something about the problem, which lead to one of the greatest products of the modern age. Continue Reading...
June 15, 2017

Are pastors particularly partisan?

A new paper released this week by a pair of political scientists claims, as The New York Times reports, that, “pastors are even more politically divided than the congregants in their denomination.” Continue Reading...
June 13, 2017

A Christian defense of capitalism

Humanity knows just two theoretical forms of organizing public interactions, says Alex Tokarev. All real socio-economic systems that have evolved through the centuries are a mix of the two opposite ideological concepts: One of the systems uses political coercion. Continue Reading...
June 06, 2017

What Pope Francis doesn’t understand about speculation

In a recent visit to a steel factory in Italy, Pope Francis said, “One sickness of the economy is the gradual transformation of entrepreneurs into speculators.” “The speculator doesn’t love his business, doesn’t love the workers, but only sees the business and workers as the means to make profit,” the pontiff added. Continue Reading...
June 05, 2017

Economic freedom eases poverty

“The poor will always be with us, but such a sobering reality does not free us from an obligation to work to alleviate the ravages of poverty,” says Trey Dimsdale. “On the contrary, Jesus’ statement only serves to remind us that every generation will face the question of how best to fulfill our holy obligations to them.” Continue Reading...
May 22, 2017

If King Solomon gave a commencement address

The most famous commencement address was never delivered at a graduation. In June 1997 Mary Schmich, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, published what seemed like a perennial cliché—the commencement address she would have given if asked—centered around one critical piece of advice: wear sunscreen. Continue Reading...