Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Christian Social Thought

February 20, 2014

The Swiss Military: Gone Fishin’

From Agence France-Presse: Geneva — No Swiss fighter jets were scrambled Monday when an Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot hijacked his own plane and forced it to land in Geneva, because it happened outside business hours, the Swiss airforce said. Continue Reading...
February 19, 2014

Dagger John in the History of Liberty

Today at Ethika Politika, I take issue with Rod Dreher’s “Benedict Option,” a term inspired by the last paragraph of Alasdair MacIntyre’s book After Virtue. The basic idea is that, due to the Enlightenment, we have lost the social conditions — in particular a shared moral and religious narrative — that make virtuous living an intelligible and shared social standard. Continue Reading...
February 18, 2014

Audio: Rev. Robert A. Sirico on the Problem of and Solutions to Poverty

Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, joins Drew Mariani on Relevant Radio’s Drew Mariani Show to discuss the problem of Global Poverty and the seemingly counterintuitive solutions that have been lifting people out of poverty over the last few decades, as well as how more conventional “solutions” like government-to-government aid often have disastrous effects for those who are the intended recipients of the aid. Continue Reading...
February 17, 2014

Is Prison Now An American Industry?

Last week on the Acton PowerBlog, Anthony Bradley raised the issue of the war on men, specifically the high rate of imprisonment among men in the United States.  At one point in time, America acknowledged that prison might be a place of rehabilitation rather than simply the warehousing of criminals (read Ray Nothstine’s work on Angola Prison to see that rehabilitation in prison is possible.) Continue Reading...
February 14, 2014

New Issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality (16.2)

The most recent issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality, vol. 16, no. 2, has been published online at our website (here). This issue’s articles explore a range of subjects from biblical understandings of poverty, Islamic scripture, John Locke, the ills of apathy, an Eastern Orthodox view of the family and social justice, and much more. Continue Reading...
February 13, 2014

Survey: What Do You Look for in a Pastor?

Finding the right pastor or priest for a congregation can be a trying ordeal. It is stressful for the candidates, stressful for committees, stressful for elders and bishops (where applicable). In some cases, qualified ministers have no church, and churches have no permanent minister. Continue Reading...