Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Faith and work

April 16, 2019

Advice to graduates: Reject the calls to ‘find yourself’ and ‘follow your passion’

Graduation season is upon us, and with it is sure to come a flurry of commencement addresses crammed with platitudes about self-actualization, self-indulgence, and self-fulfillment. Though accompanied by occasional urges to “change the world” and “make a difference,” all will still fit neatly within a much broader cultural aim: “finding ourselves,” “trusting ourselves,” and “being true to ourselves.” Continue Reading...
April 12, 2019

The search for transcendence

Yesterday a short video, originally posted by Forbes a few months ago, popped up in my browser. Called “Finding Meaning Through Travel,” it discusses several people who have supposedly found their calling in a life of travel and exotic pursuits. Continue Reading...
April 11, 2019

Learning to love institutions in an age of individualism

In the wake of rapid globalization and widespread consolidation, many have grown weary of human institutions, whether in business, religion, politics, or beyond. Threatened by their structure and slowness, we have tended to detach ourselves, opting instead for more “organic” approaches to human interaction. Continue Reading...
March 26, 2019

The virtues of boredom in an anxious age

Today’s parents are fixated on setting their children on strategic paths to “success”— cramming their days with lessons, sports, clubs, camps, and so on. The goal: to enrich their kids’ lives with new knowledge and experiences. Continue Reading...
March 07, 2019

The moral threat of measuring the ‘pay gap’

The “ethnic pay gap” in the UK has been estimated at £3.2 billion ($4.2 billion U.S.), or nearly $200 a week. To rectify this, 15 major employers – including the Bank of England, Deloitte UK, and Citibank UK – have agreed (after nudging from the Conservative government) to publish their ethnic pay figures. Continue Reading...