Religion & Liberty Online Archives

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August 03, 2007

Romney’s Religion

Michael Gerson’s “What Matters About Romney’s Religion” in today’s Washington Post: There is a long tradition of American leaders who believe that religion is so personal it shouldn’t even affect their private lives. Continue Reading...
August 02, 2007

Bulgaria embraces flat tax and freedom

The speaker for the Seventeenth Acton Institute Annual Dinner is former Estonian Prime Minister, Dr. Mart Laar. One of the economic reforms Laar implemented in Estonia was a flat tax. After what was described as a brilliant economic turnaround, other countries have followed Estonia’s lead on flat tax policies and free market policies in general. Continue Reading...
August 01, 2007

‘Coerced, Perfunctory, and Unreflective Patriotism’

Here’s the text of a letter sent this morning to the editor at Woman’s Day magazine (don’t ask why I was reading Woman’s Day. I read whatever happens to be sitting in the rack next to our commode): Paula Spencer’s commentary on the Pledge of Allegiance (“Pledging Allegiance,” September 1, 2007) sounds incredibly McCarthy-esque. Continue Reading...
July 31, 2007

Affirmation Blankets

Just when you thought America’s Rogerian culture of prostrated self-worship couldn’t get anymore nauseating…. ‘I boldly ask for what I want!’ ….Enter, the Affirmation Blanket. I am almost reluctant to give these people more publicity, but this is way too funny to pass up. Continue Reading...
July 27, 2007

Tony Snow in CT

In the July issue of Christianity Today, White House spokesman Tony Snow offers a moving account of his struggle with colon cancer in “Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings.” Snow, who delivered the keynote speech at the 2001 Acton Annual Dinner, wrote this in response to CT’s question about “the spiritual lessons he has been learning through the ordeal.”: Continue Reading...
July 24, 2007

There’s A Joke In Here Somewhere…

…But far be it from me to make it. Fortunately, Spiegel Online does all the joking for us. Headline: Tiny Brain No Problem for French Tax Official. The commonly spouted wisdom that people only use 10 percent of their brain power may have been dismissed as a myth, but one French man seems to be managing fine with just a small fraction of his actual brain. Continue Reading...
July 24, 2007

The Truth about Force in Reconciliation

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in post-apartheid South Africa has been hailed as the standard for working for restorative justice in the contemporary world. One of the misunderstandings surrounding the work of the commission, however, involves the relationship between the forgiveness, reconciliation, and amnesty offered by the commission in relation to the coercive power of the state. Continue Reading...
July 23, 2007

Display the “Hot Ghetto Mess” For The World To See

I will make no friends with this post but some parts of black America are trapped in a moral crisis. The crisis will be on display this Wednesday when B.E.T. (Black Entertainment Television) debuts a new show called “We Got To Do Better” which is based off of a website called “Hot Ghetto Mess.” Continue Reading...
July 20, 2007

PowerBlog Cracks EO’s Top 10

A big tip o’ the hat to Joe Carter over at evangelical outpost for including the Acton PowerBlog in The EO 100, which he describes as “the top 100 blogs that I have found to be the most convicting, enlightening, frustrating, illuminating, maddening, stimulating, right-on and/or wrongheaded by Christians expressing a Christian worldview.” Continue Reading...