Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Effective Compassion

January 13, 2011

Churches and Relief in Haiti

Mark Hanlon of Compassion International writes about his experience related to the place of local churches in relief work. Contrary to the belief of some that relief and development groups “couldn’t rely on churches to do the work they needed to do in the third world. Continue Reading...
January 10, 2011

The ‘Big Reach’ of Food Banks

I took some issue with a quote from an otherwise fine piece about food banks in the December issue of Christianity Today. So let me follow-up with a recommendation without reservation for this profile of the work of the Big Reach Center of Hope in the current issue of CT by Nicole Russell, “A God-Sized Food Bank.” Continue Reading...
December 22, 2010

Empowerment through Giving within the Local Church

In a follow up to Jordan Ballor’s commentary last week, “Christian Giving Begins with the Local Church,” here is a related excerpt from Darren Dochuk’s From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the rise of Evangelical Conservatism. Continue Reading...
December 20, 2010

The Beginning and End of Christian Giving

Over at Mere Comments, and following up on this week’s Acton Commentary, “Christian Giving Begins with the Local Church,” I discuss some reasons why Christian giving doesn’t end there. It’s vitally important, I think, to distinguish between the church as institution and the church as organism. Continue Reading...
December 17, 2010

Addendum to Loss of Institutional Faith

Here’s a final and brief follow-up to the discussion about the loss of faith in institutions over recent decades. We might observe that the increase in charitable giving to religious organizations amidst declines in charitable giving overall might show that at least there is not a corresponding loss of faith by religious people in charitable institutions. Continue Reading...
December 15, 2010

Christian Giving Begins with the Local Church

In today’s Acton Commentary I argue that “Christian Giving Begins with the Local Church.” I note some statistics that show that American Christians are increasingly looking beyond their local congregations and churches as outlets for their charitable giving, in spite of the fact that giving to religiously affiliated and religiously focused charities is increasing. Continue Reading...
December 13, 2010

The Politics of Hunger

In an otherwise fine piece focusing on innovative techniques used by food banks to increase efficiency, while at the same time improving service and the recognition of the dignity of those they serve, Bread for the World president David Beckmann uses the opportunity to throw a dose of pessimism into the mix. Continue Reading...
November 16, 2010

Neal Johnson: When Charity Shames

There’s a story that I heard, of a miner, a family down in– it was in the Appalachia area and the church there really thought that they were doing a great deal because they would go in, they said they would pick the poorest families and they would take them Christmas gifts and turkeys and that sort of thing. Continue Reading...
October 25, 2010

The Subversion of Charity and Christian Identity

There were a few stories from the Grand Rapids Press over the weekend that form data points pointing toward some depressing trends: a decline in charitable giving (especially to churches), supplanting of private charity by government welfare, and the attempt to suppress explicit Christian identity. Continue Reading...