Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Public Policy

February 09, 2012

‘Comprehensive Reflection on the Human Good’

Joe Knippenberg raises a couple of important points over at the First Things site in response to my post earlier today about the relationship between conservatism and libertarianism. First, he questions the validity of my “distinction between political philosophy and worldview.” Continue Reading...
February 09, 2012

Libertarianism and the Conservative Movement

Yesterday AEI hosted a lively discussion between Jonah Goldberg and Matt Welch on the question, “Are Libertarians Part of the Conservative Movement?” I’ve got a piece appearing tomorrow at Comment that will discuss the “fusionist” project and the relationship between so-called economic or “market” conservatives and social or “communitarian” conservatives. Continue Reading...
February 08, 2012

Work and the Meaning of Life

In his classic book Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer asks the critical question for the Christian life in today’s world: “What could the call to follow Jesus mean today for the worker, the businessman, the farmer, or the soldier?” Continue Reading...
February 03, 2012

The Perils of Presidential Prooftexting

Much has been made already about President Obama’s comments yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast concerning the Christian faith’s teachings about social responsibility. During his time at the breakfast, the president opined that getting rid of tax breaks for wealthy Americans amounted to a Christian obligation: In a time when many folks are struggling and at a time when we have enormous deficits, it’s hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income or young people with student loans or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone. Continue Reading...
February 03, 2012

Next Steps Conference – Business As Mission

I am attending the Next Steps conference hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University and organized by IWU Students for BAM. This is their first annual conference. Acton Institute is sponsoring this conference as a part of our evangelical network building work. Continue Reading...
February 02, 2012

Obamacare vs the Catholic Bishops

I just completed a very short interview on Vatican Radio to discuss the current battle between the Obama administration and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It didn’t permit me to say more than that the Obama administration is making a political mistake, so I’d like to say a bit more about the serious consequences that will likely result and how we ended up with this Church-State conundrum in the first place. Continue Reading...
February 01, 2012

Food Truck Follow-Up

Picking up on the theme of my commentary and blog posts from a few weeks ago, I note (via Carpe Diem) that St. Paul, Minnesota will be welcoming “a new entry coming soon to the food truck scene in downtown St. Continue Reading...
January 25, 2012

Cheerleader-in-Chief

I was asked for my initial reaction to President Obama’s State of the Union speech, and the handsomely redesigned Think Christian posted them last night, “Jobs, Steve Jobs, and the State of the Union.” Continue Reading...