Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Public Policy

July 06, 2010

Beyond Petroleum

Some may recall that before BP’s recent disaster (public relations and otherwise), there was a period of rebranding the company from ‘British Petroleum’ to ‘Beyond Petroleum.’ I’ve long argued that the opportunities afforded us by the use of fossil fuels are best spent seeking long-term sustainable and reliable sources of energy. Continue Reading...
June 29, 2010

Intellectuals and Society

Daniel Mahoney, professor of political science at Assumption College and lecturer at this year’s Acton University, (find his lectures here) wrote an excellent review in City Journalof Thomas Sowell’s new book, Intellectuals and Society. Continue Reading...
June 28, 2010

On Cops and Cameras

Gizmodo has an intriguing post about attempts to regulate and even criminalize photography. As Wendy McIlroy reports, “In at least three states, it is now illegal to record any on-duty police officer.” Continue Reading...
June 22, 2010

Government and the Good Life

In preparing for an Acton University lecture last week on Christianity and Government (you can listen to it here)[audio:http://bonhoeffer.acton.org/acton_media/mp3/2010-6-16_Miller.mp3] I was reflecting on some of the core differences between a Christian vision of government in comparison to modern, secular visions. Continue Reading...
June 15, 2010

Public Schools: Adult Employment Programs

I’ve long argued that school choice is the quintessential bipartisan cause, with boundless potential to transform American primary and secondary education. Yet, for various reasons (all of them bad), it has failed to live up to that potential—its significant successes in various places notwithstanding. Continue Reading...
June 03, 2010

Ecology and Economy

I just finished writing a review of Robert H. Nelson’s book, The New Holy Wars: Economic Religion vs. Environmental Religion in Contemporary America (Penn State University Press, 2010) that will appear later this year in Calvin Theological Journal. Continue Reading...
June 01, 2010

Self-Sufficiency in Sand Lake

This is a really intriguing story about a small community beset by an unfriendly local tax environment, “Sand Lake civil war: Move to dissolve village comes down to taxes.” The village government of Sand Lake, Michigan, is threatened with dissolution. Continue Reading...
May 25, 2010

Debt, Welfare and the Road to Serfdom

Simon Johnson and Peter Boone wrote an interesting article the UK Telegraph Saturday called “The New Feudal Overlords of Europe will be the bankers of the ECB.” Johnson is also the co-author along with James Kwak of a thoughtful and provocative book 13 Bankers as well as a blog on economics. Continue Reading...
May 19, 2010

Sinning Against the Union

“Catholic scholars say those who thwart labor unions commit mortal sin,” says the headline from Catholic News Service. It’s an accurate characterization of a statement released by a group called Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice. Continue Reading...
May 18, 2010

Bottle Deposits and Behavior

I have taken an unofficial and unplanned hiatus from PowerBlogging over the last few weeks as I worked toward finishing up a book manuscript that you’ll hear much more about in the coming days. Continue Reading...