Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Public Policy

December 07, 2007

Farm Subsidies Follow-up: Feed the Rich

In one of this week’s Acton Commentaries, Ray Nothstine and I juxtapose a static, sedentary dependence on government subsidies with a dynamic, entrepreneurial spirit of innovation. The impetus for this short piece was an article that originally appeared in the Grand Rapids Press (linked in the commentary). Continue Reading...
December 07, 2007

Young, Conservative, and Evangelical

Awhile back in a PowerBlog exclusive I asserted, “Many, if not most, young evangelicals are just as conservative on life issues as their forebears.” Here are some references to back that up: First, 70% Evangelicals 18-29 who favor “making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion.” Continue Reading...
December 06, 2007

Tonight: Rev. Sirico on Fox Business to discuss ‘WWJB?’

Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, is scheduled to join Fox Business host David Asman tonight to discuss the new documentary, “What Would Jesus Buy?” They’ll be joined by documentary producer Morgan Spurlock and performance artist Bill Talen, of the “Church of Stop Shopping.” Continue Reading...
December 05, 2007

Global Warming Consensus Alert – Parking Crisis!

Add another crisis to the list of problems caused by climate change – a lack of jet parking at small international airports. To be fair, this isn’t a direct consequence of climate change, but it wouldn’t be a problem in Bali, Indonesia right now if not for the big UN climate change shindig that’s going on. Continue Reading...
December 05, 2007

Farm Subsidies: Sustaining Dependency

Are farmers hooked on pork? Jordan Ballor and Ray Nothstine look at the current battle over farm subsidies. “By encouraging the production of overabundant commodities, the government is creating a cycle of dependency that undermines entrepreneurial initiative,” they write. Continue Reading...
December 05, 2007

What Latin Americans Want

What’s behind the stunning defeat of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez in a popular referendum this week? Undoubtedly, he overestimated the appeal of his “21st century socialism” among Latin Americans. A new poll also shows that the most trusted institution in Latin America is not the government — but the Catholic Church. Continue Reading...
December 05, 2007

Morse on Divorce

Not to belabor the topic of divorce (following Don Bosch’s interesting post from yesterday), but Acton senior fellow Jennifer Roback Morse has a thought-provoking piece on NCRegister.com on the perverse incentives of marriage law. Continue Reading...
December 04, 2007

Stay Green – Stay Married

Via ABC News: In the United States, they found that divorced households spent 46 percent more per capita on electricity and 56 percent more on water than married households did. According to the study, if divorced households could have the same resource efficiency as their married counterparts, they would need 38 million fewer rooms, use 73 billion fewer kilowatt hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water in 2005 alone. Continue Reading...
December 04, 2007

A ‘Green’ Christmas Tree

Many of us have yet to finalize plans for our Christmas decorating this year. If you haven’t yet decided what kind of tree to put up, consider the truly environmentally-friendly choice: cutting down a live tree. Continue Reading...