Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Public Policy

June 22, 2005

It’s a wonderful retirement?

D. Eric Schansberg, an Acton adjunct scholar, takes a look at the Social Security system, and concludes that “policymakers should address the oppressive taxes that Social Security imposes on the working poor, its pathetic rate of return, and inequities in its payouts.” Continue Reading...
June 22, 2005

Business and virtue in Batman begins

Can the new Batman movie provide moral lessons on business ethics and philanthropy? Ben Sikma writes that the film affirms “the value of traditional institutions more generally, such as the family, rule of law, and private ownership of the means of production.” Continue Reading...
June 22, 2005

Interesting discussion

There’s an interesting discussion going on over at Mirror of Justice about Catholic Social Teaching and the Preferential Option for the Poor: here, and here. Continue Reading...
June 21, 2005

Causes of increasing tuition

Harvey Silverglate on the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) blog, The Torch, passes on one explanation for why college tuition costs have been increasing at double digit rates for years on end. Continue Reading...
June 20, 2005

Social justice math

This EducatioNation blog post contains the text of an incisive WSJ editorial, along with a sample curriculum that illustrates the idiocy outlined in the editorial. In “Ethnomathematics,” Diane Ravitch writes, “In the early 1990s, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics issued standards that disparaged basic skills like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, since all of these could be easily performed on a calculator.” Continue Reading...
June 20, 2005

Green gospel of Biblical proportions

Courtesy the Evangelical Ecologist, “A group called ‘Operation Noah’ has re-written parts of Scripture to fit their climate change message,” and goes on to compare two “versions” of Psalm 24. I suppose this is just the next logical progression; if Scripture can’t be twisted by some perverse hermeneutic to fit your agenda, just change the text! Continue Reading...
June 17, 2005

Where are Matt and Brandon?

In response to the title of this post, you might reply: “Who cares?” I’ll tell you why you should perhaps care who these guys are and where they are. Matt and Brandon are two Michigan natives who have committed to running across the continental U.S. Continue Reading...
June 17, 2005

Day and Sirico: Common Ground?

This post at a blog hosted by the Ratzinger Fan Club, Against the Grain, gives a brief overview of the “preferential option for the poor” in Catholic Social Teaching. In the process, Christopher writes, Fr. Continue Reading...
June 16, 2005

Running the numbers

Recent news about debt relief for poor African nations might give the impression that governmental corruption, inefficiency, and irresponsibility are unique to developing countries. This is simply not so. Take, for example, the situation of the United States government. Continue Reading...