Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Public Policy

March 07, 2013

Welfare Spending Equals $47,000 and a Ford Fiesta Per Family

When it comes to proving support for those in poverty, a significant number of economists, politicians, and pundits support direct transfer of money—just giving the poor cash. There are many moral and practical reasons I think that option is a suboptimal means of aiding the poorest of our neighbors. Continue Reading...
March 07, 2013

Architecture, Human Flourishing, and Health Care

In a recent issue of Metropolis Magazine, Thomas de Monchaux tells the story of an amazing lesson about innovation that Americans can learn from Rwandans. This is no surprise, but readers will learn that burdensome government regulations stifle innovation and undermine human flourishing. Continue Reading...
March 01, 2013

Samuel Gregg on Catholics, Welfare, and the Sequester

Should Catholics be concerned about the looming budget cuts? The National Catholic Register asked several Catholic leaders and thinkers, including Acton’s Samuel Gregg, for their response to the sequester: Re-establishing fiscal discipline and welfare reform are necessary components to securing the common good, a key principle in Catholic social teaching, said Samuel Gregg, author of the new book Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture and How America Can Avoid a European Future. Continue Reading...
March 01, 2013

Corporate Welfare: Why?

I have yet to read a moral argument for why the taxes collected from working men and women should be redistributed to businesses. It’s called “corporate welfare.” This is the odd state of affairs where, business owners compete for government funding rather than exclusively competing for customers in the marketplace. Continue Reading...
February 27, 2013

Human Flourishing: Seeking More For The Oppressed

The February issue of Sojourners magazine presents various perspectives on the surge in evangelicalism’s interest in exploring new national and international peace initiatives. For example, The World Evangelical Alliance’s Peacebuilding and Reconciliation Initiative acknowledges “that in our zeal for evangelism, we have often overlooked the biblical mandate to pursue peace. Continue Reading...
February 26, 2013

Obama Administration to Federal Judge: We Can Force Your Wife to Violate Her Religion

Has there ever, in the history of America, been a presidential administration as dismissive of religious liberties as the Obama Administration? The Administration seems to truly believe that when religious beliefs come into conflict with one of the President’s pet policies—such as employers being forced to pay for contraceptives and abortifacients—that religious liberties must be set aside. Continue Reading...
February 26, 2013

Beware the Yeast of the Bureaucrats

With the most recent fiscal cliff approaching this Thursday (February 28), it is worth asking, “How did we get into this mess?” My answer: a little leaven works its way through a whole lump of dough…. Continue Reading...