Year: 2008

February 15, 2008

The cost of good intentions

Interesting: Backed by studies showing that middle-class Seattle residents can no longer afford the city’s middle-class homes, consensus is growing that prices are too darned high. But why are they so high? Continue Reading...
February 15, 2008

‘A Patriarch in dire straits’

Bartholomew I My commentary this week looked at “Encountering the Mystery,” the new book from Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Orthodox Church. In 1971, the Turkish government shut down Halki, the partriarchal seminary on Heybeliada Island in the Sea of Marmara. Continue Reading...
February 15, 2008

World to church: “Well done.”

If there’s anything that the church should really be striving for, it’s approval from secular groups: “An official with the One Campaign, the global anti-poverty program backed by rock star Bono, said that his organization strongly supports the Christian Reformed Church’s Sea to Sea 2008 Bike Tour.” Continue Reading...
February 14, 2008

A conundrum for misanthropes

I wonder if the same folks who think the earth has too many human beings (and wish for some sort of plague to rid the earth of many, if not all, of its human inhabitants) are celebrating the predictions that global warming “in the long term has the potential to kill everybody.” Continue Reading...
February 13, 2008

Klinghoffer on the decalogue on the Sabbath

I’ve lately completed David Klinghoffer’s book on the Ten Commandments, Shattered Tablets. In large part it is a conventional conservative critique of American culture, but along the way the author makes some interesting theological connections, especially when he draws on the long tradition of Jewish biblical commentary. Continue Reading...
February 13, 2008

A history of morality

Success unsettles the principles even of the wise, and scarcely would those of debauched habits use victory with moderation. — Sallust Last Saturday Dr. Ben Carson, Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, received the Ford’s Theatre Lincoln Medal. Continue Reading...
February 12, 2008

More freedom = Less corruption in Italy

Last week, Istituto Acton’s close Italian ally in defense of liberty, Istituto Bruno Leoni (IBL), presented the 2008 Index of Economic Freedom in Rome. The IBL invited speakers to discuss the decline of economic freedom in Italy over the last 12 months. Continue Reading...
February 11, 2008

Radio Free Acton: Primary education

The Radio Free Acton crew expands to include Michael Miller, Director of Programs here at Acton, and Acton Research Fellow Anthony Bradley, who join regulars Marc Vander Maas and Ray Nothstine to discuss the fallout from a busy week in the world of faith and politics. Continue Reading...