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Laudato Si’: Well intentioned, economically flawed
In the lead-up to the release of Pope Francis’ new encyclical Laudato Si’, most commentary focused on its likely implications for the world’s climate change debate.Unholy alliance: Who is advising Pope Francis on global warming?
Smiling, lovable, Pope Francis says and does the darndest things. Wildly popular, this Argentine pontiff provides the common touch that for millions, and not just Catholics, offers a welcome and very public picture of how the world’s most influential religious leader can live, pray, and lead as a humble pastor.On the road to character: Finding sin and grace along the way
New York Times writer David Brooks’ new book, On the Road to Character, examines what it takes to create a virtuous life. The author’s central question: Does a person of character focus solely on building on one’s strengths or does he confront and improve his weaknesses?Christian stewardship or UN sustainability?
ROME -- Has there ever been so much attention paid to a papal encyclical before its publication? At least we now know it will be entitled Laudato Sii. Phil Lawler is right to say that all the speculation is over the top; we pundits just can’t help ourselves. I must, however, plead guilty to the lesser (or is it greater?) charge of iconoclasm.Nature, markets, and human creativity
A review of Free Market Environmentalism for the Next Generation by Terry L. Anderson and Donald R. Leal. (Palgrave Macmillan, January 2015).The moral limits of psychology
Indifference to the moral dimension distorts the study of human action in economics; so too does it deform the discipline that reaches behind that action to the human mind: psychology.Citizen vs. client: Finding a way out of poverty in American cities
With the ruins of Baltimore fresh in our minds, one is left to wonder how people of that place could torch businesses and destroy their home. The answer, I believe, lies in the difference between being a citizen and being a client.Letter from Rome: What is liberal morality?
Three recent events have made me reflect on a certain theme that should be of interest to religious-minded advocates of the free society. Or at least it should be of interest if we wish to overcome the perceptions of religious believers as simple-minded fanatics and liberals as amoral libertines. This theme can be posed as a question: What is liberal morality?Lunchbox markets: A moral tale
In the land of PB&J, the girl with a peanut butter and M&M sandwich is queen. In the third grade, that girl’s name was Rita. That’s not to say I didn’t have my own competitive edge. Due to what I now consider to be a wholly irrational distaste for jams and jellies at the time, my lunch came packed with a peanut butter and honey sandwich.Going back to the grammar of creation
The primacy of God, which Pope Benedict XVI made a priority of his pontificate, reminds us that reality is intelligible and human reason must be used: reason that is able to recognize the logos, the objective reason that manifests itself in nature.Weeping for Argentina
“There are countries which are rich and countries which are poor. And there are poor countries which are growing rich. And then there is Argentina.”The logic of economic discrimination
The passage of religious liberty laws in states like Indiana and Arkansas has sparked a firestorm of controversy. These bills have been opposed by powerful corporate interests and vociferous gay activists.