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The sheep and the goats: Work and service to others
The concept of work being at once remunerative and service-oriented is not totally foreign to us.Health care reform begins at home
One vital step on the path toward a healthier America is reigniting a sense of personal responsibility for health-affecting decisions. The recent successes of some small town initiatives demonstrate how voluntary associations can play an important role.Obamacare and the threat to human dignity
Since President Obama signed the Patient Protection Act into law in March 2010, the acrimonious debate on this far-reaching legislation has persisted. For many, the concerns over the Obama administration’s health care reform effort are based on both moral and fiscal grounds. Now, with House Republicans scheduling a vote to repeal “Obamacare” in the days ahead, the debate is once again ratcheting up.A tithe for Uncle Sam
Political leaders talk as if the money Americans keep (not paid in taxes) belongs to the government and that our keeping money they could tax is an actual cost to them. This kind of distorted thinking has led us into the fiscal irresponsibility that threatens to destroy our country.The ‘small’ God Who brought Heaven down to earth
Some years ago I found myself at a fashionable dinner party in Los Angeles where the lamb was roasted to perfection, and the deep, rich red Australian wine complimented it to a tee. The conversation around the dinner table was likewise high-minded and it did not take this largely secular gathering very long to turn their attention to the Christian sitting in their midst.Scrooge and the ghosts of charity
A closer reading of Charles Dickens’ actual text reveals a complex narrative, including the negative impact government-allocated charity has on personal giving.Christian giving begins with the local church
While “church” and “religious organizations” are getting a larger share of a smaller pie, local congregations are seeing donations decline.Humility in economics
In the 2004 independent hit film, Napoleon Dynamite, the title character expresses his opinion in absolute terms: “This is pretty much the worst video ever made.” His brother, Kip, replies with incisive logic, “Like anyone can even know that.” In an age of government aggrandizement and intellectual vanity, Kip’s words could become a useful slogan. The stimulus bill of 2009 is Exhibit A. When it was passed in February of that year, President Obama and his economic advisers insisted that it would prevent unemployment from exceeding 8 percent.Benedict XVI: Christian radical
In recent decades, Pope Benedict claims, Christian preaching has stopped mentioning the Last Things revealed by Christ: i.e., Heaven, Hell, and the fact that all of us will be judged. Instead, preaching has become “one-sided, in that it is largely directed toward the creation of a better world, while hardly anyone talks any more about the other, truly better world.”Europe, immigration, and Merkel’s Christian values
It’s not often senior European political leaders make politically-incorrect statements, but Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has recently made a habit of it. The subject has been the touchy question of Muslim immigration and the challenges it poses for European identity.The legalism of political Christianity
If we are to recover from the legalistic impulse of the Religious Left and Right, it will be in no small part because we have reinvigorated principled distinctions, such as the difference between clear moral imperatives and prudential judgments.‘A’ for austerity: The new scarlet letter
Political courage only arises out of a broader and principled vision of a society that is characterized by both freedom and virtue.