Free and (Mostly) Virtuous Links
Religion & Liberty Online

Free and (Mostly) Virtuous Links

Mark Tooley follows the Prophet Wallis as he descends from the heavens in a fiery chariot, with trumpets and shouts, and goes among our youth at Wisconsin’s Lifest in The Pearly Gatecrasher.

Physicists close in on the “God particle” (how small they make Him) but worry about sensitivities surrounding the name. Says one of the particle chasers: “It embarrasses me. Although I am not a believer myself, it’s a misuse of terminology that might offend some people.”

Reason.tv Editor in Chief Nick Gillespie interviews Arthur C. Brooks of AEI about his new book, The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future. Free enterprise is “bedrock” American culture, Brooks argues.

In Ukraine to bridge a rift in the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill is insulted with epithets such as “the Moscow pope.” But the country, which is 80 percent Orthodox Christian, needs to avoid nationalism while building a Christian culture, he says. All must build a society whose members live according to the “divine law of love,” preaches Kirill. Metropolitan Hilarion discusses the Russian-Ukrainian schism in greater depth.

Back home, there’s a bull market for “USSR-style cafes, patriotic songs, and even a themed TV channel for those missing the good old times.” Soviet symbols have become a goldmine for many Russian moneymakers, says Russia Today.

The World Court ruled that Kosovo’s unilateral secession from Serbia was not illegal. OK, so why are Spain, Cyprus, Russia, Bosnia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Senegal, Nigeria, Angola and even Tanzania not so overjoyed? Unintended consequences anyone?

Dennis Prager explains on NRO why “The Left Hates Conservatives.” And it’s personal.

In “The Conservative Ascent” on The Daily Caller, the Liberty Fund’s Richard M. Reinsch II argues that we should all be reading more of Whittaker Chambers. Agreed. Reinsch recalls Chamber’s words in the “epic memoir” Witness: “ … political freedom, as the Western world has known it, is only a political reading of the Bible.”

Tax increases have the effect of “highly” contracting economic ouput, says Christina and David Romer in a new research paper. She is, by the by, the chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers. Wait till they hear about this back at the White House.

John Couretas

is a writer and editor based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.