School prayer: 50 years after the ban, God and faith more present than ever
Lee Lawrence, Christian Science Monitor
School prayer was banned by the US Supreme Court 50 years ago, but there is probably more presence of religion in public school environments – through club ministries, classes, after-school and interfaith programs, and faith-based services – than ever.
The Jewish Approach to Welfare and Unemployment
Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks, Huffington Post
The supreme act of welfare is to help people into work so that they no longer need the help of others.
God and Man in Russia
Seth Mandel, Commentary
Putin is not meting out such punishment to defend or to glorify the church. He is taking a wrecking ball to the church once again, even if only metaphorically. By tying the Russian Orthodox Church to his regime’s repression, he is ruining it in the public consciousness.
Edward Snowden and Catholic Social Teaching
Patrick Clark, Catholic Moral Theology
I want to suggest that the recent revelation of the scope of our government’s surveillance practices and capacities should make it clear that there may be certain times in which the defense of the common good will bring Catholics into alignment with libertarians on particular issues. I believe now is one such time.
Cardinal Kurt Koch on the Dialogue Between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches
Religious Information Service of Ukraine
The Orthodox Church should “boldly examine its main ecclesiological problem, namely, autocephaly of national churches and their inclination toward nationalism.”
Christians face being driven from the Middle East
Simon Kent, Toronto Sun
Fr. Peter-Michael Preble says “the entire Judeo-Christian heritage that once underpinned the region is threatened with collapse.”
‘Environmental Justice,’ EPA Style
Steven F. Hayward, The American
A Guide to the 2013 Social Security Trustees Report
Charles Blahous, e21
Social Security’s total financing shortfall is now larger than it has been at any point since the 1983 reforms, and indeed now requires legislative corrections more severe than those enacted at that time.
Why Progressives Are Wrong About Pope Francis and Poverty
Rich Lizardo, The American Spectator
As Phil Lawler pointed out, every time a pope “denounces selfishness and materialism,” political pundits erroneously equate such denouncements with having “sided with socialists.”
The Data Are In: Religious Private Schools Deserve a Second Look
William Jeynes, Public Discourse
A recent meta-analysis of 90 studies on religious private schools, traditional public schools, and charter schools shows that students perform best academically and behaviorally when they attend religious private schools.
30 Public Universities Adopt More Christian-Friendly Policies After Legal Group’s Campaign
Alex Murashko, Christian Post
A legal effort by the faith-based organization Alliance Defending Freedom launched last year has resulted in 30 of the nation’s public universities and colleges changing their policies to ensure that students’ First-Amendment freedoms are protected, including Christian students’ right to free speech and choice of leadership.
