Matt Mitchell at Neighborhood Effects offers an interesting perspective regarding the fiscal cliff. As we hurriedly approach the edge, Mitchell’s insights ought not to be ignored, whatever the outcome of today’s last minute meeting at the White House. Evoking the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, he writes,

Read more on The ‘Ghost of Fiscal Future’…

The Choice of Hercules between Virtue and Pleasure

Eli Horowitz over at Rust Belt Philosophy takes up my post from earlier this week, “The Christ Child and a Culture of Birth.” For the moment we can leave aside the accusations of racism latent in my view, as my demographic concerns are related to replacement levels and not to the question of majority/minority demographic shifts.

Read more on Children and a Culture of Choice…

The Most Persecuted Religion
Abraham Cooper, John Huffman, and Yitzchock Adlerstein, Wall Street Journal

Christians are targeted—by independent groups or governments—in some 131 countries world-wide.

How the Early Church Made Peace with Prosperity
Peter Leithart, Christianity Today

Read more on PowerLinks – 12.28.12…

An article in the Christmas issue of The Spectator make a surprising and bold claim:

It may not feel like it, but 2012 has been the greatest year in the history of the world. That sounds like an extravagant claim, but it is borne out by evidence. Never has there been less hunger, less disease or more prosperity. The West remains in the economic doldrums, but most developing countries are charging ahead, and people are being lifted out of poverty at the fastest rate ever recorded. The death toll inflicted by war and natural disasters is also mercifully low. We are living in a golden age.

To listen to politicians is to be given the opposite impression — of a dangerous, cruel world where things are bad and getting worse. This, in a way, is the politicians’ job: to highlight problems and to try their best to offer solutions. But the great advances of mankind come about not from statesmen, but from ordinary people. Governments across the world appear stuck in what Michael Lind, on page 30, describes as an era of ‘turboparalysis’ — all motion, no progress. But outside government, progress has been nothing short of spectacular.

While it’s tempting to dismiss the article as the typical hyperbolic contrarianism magazines and websites tend to churn out to pump up pageviews, I think there may be something to the claim.
Read more on Was 2012 the Best Year Ever?…

The National Catholic Register and Associated Press are reporting that Justice Sonia Sotomayor has denied Hobby Lobby (and a related company, Mardel, Inc.) its request to opt out of the HHS mandate to provide abortifacients as health care to employees. Justice Sotomayor’s decision stated that Hobby Lobby did not meet the legal standard for preventing them from complying with the government mandate. However, David Green, CEO and owner of Hobby Lobby disagrees, saying the lawsuit violates his family’s faith.

Read more on Hobby Lobby Denied Request For HHS Mandate Relief…

Every Wednesday we publish the Acton Commentary, a weekly article that covers topics related to Acton’s mission. As 2012 comes to a close I thought it would be worth highlighting the superb commentaries that have been produced by Acton Institute staffers over the past year.

The following list includes articles published in 2012 by Dr. Anthony B. Bradley, a research fellow at the Acton Institute.:
Read more on The Year in Commentary: Anthony B. Bradley…

Every Wednesday we publish the Acton Commentary, a weekly article that covers topics related to Acton’s mission. As 2012 comes to a close I thought it would be worth highlighting the superb commentaries that have been produced by Acton Institute staffers over the past year.

The following list includes articles published in 2012 by Dr. Jordan J. Ballor, Acton research fellow and executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality:
Read more on The Year in Commentary: Jordan J. Ballor…

Charity Begins With Wealth Creation
John Stossel, Reason

Charity—helping people who have trouble helping themselves—is a good thing two times over. It’s good for the beneficiary and good for the donor, too.

Read more on PowerLinks – 12.27.12…

Every Wednesday we publish the Acton Commentary, a weekly article that covers topics related to Acton’s mission. As 2012 comes to a close I thought it would be worth highlighting the superb commentaries that have been produced by Acton Institute staffers over the past year.

The following list includes articles published in 2012 by Dr. Samuel Gregg, director of research at the Acton Institute:
Read more on The Year in Commentary: Samuel Gregg…

Every Wednesday we publish the Acton Commentary, a weekly article that covers topics related to Acton’s mission. As 2012 comes to a close I thought it would be worth highlighting the superb commentaries that have been produced by Acton Institute staffers over the past year.

The following list includes articles published in 2012 by Rev. Robert A. Sirico, co-founder and president of the Acton Institute:
Read more on The Year in Commentary: Rev. Robert A. Sirico…