Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'compassion'

February 28, 2006

The Cartwrights and cowboy compassion

I was watching my favorite rerun on TV Land the other day, Bonanza. If you don’t know Bonanza, you should. It’s perhaps the classic TV western, and I was watching episode #68 from Season Three, “Springtime.” Continue Reading...
February 01, 2006

Amazing stories of effective compassion

I was reminded recently that Jesus repeatedly underscored the high value of seemingly very small things. The significant results of small mustard seeds and lost coins made his parable points well but, as a mom, the story of one lost sheep made me quickly leap to the incalculable value of one lost person. Continue Reading...
January 27, 2006

Foreign aid vs. economic freedom II

Jay Richards’ previous post on Richard Rahn’s article “Not Rocket Science” illustrates Huxley’s famous statement about a fact destroying a theory. Jay quotes Rahn’s lists of the politicians and development experts who support increased foreign aid. Continue Reading...
January 25, 2006

‘The look of love’

If I may, I’d like to highlight one more section from the Holy Father’s new encyclical that has particular relevance to the work here at Acton (although, I agree wholeheartedly with Kishore below: one really must read the whole thing–it’s fantastic): Love of neighbour is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by the Bible, by Jesus. Continue Reading...
January 20, 2006

Armstrong on government and charity

John H. Armstrong tackles the question, “How Should Government Deal with Poverty?” He writes, “A regular argument made, at least from some evangelical political voices from the political left, is to cite numerous Old Testament texts about poverty and then suggest that one of the central concerns of a just government is to solve the problems associated with poverty.” Continue Reading...
January 19, 2006

The Church as ‘hinge point’

A couple of weeks ago, I noted the amazing “just do it” outpouring of compassion in response to the wildfires in the Central Plains. My small home town in Oklahoma was among those areas burned or seriously damaged by the fires. Continue Reading...
January 18, 2006

Does American charity cheat the tax man?

A Stanford expert on philanthropy argues that tax-deductible American charity is actually a government subsidy and that philanthropy is not ‘redistributive’ enough. Acton’s Karen Woods points out (obvious to most) that helping the needy is not the exclusive domain of the state. Continue Reading...
January 05, 2006

How to kill a small charity

With a gracious spirit, let’s say that Section 317 of Senate Tax Relief Act of 2005 was penned with the intent of fostering honest accountability in the charity world. And, furthermore, let’s graciously allow that the legislation was designed to send the message that the Internal Revenue Service is vigilantly watching over the donation of tax-deductible clothing and household goods. Continue Reading...
January 03, 2006

The moral dilemmas of end-of-life care

I’ve written about the narrower problem of generational conflict as it relates to social security policy, here and here. From a perspective that encompasses the broader, related cultural, economic, and moral issues, Eric Cohen and Leon Kass write in Commentary the most thoughtful and thought-provoking piece I’ve read on the matter of intergenerational responsibility and end-of-life care. Continue Reading...
January 03, 2006

One man’s trash…

Sometimes one man’s trash is just trash. “Most people have no clue what’s involved with taking a garbage bag of stuff and getting it to the person who needs it,” said Lindy Garnette, executive director for SERVE Inc., Continue Reading...