Keep Those Receipts!

Filing your taxes just got a little more complicated. The IRS recently announced new guidelines for charitable deductions to be introduced for the 2007 tax year. Beginning next tax season, “taxpayers must provide bank records or other information when claiming deductions for charitable donations of money.” Continue Reading...

Religion Saves More Than Souls

Pat Fagan of the Heritage Foundation summarizes the research on religious practice and social outcomes. Religious practice is a protective factor against divorce, out-of-wedlock child-bearing, domestic violence, drug abuse and suidical tendencies. Continue Reading...

John Cornwell, Call Your Office!

In light of Iran’s Holocaust Denial conference, you’d think we would hear something from some of the authors who have made a name for themselves attacking the Catholic Church for not doing enough to prevent the Holocaust. Continue Reading...

Colson on Debt and Giving

“The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives…” Psalm 37:21 That verse is a pretty good introduction to the issues facing people who declare bankruptcy but want to continue to give to the church. Continue Reading...

Restoring Congressional Integrity

There can be little doubt that one of the greatest political and economic problems in the US is the way that our Congress “earmarks” billions of dollars for special projects that benefit lawmakers in their bid for personal security and re-election. Continue Reading...

Churchly Environmentalism

I’ll post the link to this story on an eco-friendly church being built in the Philippines with only one further comment: I am very surprised at the claim that this is the “world’s first-ever environmentally-friendly church.” Continue Reading...

More than a Social Gospel

In a much discussed op-ed for CNN last week, hipster church leaders Marc Brown and Jay Bakker (the latter’s profile, incidentally, immediately precedes that of yours truly in The Relevant Nation…a serendipitous product of alphabetical order) lodge a complaint against Christianity that doesn’t respect the call “love others just as they are, without an agenda.” Continue Reading...

Costs of Aggressive Population Control

The children of the Chinese One-child policy are finding new obstacles in their paths: no one wants to hire them. Incredible, but true. It seems that many of the only children have been so pampered by their parents, that employers do not find them suitable workers. Continue Reading...

For More on the Black Family

…check out the helpful website by the Seymour Institute. Founded by the Rev. Gene Rivers in Boston, the Institute brings together information and tools to advocate for marriage in the black community. Continue Reading...

Marriage and the Black Family

I recently received a letter from a reader of my Acton Commentary column, "Marriage as a Social Justice Issue," which she had seen reprinted in modified form at Town Hall. My correspondent was concerned that I had overlooked a key fact: the lack of marriageable black men. Continue Reading...