Latest Posts

Church-backed international development

In between dire warnings from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) about the evil neo-liberal economic order and calls for more money from its member denominations, this gem arrived today via Ecumenical News International: Church bank says its loans are at forefront of anti-poverty fight Utrecht (ENI). Continue Reading...

Ethical ‘Super Speculation’

This interview with Charles Sandmel, a veteran of the municipal bond market, gives us some insights into current trends in the ethical investing movement. Some key points: The leading market sectors over the last few years are in areas that “most of them [ethical investors] avoid, such as energy.” Continue Reading...

Afterthoughts on the aftermath of the New Orleans flood

Eric Schansberg ponders the lessons that we can learn from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One of Schansberg’s biggest questions in light of the government’s failure to effectively manage the disaster is this: if the government, both local and federal, failed at all levels to deal with Katrina before, during, and after it made landfall, shouldn’t we be looking for other options rather than trying to depend more on a system that obviously failed? Continue Reading...

The poor suffer most

Also from last week’s McLaughlin Group, Mort Zuckerman from U.S. News & World Report makes the important point that rising costs of gasoline greatly impact the poorest and most vulnerable populations. Continue Reading...

Let the market work

Check out this exchange, involving Tony Blankley from The Washington Times, Pat Buchanan of MSNBC, and Eleanor Clift of Newsweek, from last week’s McLaughlin Group about President Bush’s call for people to conserve gasoline in their daily activities: MR. Continue Reading...

Delta regions of the world, unite!

The current situation in New Orleans can be seen in part as a result of the circumstances and context of the city’s founding in 1718. According to one report, the French settled on the site for New Orleans in response to “the need to control the Mississippi River and its tributaries.” Continue Reading...

Tolerance: True and false

Pope Benedict XVI: “A tolerance which allows God as a private opinion but which excludes him from public life, from the reality of the world and our lives, is not tolerance but hypocrisy,” the pope said in the homily he gave at a three-week-long synod’s opening mass in St Peter’s Basilica. Continue Reading...

Corporate faith

Two stats featured in this month’s Go Figure section of Christianity Today: 17: Percentage of the top 50 Fortune 500 corporations’ foundations whose policies prohibit their giving to faith-based groups. Continue Reading...