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Religion & Liberty

Past Articles

Page 64 of 111

  • What's Right for Labor

    Monsignor George G. Higgins, who died at the age of eighty-six on May Day 2002, dedicated his social ministry to improving the lives of workers. A priest with a doctorate in labor economics, he was uniquely qualified to speak on behalf of Roman Catholic social teaching concerning the dignity of the worker. Father Higgins was also a passionate defender of religious liberty in the American tradition and was very influential in the Second Vatican Council’s statement on behalf of human dignity and freedom.

    by Rev. Robert A. Sirico

  • Thomas Jefferson and the Mammoth Cheese

    On New Year’s Day, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson received a gift of mythic proportions. Amid great fanfare, a mammoth cheese was delivered to the White House by the itinerant Baptist preacher John Leland. It measured more than four feet in diameter, thirteen feet in circumference, and seventeen inches in height; once cured, it weighed 1,235 pounds.

    by Daniel L. Dreisbach

  • The Political Is Personal

    The horrors of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath have so occupied our minds for the past nine months that the serious social pathologies of our urban centers have receded from our attention. The actions of a few terrorists somehow make even mugging, robbery, drug peddling, and inadequate education seem like minor troubles. These problems are not going away, however, and they may not be ignored.

    by John Bolt

  • Toward a Free and Virtuous Society

    It is a telling commentary on our times that the political and ethical cognoscenti associate freedom with licentiousness, antinomianism, atomistic individualism, and an array of similar vices antithetical to virtue. Despite this attitude on the part of many professional intellectuals, common sense tells any sane person that a society that is both free and virtuous is the place in which he would most want to live. But what exactly would it mean to advocate and work toward the construction of such a society?

    by Rev. Robert A. Sirico

  • The Good of Affluence

    “We are going to see a revival in this country, and it's going to be led by rich people.” — Michael Novak, cited in Dinesh D' Souza's Virtue of Prosperity

    by John R. Schneider

  • Christendom, Power, and Authority

    The conceptual distinction between the exercise of authority and the exercise of power provides an essential guide to understanding the present and future status of Christendom, which has not been abolished but, rather, has taken on new forms in our times. The Second Vatican Council, in its document Lumen Gentium, clarified that the Kingdom of God is not a place or a government, much less an earthly end-state arrived at through the political process.

    by Rev. Robert A. Sirico

  • Ethical Reasoning in Business

    On September 30, 1982, three people in the Chicago area died from cyanide introduced into Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. The link between the deaths and the tainted capsules was made with remarkable speed, and authorities notified Johnson and Johnson. As the number of deaths grew—the final total was seven—the firm faced a crisis and, indeed, potential disaster. Tylenol, a leading pain-reliever, was Johnson and Johnson's single largest brand, accounting for almost 18 percent of the corporation's income.

    by Richard C. Bayer

  • Islam, Past and Future

    Islam is a vast religion, boasting millions of adherents, spanning large areas of the globe, and encompassing thirteen centuries of history. Muslims are united in their belief in the one transcendent, immanent God of pure singularity. They hold the Qur'an to be the literal word of God, eternally coexisting with God, and transmitted to all the prophets beginning with Adam, but only purely, undefiled, and completely to Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets. Islam spread by the sword, proselytization, spiritual example, and financial incentive.

    by David F. Forte

  • A Different Kind of Enlightenment

    It is now common to argue that the roots of many of the features of modern culture—secularism, utilitarianism, and materialism, to name a few—are found in the ideas of the Enlightenment, a European-wide, eighteenth-century movement described by Immanuel Kant as “man's release from his self-incurred tutelage.”

    by Ingrid A. Merikoski

  • Should Christians Say 'Amen' to Religious Politics?

    The events of September 11 have given rise to religious rhetoric in the public square the likes of which we have not seen in a long time. With Congressmen singing “God Bless America” on the Capitol steps and President Bush appealing to prayer, God, or the Bible in almost every speech, even the American Civil Liberties Union is observing a prolonged moment of silence. But what should Christians make of this political use of religion?

    by Lucas E. Morel

  • Faith, Freedom, and September 11

    How many times in the past months have we been struck by the expansive scope and seemingly endless depth of evil? In the midst of something so heinous, so diabolical, can the hand of the One whose finger is said to write straight with crooked lines be detected? As the stories of the orphans and their grief are told and retold, whether in our national media or in our kitchens, there is lurking in each telling and retelling the ominous question underneath it all: Why?

    by Rev. Robert A. Sirico