Richard Weaver, one of the great intellectuals of the 20th Century, and author of Ideas Have Consequences, published an essay in the early 1960s on Lord Acton (pdf only). Much of Weaver’s essay is worth highlighting, but one excerpt in particular reminds us of the central significance of Christianity in the battle for freedom. It reminds us too of the dangers of secularism and where our indifference to God is inevitably leading us. It was inevitable that, lacking one vital...

InterVarsity’sEmerging Scholars Blog recently posted two reviews of Abraham Kuyper’s Wisdom and Wonder: Common Grace in Science and Art, one from Dan Jesse, the other from David Carlson. Carlson nicely summarizes some of the book’s key implications for the life of the believer: One does not need to do Christian science or Christian art to be a faithful Christian in those domains. One needs to do good science or good art. Yet, science and art are powerful tools e without...

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Yuval Levin and Ramesh Ponnuru argue that conservatives now have a prime opportunity to offer a “credible alternative” to ObamaCare that would not only solve the serious problems of the healthcare system but would prevent a further lurch to the left if the current law fails: Seeing the pileup, Republicans might be tempted to step aside and let ObamaCare continue to disappoint and infuriate Americans. After all, the GOP doesn’t have the power to repeal...

Tea Party Catholic, the latest book by Acton’s Director of Research Sam Gregg, continues to garner attention. Fr. Gregory Jensen, at his Koinonia blog, reviews Gregg’s work in light of the experience of Orthodox Christians in the U.S. For the American Orthodox Christian, patriotism, “the love of the true good of one’s country” is the core of the Church vocation relative to the larger culture. We cannot evangelize, as I’ve said before, those we don’t know, but we don’t truly...

The Michigan Catholic Conference, which serves as the public policy voice for the Catholic Church in Michigan, has filed a new lawsuit against the federal government regarding the HHS mandate. A press statement released today says: Michigan Catholic Conference today filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan a new plaint against the federal government regarding the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) objectionable services mandate. plaint challenges the HHS mandate on the grounds...

In its first five years as an independent country, Kosovo has not experienced the positive developments that were hoped for, and remains far behind most countries in terms of economic development and rule of law. It is one of the poorest countries in Europe, boasting a meager 2012 per capita GDP of $3,453. Partly accounting for this low statistic is the minimal involvement of women in the economy. A 2012 World Bank report measures the portion of working-age women employed...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a “special letter” regarding the Obama administration’s HHS mandate. The USCCB, meeting this month in Baltimore, passed the letter unanimously. Calling the HHS mandate “coercive,” the bishops state that they have tried to work with the current administration, to no avail. Beginning in March 2012, in United for Religious Freedom, we identified three basic problems with the HHS mandate: it establishes a false architecture of religious liberty that excludes our...

The educational cronyism of textbook publisher cartels ing to an end as digital alternatives are on the rise, or so says AEI’s Mark Perry in a recent article. “Hear that hissing sound?” he writes, “It’s the sound of the college textbook bubble starting to deflate. . . . The era of the college textbook cartel and $300 college textbooks is ending.” I have written on this subject in the past for the PowerBlog (here and here), mentioning Perry’s coverage of...

Over at Desiring God blog, Sam Crabtree offers 16 simple principles, each panied by Scripture, to help reorient our thinking about the work of our hands, particularly among those in executive and administrative roles. Highlighting our persistent human tendency to neglect our Creator, Crabtree cautions against the subtle temptation to begin operating “as if we really can execute on our tasks all by our lonesome, without the constant help of our God.” What distinguishes a distinctly Christian executive? Some examples:...

There once was a time when I was enamored by the philosophy of Ayn Rand. An émigré from the Soviet Union, the influential novelist and founder of Objectivism had an enthusiasm for market capitalism and a hatred munism that I found entrancing. I discovered her two major philosophical novels,The Fountainheadand Atlas Shrugged, in my early years in college as I was beginning to wake from my enchantment with liberalism. I was instantly hooked. Rand’s ideas were intriguing, yet she harbored...