A few weeks ago I wrote about how some leaders of the religious left were supporting the EPA’s proposed new regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units. At the time I wrote, “While there may be some religious liberals who have been duped into thinking the new proposals will actually affect climate change, most are just signaling their allegiance to the Obama administration and the Democratic Party.” After I wrote that sentence I wondered if...

For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exilesisa 7-part series from the Acton Institute that seeks to examine the bigger picture of Christianity’s role in culture, society, and the world. The Gospel Coalition (TGC) ishighlighting an episode and sharing an exclusive codefor a free 72-hour rental of the full episode. Here’s the trailer for episode 7,The Church. Visit TGC to get thecode for the free rental(you have to apply the code today, but once you do the rental...

One of the strongest voices in the fight against human trafficking belongs to a survivor. Rani Hong, founder of The Tronie Foundation, has a bright smile and warm eyes. Her placid face does not tell the story of her life, but her words do. She wants her voice to be heard so that others do not have to experience what she did as a child. (Her Twitter handle is @RanisVoice.) In preparation for a campaign called, “Everyone’s Kids, Everyone Gives,”...

It’s a sad fact that ISIS has e part of our vocabulary, but many of us still don’t know a lot about this terrorist movement. At Aleteia, news editor John Burger spent time with some people knowledgeable abaout this group, and created a top 10 list. Burger spoke to Father Elias D. Mallon, external Affairs Officer of the New York-based Catholic Near East Welfare Association;Jesuit Father Mitch Pacwa of EWTN, and William Kilpatrick, author ofChristianity, Islam and Atheism: The Struggle...

Last Saturday was hot and humid in our corner of the world, and thus, my wife and I quickly decreed a pool day on the front lawn. The kids were ecstatic, particularly our four-year-old boy, who watched and waited anxiously as I got things prepared. All was eventually set — pool inflated, water filled, toys deployed — but before he could play, I told him he needed to help our neighbor pick up the fallen apples strewn across his lawn....

A platitude is a flat, dull, or trite remark, especially one uttered as if it were fresh or profound. Politicians love platitudes, which is why we have laws with names like the Clean Air Act, the Pure Food Act, the Fair Sentencing Act, and the Anti-Puppy Kicking Act (okay, I made up that last one). Since no one is for dirty air, impure food, unfair sentencing, puppy-kicking, who could possibly oppose such legislation? But the devil, as they say, is...

I have a large family. Yes, I have 5 children of my own, but I also have 23 nieces and nephews and 30+ great-nieces and nephews. Large. And we’ve heard it all. “Don’t you know what causes that?” (usually chortled with an panying poke in the ribs.) “Are you done now?” “Wow, you’ve got your hands full…” (translated: “Dear heavens, what is wrong with you people??”) It’s all good. Say what you want; we like having loud family gatherings, trying...

Photo Credit: Washington Post In a time when U.S. journalism too often feels dominated by infotainment on television and blog/opinion pseudo-news in print and on the internet, it is sad to see instances of real journalism, seeking to act as a check on corruption in the public sphere, being suppressed by that very corruption. But such has been the case, recently, in Ferguson, Mo. In the wake of the death of the unarmed teenager Michael Brown, shot by Ferguson police...

The Giver, a cinematic adaptation of Lois Lowry’s contemporary young adult classic, is great summer action-adventure entertainment. The film also serves as a terrific example for future moviemakers seeking to transfer themes of spiritual faith to celluloid without succumbing to preachiness and overwrought didacticism. Yes, The Giver is yet another dystopian sci-fi adventure story featuring handsome young protagonists rebelling against established A-list Hollywood stars portraying adult autocrats. But, unlike the silly, over-the-top political media and often disturbing ultraviolence of The...

The barbarians are not waiting beyond the frontiers, said Alasdair MacIntyre, they have already been governing us for quite some time. About the best we can hope for at this stage of history, he wrote in his influential book After Virtue, is “the construction of local forms munity within which civility and the intellectual and moral life can be sustained through the new dark ages which are already upon us.” “We are waiting not for a Godot,” concluded MacIntyre, “but...