Podcast: U.N. Secretary General Wants to “Join Forces” With Catholic Church? Chris Manion, Population Research Institute Ban Ki Moon, Secreatary General of the United Nations, wants to “join forces” with the Catholic Church to save the planet. Does Mr. Ban actually believe that Pope Francis will endorse the UN’s forced abortion and sterilization programs around the world? Ban Ki-moon urges governments to invest in low carbon energy Damian Carrington, The Guardian Ban also said, with a papal encyclical on climate...

Our religious shareholder activist buddies in As You Sow and the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility can e Neil Young in their ill-advised battle against genetically modified organisms. Seems ol’ Shakey – as Young is known to his friends, family and hardcore fans – has released a song that could’ve been written from all the GMO falsehoods and scare tactics spread by AYS and ICCR, including: More than 60 percent of all processed foods available today contain GE ingredients such...

What is the best test of mon good? How do you know if you have a society characterized by the flourishing of persons munity? Andy Crouch argues that we should look at the flourishing of the most vulnerable. “There are all kinds of conditions in which the affluent, privileged, powerful majority can flourish,” notes Crouch in his talk at QIdeas in Nashville. “But the far more demanding test in any society is the fate of the most vulnerable—the youngest, the...

Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...

Last year Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist at Harvard, published the intriguing book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. While some of his assumptions and conclusions about the overall decline of violence are questionable, he does seem to be correct about the decline of warfare over the past several decades. Consider this chart, produced by Vox, which shows the decline in deaths attributed to war since the 1940s. Human nature doesn’t change. With every generation of...

With the newest papal encyclical due out soon, and with its purported title to beLaudato si’[Praised Be You] from St. Francis of Assisi’s great prayer, The Canticle of the Sun, Acton’s director of research Samuel Gregg takes a closer look at this saint. St. Francis of Assisi loved God’s created world; of that there is no doubt. However, is he the patron saint of the eco-warrior crowd? Gregg says there are far too many myths that surround this great servant...

Disaster relief and aid to developing nations is big business. Really big. While the documentary “Poverty, Inc.” examines whether this business helps or hurts, it’s very clear from this NPR/ProPublica story that the Red Cross did not help Haiti. And the Red Cross didn’t help Haiti to the tune of $500 million. The Red Cross claims all the money went to Haitians. Haitians say no. Former Haitian prime minister Jean-Max Bellerive: I’m not a big mathematician, but I can make...

People of good will wish to end poverty. No one who lives in abject poverty wishes to remain there. We all know that poverty is a problem, but we differ on how to “fix” it. One clear distinction, discussed by Stephanie Summers, is whether we want to end poverty, or whether we want to promote human flourishing. This is a critical delineation. Ending poverty focuses primarily on government policy and programs. It utilizes metrics, numbers, data to “prove” success. The...

In a new mini-documentary, the New York Times kindly confirms what we already knowabout Paul Ehrlich. His predictions about overpopulation have beenastoundinglywrong, and his views about humanityare no less perverse. Author of the famous panic manifesto, Population Bomb, Ehrlich made a name for himself by predicting mass starvation and catastrophe due to over-population. If left to our own devices, Ehrlich argued, we unruly beasts will feast and gorge and reproduce ourselves into an oblivion. Hissolution? Targeted starvation, abortion, and sterilization...

James V. Schall, SJ, reflects on the importance of the Magna Carta – perhaps the best-known historical document in the world – at The Catholic News Report. What was this famous legal document really like? What did it do? Some, like Oliver Cromwell, thought it was useless. Others did not think it particularly unique, since there were already hundreds of such charters throughout Europe. Others saw it as the basis of political responsibility, by limiting kingly rule. Still others considered...