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...

According to World News Daily the federal government has enlisted black church denominations to enroll people into Obamacare. Enroll America, a Washington-based nonprofit staffed in part by ex-Obama presidential campaign workers, is leading the enrollment campaign which saw just over 100,000 people “sign up” in October. Jessica Kendall, director of outreach for Enroll America, calls the task of signing up America’s uninsured the “largest enrollment effort that has ever been done in our history.” Her group is working with a...

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...

Today at Ethika Politika, Alfred Kentigern Siewers reviews Creation and the Heart of Man: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on Environmentalism, Acton’s recent Orthodox Christian social thought monograph by Fr. Michael Butler and Prof. Andrew Morriss. Siewers offers a nuanced and critical review, being well-read in the literature himself, and ultimately es the monograph as a missing voice in the broader conversation of Orthodox Christianity and creation care. Siewers writes, [I]n its introductory opening chapter, the authors clearly set forth their...

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...

Carl E Olson, editor of The Catholic World Report, recently wrote an article addressing the perception of Pope Francis by media members outside the Catholic Church. He says: Many in the American media, however, have already made up their minds: yes, the new pope is “liberal”, and that supposed fact is a big problem for those “conservative” bishops who keep harping about fringe issues such as the killing of the unborn, sexual immorality, the familial foundations of society, and the...

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...

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...

Carl E. Olson, in an editorial entitled “Catholicism and the Convenience of Empty Labels,” says that many who write and discuss all things Catholic get lost in “fabricated conflicts” which lack context. Pope Francis, depending on who is speaking, is a darling of the “liberals” or a stalwart “conservative.” Suffice to say, the die has been cast for many journalists, and thus for their readers, when es to framing stories about the good Pope Francis and the evil “right-wingers” who...