“What would happen if instead of focusing on what we don’t have, we consider what God has already given us — our talents, our dreams, our motivations — and offer them back to Him as an act of worship?” In a new video from HOPE International, we’re challenged to counter our tendencies to approach God through an attitude of lack and self-doubt (“if only I had x I would do y”), trusting instead that God has already given us exactly...

“How am I supposed to get a baby?” There are many people who cannot get pregnant and have a child. Some are infertile. Some are single and have no one that wishes to parent with them. Gay couples cannot naturally have children. So how are these folks supposed to get the baby that they want? This is the question Alana S. Newman was faced with while speaking at the Bonds that Matter conference. It’s not the first time Newman has...

More groups are beginning to notice the hypocrisy of nuns advocating for progressive causes, including and especially their stumping for campaign finance disclosure. Over at Juicy Ecumenism, the blog published by the Institute of Religion & Democracy, guest writer T.J. Whittle echoes what loyal PowerBlog readers will recognize as a familiar theme. Namely, the nuns are working in league with leftist organizations interested only in stifling their opponents’ political speech. In his essay, “Nuns in Glass Buses,” Whittle, a research...

Throughout Western developed nations, there is dawning recognition that robust protections for religious liberty can no longer be taken for granted. Less understood are the ways in which infringements of other political, civil mercial forms of freedom can subtly undermine religious liberty. Businesses and other institutions of civil society now need to consider how the restrictions of religious freedom by governments throughout the Western world is likely to affect them. Today the Acton Institute, in conjunction with the School of...

Things really aren’t looking good across the pond. Acton’s Director of Research, Samuel Gregg, has written quite a bit about the decline in Europe. His latest ‘Meanwhile, Europe is (Still) Burning’ in the American Spectator, discusses the inability or unwillingness of European governments to respond to economic trouble. Two of the world’s large economies, France and Italy, are examples of this. In France, workforce unemployment is 11 percent, the government has engaged in possibly illegal activity by hiding the fact...

The Education Department has concluded an investigation at Princeton University, and determined that the school violated the Title IX gender equity law in its handling of sexual assault cases. What did Princeton do wrong? Part of the problem, says the Education Department, is that the university violated the rights of rape survivors by using a standard of proof for sexual assault cases higher than the federally mended standard, which requires a “preponderance of evidence” for responsibility. At this point you...

People are not lab rats. Regardless of who they are, where they live, how much money they have or don’t have, people are not to be used for scientific experimentation without their permission. The shameful Tuskegee experiment, the horrific medical experimentation carried out by the Nazis, and the modern eugenics movement all share an underlying principle: there are some people that aren’t quite people at all – not the “kind” we want anyway. In Kenya, the United Nations has been...

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...

Today marks the 239th birthday of the finest fighting force in the history of the world. The Marine Corps Birthday makes me nostalgic for the good ol’ days of . . . well, okay, maybe good is too strong a word. In fact, I can’t say that I miss being on active duty (15 years was more than enough). But I do miss being with my fellow Marines. To give you an idea of what the life of a Marine...

Cities across America – from Pensacola, Florida to Honolulu, Hawaii — have increasingly taken strong measures to discourage the homeless from making a home within their city limits. So it didn’t seem surprising when the media ran with a story last week about two pastors and a 90-year-old homeless advocate “Charged With Feeding Homeless.” As the AP reported, To Arnold Abbott, feeding the homeless in a public park in South Florida was an act of charity. To the city of...