As we close out the year, we want to thank our PowerBlog readers for reading and contributing to our blog. If you’re a new reader we encourage you to catch up by checking out our top 10 most popular posts for 2015:

1. A Guide to Laudato Si: A Section-By-Section Summary of Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment

Joe Carter

Pope Francis has released his eagerly anticipated encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’. While the document deserves a close reading, it’s extreme length (80 pages/45,000 words) will make it difficult for many people to process. To help highlight some of the key points I’ve produced a section-by-section summary of the entire encyclical.

2. Bernie Sanders Loves to Decry ‘Casino Capitalism,’ But What About Economic Freedom?

Joseph Sunde

One could be forgiven for not understanding what Sanders means by “casino capitalism.” Is it crony capitalism, in which legislative favors are secured by the rich and powerful (which conservatives also disdain)? Is it bailouts for the big banks (which, again, conservatives also disdain)? Is it basic trade and exchange on a plex scale, and if so, at what size does it e problematic? Does he despise the stock exchange itself? Too loud with all its blinky lights and bells?

3. How the Federal Government May Put Christian Schools Out of Business

Joe Carter

With seven words—“It is going to be an issue”—the U.S. government signaled to orthodox Christian colleges and universities that if they don’t drop their opposition to same-sex marriage they will lose their tax exempt status.

4. Wheaton College Refuses to Bow to Caesar’s Demands

Joe Carter

Over the past couple of years the Obama administration has made it clear that when religious freedom conflicts with their political agenda, religious believers are the ones that will have to set aside their conscientious objections. And to be honest, I suspected that would be what happened more often than not.

5. Rev. Robert Sirico Takes On Trump’s Comments On Pope Francis

Elise Hilton

The Rev. Robert Sirico, who has voiced his own concerns regarding the pope’s economic views, clearly was not impressed with Trump’s views on how to deal with the views of “the people’s pope.”

6. John Oliver’s Real Target Isn’t Crooked Televangelists—It’s Conservative Churches

Joe Carter

If you’ve been on social media in the past year you’ve likely seen one of your liberal friends post a clip from Oliver’s show. There’s nothing particularly insightful about Oliver, but he has a British accent which leads Americans to assume he’s intelligent and profound.

7. Message from an Assyrian Christian Fighter

John Couretas

The fate of more than 200 Assyrian Christians kidnapped by ISIS in northern Syria remains unknown (19 have been released), but fears of “a slaughter of major proportions” are well founded. The Assyrian International News Agency posted a plea from an Assyrian Christian fighter with the picture you see above from the front lines of the battle against ISIS.

8. 20 Key Quotes from Pope Francis’s Address to Congress

Joe Carter

In his 30 minutes speech, which he delivered in English, the pope touched on wide range of issues, from the economics to the environment to global poverty. Here are twenty key quotes from that address.

9. Why the $70,000 Minimum Wage is Doomed to Fail

Joe Carter

The media reaction to the story has been about as fawning and uncritical as you would expect. While Price is rightfully being praised for his generosity (he’s cutting his own pay from $1 million to $70,000 a year to fund the pay increase), few people have—so far—pointed out how his largess may soon put his employees out of a job. Here’s why.

10. My Response to Rolling Stone Magazine’s Claim that Pope Francis is Taking on ‘Conservative U.S. Clerics’

Rev. Robert Sirico

I wrote a response to this article and sent it to Rolling Stone editors but they, not surprisingly, declined to publish it. Here it is in full.