Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Why the Federalist Papers Still Matter
Why the Federalist Papers Still Matter
Nov 5, 2025 1:50 AM

Even at America’s top schools, says Peter Berkowitz, graduates leave without reading our most basic writings on the purpose of constitutional self-government:

It would be difficult to overstate the significance of The Federalist for understanding the principles of American government and the challenges that liberal democracies confront early in the second decade of the 21st century. Yet despite the lip service they pay to liberal education, our leading universities can’t be bothered to require students to study The Federalist—or, worse, they oppose such requirements on moral, political or pedagogical grounds. Small wonder it took so long for progressives to realize that arguments about the constitutionality of ObamaCare are indeed serious.

Read more . . .

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Challenging the Micah Challenge
There’s a big, fairly new, global effort by Christians to cut worldwide poverty in half by 2015. Just what is this effort? A new giving initiative? A new network connecting churches in the first world with churches in the third world? A new global faith-based NGO? Sadly, no. The new effort is called the “Micah Challenge,” which turns out really to be a challenge to get Christians to call for government action. The Micah Challenge is described as “a global...
Law signed protecting filtering industry
President Bush signed a bill into law yesterday that panies such as ClearPlay from litigation for copyright infringement. ClearPlay, for example, offers a DVD player that will filter out “objectionable” content. Consumers are free to purchase this item or not, depending on the sensitivity of their tastes and the ability of the ClearPlay device to cater to their demands. My initial reaction is that this is a positive move from the government, protecting a potentially prosperous and burgeoning industry. It...
NAS releases guidelines
The National Academies of Science has issued a set of guidelines for human embryonic stem (ES) cell research. The guidelines also address the chimera phenomenon. The guidelines open a path for experiments that create animals that contain some introduced human embyronic stem cells. These hybrid part human, part animal creatures, called chimeras, would be “valuable in understanding the etiology and progression of human disease and in testing new drugs, and will be necessary in preclinical testing of human embryonic stem...
Instruction in faith
On this date in 1537 Geneva’s first Protestant catechism was published, based on John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. ...
Power Ball
Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs in 1998.An article in The New York Times magazine over the weekend provides an up-close look at the stories of two men impacted by the burgeoning problem of steroid use in baseball. In “Absolutely, Power Corrupts,” Michael Lewis writes, Unable to parse the statistics and separate natural power from steroid power, the people who evaluate baseball players for a living have no choice but to ignore the distinction. e to view the increase in...
Acton PowerBlog’s first month
The end of April marks the conclusion to the first month of operation for the Acton Institute’s PowerBlog. Thanks to all menters and readers who have made this outreach effective. ...
Verse of the day
Via Job 19:25 (New International Version) I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. ...
Immigration confusion
There’s been a lot of talk in recent days about the question of immigration, both legal and illegal. A number of issues are involved, including questions about national security, economic concerns, and cultural values. Most recently the Minutemen have begun border patrols and are looking to extend their efforts to the northern U.S. border. You may also remember a scuffle when President Bush put forth the proposal for a guest worker program. The Acton Institute has published two pieces that...
Blog market
In traversing the World Wide Web, I’ve happened across BlogShares, “a fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by ing links.” As the Acton Institute PowerBlog heads toward its one month anniversary, check out it’s BlogShare value. Buy now! ...
Henry Institute to study civic responsibility
The Paul Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College has received a $100,000 grant from the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation to study the role of religion in shaping civic responsibility in American life. Henry Institute director Corwin Smidt says, “A study of civic responsibility broadens the analysis to assess both attitudinal, mitments and behavioral responses – as well as the interplay between the two. Since civic responsibility entails moral as well as behavioral...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved