On July 20, 12 Christian leaders met with President Obama at the White House to voice concerns about the prospect of budget cuts to government welfare. The group included Jim Wallis of the liberal social justice organization Sojourners and representatives from the National Association of Evangelicals, the U.S. Conference of …
Last week (and again yesterday in a follow-up article) The New York Times featured the poverty-fighting work of the Family Independence Initiative (FII). Founded by Maurice Lim Miller in 2001, FII is a nonprofit, community-based organization that helps working poor families escape poverty by encouraging and rewarding personal initiative and …
In America, it’s not hard to find religious voices criticizing proposals to cut government spending. Especially if those proposals call for reforming welfare or entitlement programs, they’re attacked for “balancing the budget on the backs of the poor.” That’s why it’s refreshing to see two prominent public voices recently engage …
On Saturday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R–OH) delivered the commencement address at the Catholic University of America. In advance of his speech, a group of Catholic academics sent a public letter to Boehner, who is a practicing Catholic, accusing him of going against the teachings of his Church. …
My 8-year-old son saw the news reports about Osama bin Laden’s death buzzing Monday on our TV. He took particular note of scenes of cheering crowds: flag-wavers in Times Square and at Ground Zero in New York City, baseball fans in Philadelphia, patriots in Boston, enthusiastic students on college campuses. …
A budget plan sensitive to the needs of the poor would encourage charitable giving, right? At the very least, in an economy where more people struggle to pay for medical procedures and their kids’ education, a responsible budget shouldn’t discourage giving to hospitals or universities, right? Unfortunately, this isn’t the …
Last night Professor Robbie George of Princeton University appeared on a panel discussing social justice on Glenn Beck’s television show. He offered the following comment about the confusion that’s often present in conversations about social justice: In the Catholic tradition the concept of social justice has a long history, and …
Recovering drug addicts helped serve the meals at a recent conference in Naples, Fla., on addressing social breakdown. The men were participants in the Men’s Residence, a ministry of the Christian Care Center operated by First Baptist Church of Leesburg, Fla. Serving others proves to be an important part of …
