A just released report by the Sutherland Institute introduces a metric—the Self-Reliance Index—that can be used to track people’s reliance on government and lack of self-sufficiency. You might call it the opposite of The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Dependence on Government. The report notes, “Government aid only creates an illusion …
Marriage is under intensified assault in two federal courtrooms. Last week a federal district judge in Massachusetts acted alone to overrule 427 members of Congress who voted in 1996 to adopt the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a measure signed into law by President Clinton. DOMA has two major provisions. …
In May 2009 the District of Columbia City Council passed legislation to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the city. When Councilmember Marion Barry opposed that legislation, fellow councilmember David Catania called Barry’s position “bigoted.” Today the D.C. Court of Appeals, which is the District’s version of a state supreme court, …
Officials at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana have sparked controversy over their decision not to extend the hiring of Adjunct Professor Kenneth Howell, a highly rated instructor who has taught electives at the university since 2001 on the history and tenets of Catholicism. Howell’s apparent “offense” is that he accurately …
Advocates for religious liberty and active dialogue between Christian and Muslim communities lost an influential leader with the murder of Bishop Luigi Padovese in Turkey last month. Bishop Padovese, leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Turkey, pushed for greater religious freedom as the avenue for peace between religious communities …
Last week, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Robert Rector went head to head with TV personality Tom Colicchio of Top Chef at a House Education and Labor Committee hearing, both testifying about proposed increases to federal funding for child nutrition. Unfortunately, unlike the television show that results in one contestant coming …
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 …
