Society
Items on national and international social issues and reforms
Redefining Democracy, Ethics, and Evangelicalism
Thu 04 Sep 2008 • Responses: 0 • by Joseph Loconte
In the current issue of The New Yorker, Peter Boyer wonders whether Barack Obama and the Democratic Party can capture the votes of supposedly disaffected conservative Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. Political strategists, of course, are wondering the same. Yet the article, “Party Faithful: Can the Democrats Get a Foothold on the Religious Vote?” treats recent political history as clumsily as it does Christian eschatology. It seems to be an essay on an eager, yet ultimately fruitless quest for a thesis.
A New Kind of Culture War
Wed 03 Sep 2008 • Responses: 0 • by Joseph Loconte
Last year National Review published an article called, “A Farewell to Culture Wars.” That editorial decision, to borrow a line from Ronald Reagan, must now be consigned to the ash heap of history. The moral arguments about the dignity of the unborn and the nature of the family, which have helped inflame our national politics for over three decades, could never be glossed over by happy talk. Exhibit A: The choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a conservative Christian, as the Republican nominee for vice president.
A European Challenge to Anti-Americanism
Mon 01 Sep 2008 • Responses: 0 • by Joseph Loconte
For the better part of a decade, pollsters, pundits, and politicians have beaten the drums of anti-Americanism with a flamboyance that would rival Big Band legends Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. Last week, however, America’s friends from across the Atlantic announced an initiative to pound back.
A group of British conservatives has launched America in the World, a London-based international alliance to combat anti-Americanism. Armed with briefings, polling data, policy analysis, and high-level political endorsements, America in the World seeks to become the most important fact-driven resource for people willing to entertain the case against anti-Americanism. The effort is the brainchild of Tim Montgomerie, founder and editor of the influential political website ConservativeHome, and Stephan Shakespeare, the founder of YouGov, a prestigious opinion-polling company in Britain.
America’s Most Important Export
Wed 16 Jul 2008 • Responses: 0 • by Don Eberly and Joseph Loconte
The Upside of Globalization
In the face of reported growing anti-American sentiment, Senior Fellows Don Eberly and Joseph Loconte look at factors critics often overlook—most notably the transformative power of America’s civil society in the developing world.
Christian Realism and the United Nations
Wed 09 Jul 2008 by Joseph Loconte
The myth of a morally empowered United Nations, which continues to thrive on both sides of the Atlantic, is becoming absurdly difficult to sustain. The spectacle of U.N. paralysis in the face of international aggression, ethnic cleansing, and genocide—as the brutality and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe illustrates—demands a better response than the tranquilizing diplo-speak of “multilateralism.”
Who’s a Dogmatist?
Wed 25 Jun 2008 by Joseph Loconte
Earlier this week the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released its second report on the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. It suggests that although many Americans consider themselves highly religious, most are not “dogmatic” in their approach to faith—at least, they’re not dogmatic as some pollsters define dogmatism. According to the Pew survey, about 70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation say that many religions—not just their own—can lead to eternal life. Most believe that the teachings of their own faith can be interpreted in various ways. Pew Forum director Luis Lugo summarized the results this way:
“The fact that most Americans are not exclusive or dogmatic about their religion is a fascinating finding. Most people will be surprised that a majority of adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including a majority of evangelical Protestants, say that there isn’t just one way to salvation or to interpret the teachings of their own faith.”
Another voice for the defense
Mon 02 Jun 2008 by Joseph Loconte
As British journalist Daniel Johnson sees it, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have revealed, and instigated, a raft of “moral cowardice and intellectual confusion on both sides of the Atlantic.” Johnson, with some help from the London-based Social Affairs Unit, is hurling himself into the breach. He has just launched a new monthly magazine called Standpoint, whose mission is to “invoke the noblest ideals to which humanity has aspired.” I was in London last week for the magazine’s launch event, held at Hertford House, with its dazzling Wallace Collection of 25 galleries of French 18th century painting, furniture, and other items. The overflow event in central London attracted writers, scholars and politicians of various hues.
Australia’s ‘National Sorry Day’
Fri 30 May 2008 by David Aikman
It’s always risky for nations to apologize, but Kevin Rudd’s act of contrition for Australia was based in Christian conviction.
On May 26, while Americans were barbecuing hot dogs and collectively grumbling over their beers and Cokes about the outrageous price of gasoline, Australians, fourteen hours ahead of America’s East Coast, were reflecting on their tenth annual commemoration of National Sorry Day.
To most Americans, that phrase might sound like a cynical skit from TV’s Saturday Night Live. But for Australians it is deadly serious. For ten years Australians have been annually reflecting upon the suffering that the country’s white settlers imposed on the indigenous Australians, also called Aborigines.
Temperature-Controlled Governments
Fri 30 May 2008 by Pete Peterson
Community and the Individual Consumer
Pete Peterson looks at California’s response to its energy crunch and the problematic nature of responses from many people on the right.
Steep Trajectory
Wed 07 May 2008 by Al Sikes
Free Lunch Writ Large
We are deep in the blame game over the housing bubble, writes Al Sikes. Mortgage brokers, banks, rating agencies, property flippers, and regulators have all made the list. Perhaps somebody should go upstream in a search for the real culprit.
