Joe Loconte is a historian, author, and commentator who writes on the intersection of religion, public policy, and international affairs. He is an associate professor of history at The King's College in New York City and a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum. He contributed articles to The Weekly Standard between 1999 and 2008, covering topics including faith-based initiatives, just war theory, and cultural debates.
IF WE NEEDED more evidence that the anti-American vitriol from Europe and the Middle East is largely the product of manipulated imaginations, we have it. A new World Public Opinion poll of 17 nations reveals significant support for the claim that the United States staged the 9/11 terrorist…
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CRITICS of the U.S. war in Afghanistan have been wrong about virtually everything. They predicted that a Soviet-style quagmire awaited American troops; that chaos on the ground would turn millions of Afghans into refugees; and that tens of thousands of civilians would be killed by errant U.S.…
PRESIDENT BUSH’S PLAN to expand the role of religious charities in providing social services got a boost with the passage of House legislation in July endorsing much of his agenda. But it faces a ferocious battle in the Senate, where Democrats are objecting to provisions allowing faith-based groups…
LAST WEEK’S HOUSE PASSAGE of President Bush’s faith-based initiative is a significant victory for the administration in its embattled effort to broaden religious organizations’ involvement in providing social services. Two crucial pieces of the bill—protecting religious charities’ freedom to hire…
AFTER an embittered and byzantine debate last July, the Washington, D.C., city council unanimously approved a bill requiring health insurance plans sold in the District to cover contraceptives. Every religious employer in the city -- not exempting the National Conference of Catholic Bishops or even…
On April 26, the Supreme Court will be told that one of America's premier character-building organizations, the Boy Scouts of America, has drifted dangerously into the woods of bigotry. By expelling an openly gay scoutmaster in New Jersey, the Scouts allegedly violated state anti-discrimination…