A new book—Hope in Troubled Times—by Bob Goudzwaard (with Mark Vander Vennen and David Van Heemst) is introduced here with excerpts from the book. The authors believe that there is indeed real hope for those who give up false gods and dangerous ideologies in confronting worldwide poverty, environmental degradation, and the dangers of terrorism.
One of the speakers at a remarkable conference in Chicago on the future of cities in early June was Govert Buijs, a professor of social philosophy at the Free University of Amsterdam. Excerpts are presented in this article from his paper on the origins of civil society in the new cities that were established in the late Middle Ages. But his offering is not just an ancient history lesson; Buijs offers keen insight into what is good and bad in our cities today and why civil-society organizations are so important.
Joyce Ribbens Campbell, a missionary with her husband David Campbell in Guinea, tells the story of how a coalition of civil-society organizations and labor organizations forced Guinea’s president, Lansana Conté, to back down from his most recent dictatorial designs. A leading Christian pastor became the spokesman for the coalition that insisted on the appointment of a prime minister who would govern with greater accountability. Thus far, a civil war has been thwarted and the ill president has been served notice.
The editor introduces the sixth Guideline for Government and Citizenship published by the Center for Public Justice—this one on Human Life. His point of departure is the U.S. Supreme Court’s most recent abortion decision, Gonzales v. Carhart, which upheld the 2003 federal law outlawing partial-birth abortion.
If the presidential election is a horse race, why not include more than two horses? The Editor contends for a more substantive electoral process than the one we now have in order to stimulate genuine civic debate and education. Could an independent or third-party candidate help recharge our system?
James Skillen exposes contradictions and misdirections aplenty in both the Bush administration’s conduct of the “war” in Iraq and in the feeble criticisms and alternatives offered by Democratic presidential candidates. The fact that almost everyone thinks and speaks of our tangled engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of a “war” against terrorism is part of the problem. Our failures in Iraq and Afghanistan are not military failures but failures to govern and to establish sound governments in those countries.
Dr. Bruce Wearne, an occasional contributor to the Public Justice Report and a long-time correspondent for the Center for Public Justice in Australia, has recently completed the prodigious task of annotating the published writings of James Skillen, president of the Center for Public Justice. The 150-page text, annotating 336 entries, is titled “Public Justice for All.”
