Changed Tax Rule Forces Honesty

In their book Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner explain how a simple change to U. S. tax rules in 1987 exposed the depth of the public's ...

Thomas à Kempis on Accepting Others

Be not angry that you cannot make others as you want them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

—Thomas à Kempis

Lying Takes More Brain Energy

A study at Temple University School of Medicine found that lying takes more brain energy than telling the truth. Participants were divided into two groups. ...

Man "Loses" Wallets to Test Honesty

In a self-devised integrity experiment, Paul Kinsella dropped 100 wallets in various places around his hometown of Belleville, Illinois, to see who would ...

A Faith As Wild As the World

Speaking about preaching God's word, Michael Heher writes:

Don't make promises God doesn't keep. Account for the shaky ground and patches of ...

Little Girl's Interesting Error

As a pastor, I occasionally have members leave notes or offerings on my desk for various reasons. A 12-year-old member of our church recently left a five-dollar ...

Phantom Exemptions Show the Prevalence of Cheating

Freakonomics is a fascinating book by economist Steven Levitt that turns conventional wisdom on its head. On the subject of cheating, Levitt calls it ...

Policeman Writes Himself Ticket

Police Chief Richard Knoebel of Kewaskum, Wisconsin, demonstrated uncommon integrity by holding himself accountable to the same laws he swore to uphold. ...

Donald Miller Realizes the Cost of a Lie

I lived for a time with my friend and mentor John MacMurray, where the first rule is to always tell the truth. John and I were sitting in the family room ...

The Benefits of a Small Community

According to economist Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics, being part of a community where others know us does influence behavior. The proof is in ...