Articles of the Week - October 6

The 2012 United States Presidential Election entered its final act this week with the first head-to-head debate between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney, so needless to say, my blog reader had more than a few pieces on that whole subject. I shall begin this week with them.

In The Economist, Lexington had what I thought was a very thorough and balanced analysis of the debate, and elsewhere in the magazine was an argument for why this election "really is" the "most important for decades." The Heritage Foundation, not surprisingly, analyzed the debate from all angles on The Foundry: Lindsey Burke summarized the education issues and proposals that the candidates discussed, Jason Richwine focused on the president's call for more teachers, Julia Shaw looks into a statement by the president about Abraham Lincoln, and Sarah Morris presents a word cloud based on the debate (the most-used word for the president was "governor" and for the former governor, "people").

A few other pieces on public policy to mention:

• Rachel Sheffield of The Heritage Foundation has five questions for Education Secretary Arne Duncan
• Anthony B. Kim, also of Heritage, has some thoughts about the role of U.S. foreign policy
• Rich Tucker of Heritage clarifies some misconceptions about the type of government prescribed by the Constitution
• Anugrah Kumar reports on the latest in legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act's preventive services mandate for the Christian Post
• Josh Moody of College Church in Wheaton has "Five Reasons You Should Pray for the Government"

Two notable pieces on arts and entertainment:

• Jason Victor Serinus looks at the future of streamed music for the San Francisco Classical Voice
• The Economist's Prospero celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the James Bond franchise and examines its uniqueness among movie franchises

On matters of faith and theology:

• Christianity Today shares perspectives of various Christian leaders on whether megachurch worship is addictive
• Hannah Anderson writes for The Gospel Coalition on the relationship between "everyday relationships" and the gospel
• Roger Olson writes for Christianity Today about conceptual misunderstandings of freedom
• Eric Jacobsen writes for This is Our City about the importance of the physical place for human flourishing

Finally, Carrie Muskat looks at the work to be done during the Cubs' offseason, and Chuck King, the departing music minister of College Church, gives his valediction.

What articles, blogs, or commentary pieces caught your attention this week?