Rev. Ben Johnson (@therightswriter) is an Eastern Orthodox priest and served as Executive Editor of the Acton Institute (2016-2021), editing Religion & Liberty, the Powerblog, and its transatlantic website. He has extensively researched the Alt-Right. Previously, he worked for LifeSiteNews and FrontPageMag.com, where he wrote three books including Party of Defeat (with David Horowitz, 2008). His work has appeared at DailyWire.com, National Review, The American Spectator, The Guardian, Daily Caller, National Catholic Register, Spectator USA, FEE Online, RealClear Policy, The Blaze, The Stream, American Greatness, Aleteia, Providence Magazine, Charisma, Jewish World Review, Human Events, Intellectual Takeout, CatholicVote.org, Issues & Insights, The Conservative, Rare.us, and The American Orthodox Institute. His personal websites are therightswriter.com and RevBenJohnson.com. His views are his own.
Posts by Rev. Ben Johnson
October 14, 2019
On Monday, October 14, 2019, Queen Elizabeth II opened a new session of the UK Parliament by delivering her 65th “Queen’s Speech.” Here are the facts you need to know.
What is a Queen’s (or King’s) Speech? Continue Reading...
October 14, 2019
John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint on Sunday. The former leader of the Anglican Church’s Oxford Movement – who became a cardinal in 1879, 34 years after his conversion – became one of the most influential Christian writers of his day.
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October 11, 2019
Human dignity, the defining value of the West, grows out of the Judeo-Christian belief that the human race was created in the image of God. However, a British court has officially pronounced this truth, revealed in the opening chapter of the Bible, “incompatible with human dignity.”
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October 11, 2019
Today at
Spectator USA I write about Joe Biden’s forgotten status as a fount of youthful genius in “Joe Biden: victim of the cult of youth.” Biden won his first Senate election at the 29, the same age as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and spent the next two decades being extolled for his age and sophistication – before spending the last decade ridiculed for his age and mediocrity.
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October 09, 2019
When it comes to the morality of wealth and economics, bad arguments are so pervasive that no one needs to teach people how to make them. Yet sometimes it’s useful to examine logical errors in order to avoid making them in the future.
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October 08, 2019
Margaret Thatcher transformed the UK’s stagnant economy with a program of privatization and paring back the welfare state. This won her a savage attack from the Church of England – and a defense from the chief rabbi, who emphasized the religious and moral value of work and responsibility.
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October 07, 2019
Garfield became one of the most beloved cartoon characters of his time by saying what so many Americans felt: “I hate Mondays.” Indeed, there is biblical evidence that God did not view Mondays as “good” … and Jewish commentators say this has insights about our work, participating in God’s creation, and even our nation’s economic system.
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October 04, 2019
The Roman Catholic Church observes October 4 as the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. The beloved saint has often been portrayed as a proto-environmentalist, a borderline pantheist, or a holy man who used his religious vocation to “preach communism.”
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October 03, 2019
Should corporations hitch their businesses to leftist causes, such as suppressing the Betsy Ross flag? At
Public Discourse, Acton Institute Director of Research Samuel Gregg writes that “woke capitalism feeds on deep confusion about the nature and ends of business.”
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October 03, 2019
If Marxism despises religion, why does it take on all the trappings of the most fanatical faith? Bruce Ashford, the provost of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, discusses this in a video released today.
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