Joe Carter

Joe Carter is a Senior Editor at the Acton Institute. Joe also serves as an editor at the The Gospel Coalition, a communications specialist for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and as an adjunct professor of journalism at Patrick Henry College. He is the editor of the NIV Lifehacks Bible and co-author of How to Argue like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator (Crossway).

Posts by Joe Carter

August 14, 2013

Pope Francis and the Catholic Way of Dialogue

In Crisis Magazine, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg discusses how Pope Francis and the Catholic Church engage other religions and philosophies: “Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue.” That, according to Pope Francis, is the response he gives when leaders ask him for advice about how to resolve their societies’ internal differences. Continue Reading...
August 13, 2013

Economic Challenges Provide Church with Opportunity

Recent news reports on unemployment, underemployment, and the high level of dissatisfaction among those with full-time work are an opportunity for the church, says Michael Jahr. People are looking for meaning, fulfillment, opportunity – and the church has answers that no one else can provide. Continue Reading...
August 13, 2013

Why Thieves Hate Free Markets

Many people believe that market economies create a dog-eat-dog environment full of human conflict and struggle. But as Prof. Aeon Skoble explains, the competition in markets encourages people to cooperate with one another for mutual benefit. Continue Reading...
August 12, 2013

A Moral Foundation for Entitlement Reform

Entitlement reform cannot succeed by eliminating dependence, says Adam J. MacLeod. Instead we should aim to promote healthy dependencies. In his address, Obama placed entitlement programs in perspective, observing that many people fall on hard times through no fault of their own. Continue Reading...
August 09, 2013

Christians Need a Holistic Definition of Poverty

To adequately address the problems of the lowest economic class, Christians must agree on a holistic definition of poverty that includes relational and spiritual elements. The best solutions for alleviating poverty, if not eradicating it, will involve collaborations among institutions that can address poverty in many different ways. Continue Reading...
August 08, 2013

Does Legalizing Prostitution Reduce Child Sex Slavery?

Would legalizing adult prostitution decrease the demand for child sex slaves? That’s the curious argument made by one of my favorite libertarian economist. Donald J. Boudreaux , a professor of economics at George Mason University, recently wrote: If men can legally buy sex from women 18 years of age or older, men will have less demand to patronize children. Continue Reading...
August 08, 2013

Do the Poor Vote for More Welfare?

A popular saying (often misattributed to Alexis de Tocqueville) states that a democracy can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. If this is always the case then we should expect the poor to vote themselves even more welfare payments. Continue Reading...
August 07, 2013

For America’s Elites, Religious Freedom is a Non-Issue

America’s Founding Fathers considered religious liberty to be our “first freedom.” But as Ken Blackwell notes, that view is no longer shared by our media and foreign policy elites: All such understandings of the religious freedom foundation of American civil liberty and foreign policy seem long forgotten by the elites of today. Continue Reading...