Nathan Mech

Nathan Mech is the Program Outreach Project Manager for the Acton Institute.

Posts by Nathan Mech

Should morality be legislated?

Should governments legislate morality? It depends on how we define our terms. If “legislate morality” is simply defined as “making laws that are moral,” then it is obvious that we should legislate morality. Continue Reading...

Is it immoral to charge interest?

Interest-bearing loans are commonplace in today’s economy, but are a subject of great contention in many of the world’s great intellectual and religious traditions. The Mosaic Law dictates: “If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest” (Exodus 22:25). Continue Reading...

The moral weight of taxation

As Congress works on a $6 trillion spending bill that would be funded by higher taxes and increasing the national debt, Americans should be asking themselves: When is taxation morally permissible? Continue Reading...

The government should scratch the lottery

State lotteries may seem like a good thing. They raise money for government programs like public schools. People contribute their money voluntarily (unlike most forms of taxation), which removes the moral weight involved in forcing people to hand over their money. Continue Reading...

Minority views? Priceless

There’s something in our DNA to feel threatened by ideas that challenge our own. History is haunted by tragic examples of the suppression of minority views, whether it be Athens killing Socrates (399 BC), the Roman Inquisition’s placing Galileo under house arrest for advocating heliocentrism (1632), Nazi book burning (1933), or the persecution of many thousands of academics during the Cultural Revolution (1966). Continue Reading...