Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Acton Commentary

May 23, 2018

The economics and morality of infinity

In this week’s Acton Commentary I take on Thanos’ zero-sum economic worldview as manifest in Avengers: Infinity War. In the classic debate over positivity and normativity in economics, Thanos is definitely not a value-free figure. Continue Reading...
April 18, 2018

New York City ideologues get indigestion over Chick-fil-A

America’s fastest-growing food chain has come to New York City. But as Hunter Baker notes in this week’s Acton Commentary, the “company’s success sticks in the craw of some who find it to be an alien presence due to the Christianity of the family who owns the company and their traditional values.” Continue Reading...
April 11, 2018

Cronyism fueled the murder of a Slovak journalist

“Slovakia has been living through one of the most turbulent times in its young history,” says Martina Bobulová in this week’s Acton Commentary. “It has been almost a month since the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová, which have put these events in motion.” Continue Reading...
April 04, 2018

Marxism, the classless society and history

“Marx always insisted that he derived his system from a careful study of history,” says Lester Dekoster in this week’s Acton Commentary. “Marxists are fond of insisting that they think ‘concretely,’ which means they always stick to the facts. Continue Reading...
March 28, 2018

Taxation and Catholic Social Teaching

“Tax policies and tax levies are an unavoidable part of civilized life,” says Robert G. Kennedy in this week’s Acton Commentary. “The social tradition of the Church emphasizes the duty of citizens to support their government as well as the duties of civil authorities to govern wisely and to respect the ownership rights of individuals and families.” Continue Reading...
March 21, 2018

West silent as genocide lurks in Syria

“This month marks the seventh anniversary of the start of the Syrian Civil War,” notes Trey Dimsdale in this week’s Acton Commentary. “Syria was, albeit governed by dictator Bashar al-Assad, a stable nation but today it is in ruins, with so many fault lines and battlefields that it is nearly impossible to sort out the contending interests inside the nation. Continue Reading...
March 14, 2018

The long road back from Communism

“In 1989, Communism finally collapsed,” writes Mihail Neamţu, a Romanian thinker and public intellectual, in this week’s Acton Commentary. “On our first official post-communist Christmas holiday, my family was hoping that the political landscape of Eastern Europe would quickly be shaped by healthy democratic institutions, secure private property and free trade, economic competition, as well as a robust sense of personal responsibility.” Continue Reading...