‘The New Exodus’

Violence from Muslim extremists is causing Christians to flee the Middle East in staggering numbers. In the early nineties, there were 1.3 million Christians living in Iraq and today there are less than 200,000. Continue Reading...

Tocqueville on Servile and Licentious Tenancy

I’m catching up on reading after the holiday last week, and the July 4 edition of the Transom has some gems, including this bit from Alexis de Tocqueville on the mindset of tenants: There are some nations in Europe whose inhabitants think of themselves in a sense as colonists, indifferent to the fate of the place they live in. Continue Reading...

‘Going John Galt’

Too many regulations, too much government intrusion: business leaders and entrepreneurs are “going John Galt”, according to Andrew Abela at Legatus magazine. Fed up with the socialistic world he’s living in, Galt decides to leave and encourages numerous other entrepreneurs to follow him. Continue Reading...

Lumen Fidei: Lighting Our Way in the Year of Faith

It felt a little like the conclave week all over again inside the Vatican Press Office. Journalists cornering other journalists. Educated guesses and bets. Raised eyebrows of suspicion and plenty of pencil wagging, not to mention the nervous knees bouncing iPads and notepads in the foyer. Continue Reading...

Praying For Human Flourishing and Human Suffering

One of the consistent themes in Christian social teaching is the recognition that this world has both material and spiritual realities. As such, it is not only important that we think about the moral, political, and economic structures that contribute to set the stage for human flourishing but that we also pray for those who are suffering that they would be free to live out their callings as human persons made in God’s image. Continue Reading...

What’s Wrong with NSA Surveillance?

The stunning news that the United States may be the most surveilled society in human history has opened a fierce debate on security, privacy, and accountability, says Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School. Continue Reading...

Samuel Gregg: ‘Two Popes, But One Faith’

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was not able to complete his encyclical on faith during his pontificate, and Pope Francis chose to complete the work, Lumen Fidei (“The Light of Faith”.) Acton’s Director of Research, Samuel Gregg writes about the connection between these two men, made possible by their faith, at National Review: [I]f there’s anything demonstrated by Pope Francis’s first encyclical letter Lumen Fidei (“The Light of Faith”), it’s a profound continuity between the two men: i.e., Continue Reading...

Associations and Asceticism

Today at Ethika Politika, I offer an Independence Day reflection on the relation between political liberty, the associations of civil society, and the ascetic spirit necessary to maintain them: Yet if these associations and their societal benefit are in decline, how can we prevent that “soft despotism” Tocqueville so vividly and presciently described? Continue Reading...