Acton Commentary: How socialism causes atheism

Most socialists have been atheists, but does accepting socialist economic principles make believers more likely to become atheists? This week’s Acton Commentary, which is the cover story of the newest issue of Religion & Liberty, explores survey data and anecdotal evidence that a socialist worldview can lead believers to lose their faith. Continue Reading...

College student sets himself on fire for socialism

On Friday, November 8, a 22-year-old French college student set himself on fire outside the government agency that administers university housing and living allowances. The reason? The government had revoked his monthly benefits after he failed his courses for the second year in a row. Continue Reading...

Alejandro Chafuen in Forbes: Young Europeans’ views of totalitarianism

Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, wrote recently in Forbes to give his thoughts on a recent survey that examined young Europeans’ attitudes toward various strains of totalitarianism. Attitudes in different countries vary, of course, and – unsurprisingly – communism is viewed more favorably in countries that were never behind the Iron Curtain than in many eastern ones where the historical memory of it lives on. Continue Reading...

Lord Acton and the two types of nationalism

Kai Weiss, Research Fellow at the Austrian Economics Center, has a new essay on Law and Liberty exploring Lord Acton’s thoughts on nationalism: A little-known 1862 work called Nationality by Lord Acton can perhaps shed new light, too, on the topic. Continue Reading...