Over the last century no movie has been more synonymous with the Christmas season than It’s a Wonderful Life. It endures, more than seven decades after its release, because it strikes at least five deep spiritual chords in every human heart. (It bears noting: A copyright lapse allowed this modestly successful movie to e a staple of holiday programming for generations. ) It’s a tale of sacrifice, and choosing well It’s a Wonderful Life chronicles George Bailey’s evolution from a...

Half the world is now middle class or wealthier For the first time since agriculture-based civilization began 10,000 years ago, the majority of humankind is no longer poor or vulnerable to falling into poverty. By our calculations, as of this month, just over 50 percent of the world’s population, or some 3.8 billion people, live in households with enough discretionary expenditure to be considered “middle class” or “rich.” Population without access to electricity falls below 1 billion In a sign...

Just after the ball drops in Times Square in New York City, it has e a traditional to follow the singing of “Auld Lang Syne” by playing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” No song could better capture the prosperous world that greets 2019, writes Philip Booth, Ph.D., in an essay posted today on the Acton Institute’s Religion& LibertyTransatlanticwebsite. Booth relates a number of statistics that show the world has improved and shows signs it will continue improving — before...

What makes your life meaningful? For Christians the answer should be some variation of our faith in God. But if that’s your answer you are distinctly in the minority in the U.S. The Pew Research Center conducted two separate surveys, one that included an open-ended question asking Americans to describe in their own words what makes their lives feel meaningful, fulfilling, or satisfying, and another that gave respondents an opportunity to describe the myriad things they find meaningful, (i.e., faith...

“It is more blessed togive than to receive,” according to the scriptures – but so many people will returndisappointing Christmas gifts to the store for an exchange or refund today thatJanuary 3 has sometimes been dubbed “National Returns Day.” While it maydeflate our ego to know that our gift choices do not bring our loved ones thepleasure we had hoped, there are economic, political, and spiritual truthsembedded in this unheralded holiday tradition. Despite the secret guilt and implied ingratitude ofreturning...

As the Westcontinues to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas which extend into the New Year,some 215 million Christiansworldwide face violence or repression. On the day after Christmas, the Britishgovernment launched a review of Christian persecution in “key countries” –especially in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa – and to seek ways the UK canhelp those who are suffering. Christianity is on the“verge of extinction in its birthplace,” saidForeign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who ordered the report. “So often the persecution...

As e near to the end of another year, we want to thank readers of PowerBlog for menting, and sharing our posts over the past twelve months. If you’re a new reader we encourage you to catch up by checking out our top ten most popular posts for 2018. #1 — Justice Alito exposes the hypocrisy of liberal double-standards Joe Carter You probably haven’t even heard about it, but yesterday there was an exchange in the Supreme Court that future...

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, John Couretas, Acton’s director munications, talks with Daniel J. Mahoney, professor of political science at Assumption College, about the legacy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in light of Solzhenitsyn’s memoir recently released in English, “Between Two Millstones Book I: Sketches of Exile,” the first of two books in which Solzhenitsyn recounts his exile in the West. Afterwards, reporter Anne Marie Schieber takes us on the first of a three-part series exploring the difficulty of unemployment....

The Acton Institute is now accepting applications for the 2019 Novak Award. The deadline to apply is March 15, 2019. The Acton Institute will selected one winner to receive the $15,000 award. The award, named after distinguished American theologian Michael Novak, is open to current doctoral candidates or those who have received a doctorate in the past five years. Applicants should have studied theology, religion, philosophy, history, law, politics, economics or related fields. Strong academic performance is essential and applicants...

John Locke is well-known as a philosopher. Perhaps less well-known, though, are the religious convictions that underlie many of his ideas. Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, recently published an article in Forbes describing the influence of Locke’s Christianity on his views of the human person. Locke’s Christianity also shows in his mentaries and his thoughts on the birth of the Savior. Over the course of the last five years, I have been devoting my Christmas article to authors or...