Richard Weaver, one of the great intellectuals of the 20th Century, and author of Ideas Have Consequences, published an essay in the early 1960s on Lord Acton (pdf only). Much of Weaver’s essay is worth highlighting, but one excerpt in particular reminds us of the central significance of Christianity in the battle for freedom. It reminds us too of the dangers of secularism and where our indifference to God is inevitably leading us. It was inevitable that, lacking one vital...

On Monday, Amazon announced that it would immediately start offering Sunday deliveries. This new initiative will not only satisfy consumers who do not want to wait all weekend for something to arrive, but it will also give the cash strapped U.S. Postal Service revenue as they will be making the Sunday deliveries. This might be good news for the USPS and impatient consumers, but it effectively makes Sunday another weekday. Cecelia Kang, a reporter for the Washington Post, interviewed Acton...

The Business as Mission movement, writes Elise Hilton in this week’s Acton Commentary, is creating alternative and wholesome sources of e while offering ‘restoration’ for survivors: Human trafficking feeds on the vulnerable, and that includes the poor. Children are especially at risk, as they can be sold by parents into slavery and have little or no education or means of self-support. For the Business as Mission movement, this means intentionally focusing on areas that are economically depressed and unstable. Businesses...

Tea Party Catholic, the latest book by Acton’s Director of Research Sam Gregg, continues to garner attention. Fr. Gregory Jensen, at his Koinonia blog, reviews Gregg’s work in light of the experience of Orthodox Christians in the U.S. For the American Orthodox Christian, patriotism, “the love of the true good of one’s country” is the core of the Church vocation relative to the larger culture. We cannot evangelize, as I’ve said before, those we don’t know, but we don’t truly...

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has issued a “special letter” regarding the Obama administration’s HHS mandate. The USCCB, meeting this month in Baltimore, passed the letter unanimously. Calling the HHS mandate “coercive,” the bishops state that they have tried to work with the current administration, to no avail. Beginning in March 2012, in United for Religious Freedom, we identified three basic problems with the HHS mandate: it establishes a false architecture of religious liberty that excludes our...

The educational cronyism of textbook publisher cartels ing to an end as digital alternatives are on the rise, or so says AEI’s Mark Perry in a recent article. “Hear that hissing sound?” he writes, “It’s the sound of the college textbook bubble starting to deflate. . . . The era of the college textbook cartel and $300 college textbooks is ending.” I have written on this subject in the past for the PowerBlog (here and here), mentioning Perry’s coverage of...

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Yuval Levin and Ramesh Ponnuru argue that conservatives now have a prime opportunity to offer a “credible alternative” to ObamaCare that would not only solve the serious problems of the healthcare system but would prevent a further lurch to the left if the current law fails: Seeing the pileup, Republicans might be tempted to step aside and let ObamaCare continue to disappoint and infuriate Americans. After all, the GOP doesn’t have the power to repeal...

Over at Desiring God blog, Sam Crabtree offers 16 simple principles, each panied by Scripture, to help reorient our thinking about the work of our hands, particularly among those in executive and administrative roles. Highlighting our persistent human tendency to neglect our Creator, Crabtree cautions against the subtle temptation to begin operating “as if we really can execute on our tasks all by our lonesome, without the constant help of our God.” What distinguishes a distinctly Christian executive? Some examples:...

There are days when policy conflicts appear to be clear cut. Such is the case with the nuns and monks protesting a proposed pipeline across their Kentucky land. As a property rights advocate, I agree wholeheartedly that the Sisters of Loretto and monks of the Abbey of Gethsemani are well within their rights to protest running a pipeline across their property. I disagree vehemently, however, with the rationales behind the protest – namely the religious’ ill-advised environmental opposition to fossil...

In his article today Anthony Bradley asks, “When Did College Education Reduce To Making Money?” Our country’s narcissistic materialism has created a neurotic obsession with disparities between the es of individuals resulting in an overall devaluing of the learning goals and es of what colleges exist to plish. There is a major disconnect here. I wonder if this explains why many parents do not want their children studying the humanities in college. While pletely agree with Anthony about what the...