Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Radio Free Acton: William B. Allen On The Centrality of Freedom Of Conscience
Radio Free Acton: William B. Allen On The Centrality of Freedom Of Conscience
Sep 16, 2025 8:16 AM

As the Supreme Court considers how to rule in the Little Sisters of the Poor case, we have a timely edition of Radio Free Acton for your consideration.William B. Allen, Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy in the Department of Political Science and Emeritus Dean, James Madison College, at Michigan State University, joins the podcast to talk about what the 2016 presidential race says about the national character of the United States, and emphasizes the centrality of the freedom of conscience to all of our rights as Americans.

Allen is a deep and brilliant thinker,and it was a pleasure to be able to talk with him. You can listen to the podcast via the audio player below, and after the jump I’ve included video of his 2014 Acton Lecture Series address on American National Character and the Future of Liberty.

Previous Article：Martin Luther on Vocation and Serving Our Neighbors Next Article：Explainer: Supreme Court Rules on Conservative Challenge to Public-Sector Unions
Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Why Being Poor is Too Expensive
In the critically acclaimed, though rarely seen, movie Killer of Sheep (1978) there’s a scene that highlights why being poor can be so expensive. The film is about a black family living in the Watts section of Los Angeles in the 1970s. In an attempt to escape the drudgery of their everyday life, the family decides to join some friends one Saturday in taking a day trip out to the country. Before they can even get out of Watts, though,...
Abraham Kuyper’s Public Theology Today
Yesterday was Abraham Kuyper’s birthday, and tomorrow is Reformation Day, so it seems appropriate to note once again in this space that we have launched a new 12 volume series of Kuyper’s works. The title of the series is Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology, and the goal is to bring more of the primary source materials from this virtuoso theologian and statesman into circulation in the Anglophone world. Mel Flikkema and I are serving as general editors of...
Video: Rev. Robert A. Sirico At The Acton Institute 25th Anniversary Dinner
On October 21st, the Acton Institute celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a dinner at DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The keynote address for the evening was delivered by Acton President and Co-Founder Rev. Robert A. Sirico, who reflected on how the world has changed in the quarter century since he and Kris Mauren founded the Institute, and on what challenges those of mitted to a free and virtuous society face as Acton embarks upon its next twenty-five...
New Abraham Kuyper Series Launched
Abraham Kuyper A major new series is now available: Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology. A website from the series publisher, , went live today, where you can learn more about Abraham Kuyper, stay up to date on the latest from the Abraham Kuyper Translation Society, and order English translations of his work. This series is the capstone project of the work of the Abraham Kuyper Translation Society. Never before available in English, these works will introduce a new...
What Christians Should Know About Consumption
Note: This is the latest entry in the Acton blog series, “What Christians Should Know About Economics.” For other entries inthe series seethis post. The Term: Consumption What it means: Consumption is the use of goods and services by households. Why it Matters: Consumption is an ugly word for a beautiful concept. Since the Middle Ages, the word “consumption” has referred to wasting diseases, such as tuberculosis, which “consume” the body. More recently, consumption has often been confused with consumerism,...
China Ends One-Child Policy, Still Limiting Births
The BBC reported today that China is ending its one-child policy, providing the following overview: Introduced in 1979, the policy meant that many Chinese citizens – around a third, China claimed in 2007 – could not have a second child without incurring a fineIn rural areas, families were allowed to have two children if the first was a girlOther exceptions included ethnic minorities and – since 2013 – couples where at least one was a single childCampaigners say the policy...
To Counter Corruption, This Country Elected a Comedian as President
A television celebrity with no political experience beat out a former first lady to win the presidential election. No, this isn’t a prediction from the future Trump-Clinton presidential race. This really happened—in Guatemala. Jimmy Morales, who appeared in edy sketch show for 14 years, recently received 67.4 percent of the vote while Sandra Torres, who divorced her husband while he was still in office, received only 32.6 percent. Despite the landslide victory, though, the voters aren’t necessarily enthusiastic about Morales...
The Nightmare of Living in the Past
Stories can convey, so much better than raw data can, the human effects of the increased living standards that market-driven innovation has provided us, says Steven Horwitz. He notes how theBBC and PBS series 1900 Houseshows what a nightmare it was to live at the turn of the twentieth century. Mothers in particular had it especially rough: She has to get up early to make sure the range is warm enough to make breakfast, and by the time she is...
How Many Taylor Swifts Does It Take to Pay the Interest on the National Debt?
Margaret Thatcher famously said the problem with socialist governments is that, “They always run out of other people’s money.” Unfortunately, that’s true for almost all governments. Even more unfortunate, though, is that some people refuse to believe that government can ever run out of other people’s money. Some people claim, for instance, that the government can continue to borrow and spend (and should do more of both since interest rates are currently low) since the national debt is not a...
How Religion is Redistributing the World’s Wealth
Dramatic religious shifts over the next few decades will change the distribution of wealth around the globe, according to a new study by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation. During this period, notes the study, the number of people affiliated with a religion is expected to grow by 2.3 billion, from 5.8 billion in 2010 to 8.1 billion in 2050. The growth in religious populations will also bined with religious diversity, which will change the makeup of the world economies:...
Related Classification
RELIGION & LIBERTY
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
About
Terms and Conditions Privacy policy Cookie Settings Contact Us
Services
Login register
mreligion RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE RELIGION & LIBERTY
Links
zpostcode Recruit weather mreligion Yellowpages sport constellation shopping name game directory literature Word tour furnish Lottery tftnews lyrics News digital car dir Edu Finance
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved