Despite the struggling-to-recover economy, charitable giving by Americans continues to rise. But a smaller proportion of this money is going to religious organizations. According to a newly released report by Giving USA, total estimated charitable giving in the U.S. rose 4.4 percent between 2012 and 2013, to $335.17 billion in contributions. The single largest contributor to the increase in total charitable giving was an increase of $9.69 billion in giving by individuals. In 2013, per capita giving by U.S. adults...

Makoto Fujimura with his personal copy of The Four Holy Gospels at Acton University 2014 What does it mean for Christians to use our gifts to fulfill God’s purposes in cultural flourishing? Makoto Fujimura, internationally renowned artist, intellectual, and founder of the International Arts Movement, is well placed to address this question. In this edition of Radio Free Acton, Fujimura joins host Paul Edwards to discuss his art, his story of faith, and how a “culture care” mindset can change...

[Part 1 is here.] Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, details how the growth of government-corporate cronyism during the past 120 or so years has been largely a phenomenon of the socialist left. Wendell Berry misses this crucial historical insight in his running critique of capitalism, and his missing it draws him into flatly inaccurate claims, as when he asserts that “the United States government’s agricultural policy, or...

In 1820, America’s per capita e averaged $1,980, in today’s dollars. But by 2000, it had increased to $43,000. That economic growth has benefited the rich, of course. But it has also transformed the lives of the poor — and prevented many more from ing or staying poor. In this superb short video, the American Enterprise Institute briefly explains the moral value of economic growth. ...

It seems like nowadays everyone has a connection to someone who brews their own beer. Grand Rapids recently was named Beer City because of its lively microbrewery scene so this is especially true here. While this hobby can be very enjoyable and refreshing be aware that taking your hobby to the next step could be more difficult than you would imagine. Recent regulations have made it harder than ever for new craft beers to enter into the consumer market. Entrepreneurs...

Acton president and co-founder, Rev. Robert Sirico was recently interviewed for Beliefnet by John W Kennedy, who writes about “the crossroads of faith, media, and culture.” They discussed a variety of issues, including the Church’s views on economics, the media portrayal as business as inherently evil, the ments about economics, PovertyCure and more. See a portion of their discussion below: John W Kennedy: In your view, how can government — and religion — help create an atmosphere in which free...

[Part 1 is here.] Some might answer any defense of the free economy by pointing to the housing and financial crisis that came to a head in 2008, holding it up as proof positive the free economy is a wrecking ball swinging munities and leaving all manner of economic and cultural destruction in its wake. The financial crisis did enormous damage, but the major drivers of the crisis were a series of public policies that manipulated the market in pursuit...

Like half a billion women and girls in India, two teenage cousins were forced to walk away from their homes in the Indian village of Katra in Uttar Pradesh to find a private place to defecate. It was during this time that the two girls were mercilessly attacked: raped and hanged from the mango trees that line the fields of their village. Perhaps the lives of these two young girls could have been protected through access to a toilet at...

[Part 1 is here.] In his case against capitalism, Wendell Berry argues that the average person not only is anxious because he depends upon so many other people for his wellbeing (truckers, panies, etc.) but that he ought to be anxious. There’s a grain of truth here. We shouldn’t e helpless sheep without a clue what to do were the power to go down for a couple of days in January. But inter-dependency, far from a sign of cultural sickness,...

Much of the art before World War I can be seen as moral in nature, says Bruce Edward Walker in this week’s Acton Commentary, while post-Armistice monly celebrates materialism if not outright hedonism: After the Great War, however, the genie was out of the bottle, leading to works meant only to shock, dismay or anger would-be censors and art consumers in general. These works lacked what Irish philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke were essential for a “moral imagination” of which...