RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Trees, Evil, and Negative Externalities
It is monplace in discussions of environmental economics to consider so-called “negative externalities,” a technical term for the bad or damaging consequences of an activity that affects those outside the realm of economic decision-making. For instance, I can make the choice to plant a tree in my yard on my own (presuming there are no regulatory hurdles to jump). A negative externality for my neighbor might be that my tree dumps a lot of leaves into his or her yard...
Veterans Day: Remember Bataan & Corregidor
The National WWII Memorial When FDR ordered General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines in 1942, the dismal fate of the American and Filipino defenders at Bataan and Corregidor was sealed. Japanese forces had blockaded the island, achieved air superiority, and set their forces up to easily overpower the American defenses. The story of Bataan and Corregidor was a heroic tragedy. Heroic in that American and Filipino forces fought back bravely for months, and tragic in that any relief, retreat,...
IT’S FINALLY HERE! The Birth of Freedom now available on DVD
Just in time for Christmas, Acton Media’s new documentary The Birth of Freedom is now available for purchase from the Acton Bookshoppe. panied by a study guide which explores several core themes of the documentary, The Birth of Freedom tells the story of how modern understandings of individual liberty were developed and addresses the questions, “Why would anyone believe that all men are created equal? That all should be free? That all deserve a voice in choosing their leaders? Why...
Religion and Liberty: An Interview with Mustafa Akyol
The Spring issue of Religion & Liberty is now available online. The feature is an interview with Turkish scholar Mustafa Akyol. Akyol was a faculty member at Acton University last summer. The title of the interview is “Turkey: Islam’s Bridge to Religious and Economic Liberty?” In the interview Akyol notes: So Turkey will not change the world in one day, but if it shows that a Muslim society can achieve democracy and lives in peace with the western world, that...
Nation’s Top 50 Catholic High Schools Announced for 2008
The National Catholic High School Honor Roll announced its fifth selection of the best 50 Catholic secondary schools in the United States. The purpose of the Honor Roll is to recognize and encourage excellence in Catholic secondary education. It is a critical resource for parents and educators that distinguishes those schools that excel in three categories: academic excellence, Catholic Identity, and civic education. This year’s list includes 10 new honorees as well as eight schools that have earned recognition in...
RELIGION & LIBERTY
A New Kind of State
  Modern political philosophy and modern politics brought “the State” to the fore in novel and contentious ways. Leo Strauss argued that Machiavelli’s concept of “lo stato” was an essential component of a revolution in human thought and aspiration. The Treaty of Westphalia is rightly said to have inaugurated a new international order in Europe, precisely with its legitimatization of absolute...
Jul 17, 2026
Obergefell’s Second Decade
  It has become received wisdom by the legal intelligentsia that the Supreme Court is illegitimate. They charge that the conservative justices are engaging in politicized decisions that advance Republican causes, which have no grounding in law. Critics blast the Court for not following procedural regularity and deciding important issues on the so-called “shadow” docket. This mantra is repeated so often...
Jul 17, 2026
The Win
  In daily personal market transactions, the dynamics of mutual gain were once readily apparent. A buyer of meat from a butcher could readily see that he valued the meat more than the money he paid for it. The seller earned his living from the transaction. Each could recognize the other as a partner in mutual advantage.   Contrast this process with...
Jul 17, 2026
Birthright Blunders
  The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Barbara extended birthright citizenship to almost any person born in the United States—including the children of undocumented immigrants and of mothers who enter the country for the sole purpose of giving birth here. In so ruling, the court made some serious legal and historical mistakes.   But miscalculations by the Trump administration contributed to...
Jul 17, 2026
Original Intent of the Declaration
  During this 250th anniversary of independence, Americans are presented with a familiar narrative—one grounded more in national myth than historical reality. It goes something like this: the Declaration of Independence cast aside the British origins and institutions of the colonies and created a propositional nation based on equality and individual liberty. To secure these principles, the document birthed a unitary...
Jul 17, 2026
The King in the North
  In the end, it wasn’t even close. Andy Burnham, popular mayor of Greater Manchester, won the Wigan-based constituency of Makerfield in a landslide, taking 55 percent of the vote and—crucially—outpolling Reform, Restore, and Tory combined (along with everyone else). Conservatives, LibDems, and Greens all lost their deposits. He not only increased Labour’s vote but increased its vote share by dint...
Jul 17, 2026
A Colonial Coming of Age
  This weekend, Americans will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country’s independence in nationwide celebrations featuring backyard barbecues, fireworks displays, and concerts. President Donald Trump echoed the sentiments of many patriotic revelers and underscored the Declarations centrality to America’s political identity when he described the event. “With a single sheet of parchment and 56 signatures, America began the greatest political...
Jul 17, 2026
Under Pressure
  Historical illiteracy has become a real problem in our time. The downsides of this have become rather glaring lately, as for instance in Tucker Carlson’s 2024 interview with Daryl Cooper, whom Carlson called “the most honest popular historian in the United States.” Cooper claimed that Americans’ understanding of WWII was deeply flawed and that the true villain was Winston Churchill....
Jul 17, 2026
Americas Promise and Achievement
  On August 20, 2001, I arrived in the United States with my family after leaving Brazil, the country in which I had been born, educated, and built my professional life. Three weeks later, I watched in horror as terrorists attacked New York and Washington on September 11. Like millions of Americans, I experienced a mixture of grief, shock, and disbelief....
Jul 17, 2026
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