Across 27 countries surveyed, more people think religion plays a less important role than a more important pared with 20 years ago, notes a new report from Pew Research. But around the world, more people also favor an increased role for religion in their country than oppose it. Majorities in the U.S. (58 percent), Canada (64 percent), and Europe (a median of 52 percent) say religion has a less important role than it did 20 years ago. Whether that’s viewed...

Christians know firsthand that churches and places of worship promote personal, economic, and civic flourishing. Congress recently heard expert testimony describing the full extent of how religion promotes happiness, helps the poor find work, and creates munities every day of the week. These facts came to light during testimony before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee on “expanding opportunity by strengthening munities, and civil society” on April 30. People who are highly social and civically engaged are the most likely to...

Last month I met with a wonderful family putting Acton Institute resources to good use in the Golden State. Glenn Ballard, the proud father and coach of Katherine (14) and Eliyah Ballard (13), presented me with a case which his girls have been running in their homeschool debate league. In it they argue for substantial reform of the United States’ foreign aid policy from one centered on aid to one centered on trade! The girls artfully frame the debate by...

We’ve seen a drastic shift in the social habits and behaviors of Americans, whether in work, education, or family life. Yet with an ever increasing range of “nontraditional” routes to success and stability, social scientists have begun to see how one particular pattern bears fruit. Back in2009, the Brookings Institute’s Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins pointed us to “the success sequence”: a formula that involves (1) graduating from high school, (2) working full-time, and (3) waiting until marriage to have...

In the annals of individual achievements, there are few as astounding (and, in my opinion, astoundingly stupid) as rock climber Alex Honnold climbing the 3,000 foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without a rope or any other safety equipment. Honnold’s climb is captured in the Academy Award winning documentary Free Solo. Watching the film you can understand why the New York Times says that the climb “should be celebrated as one of the great athletic feats of any kind,...

Max Weber made an historic impact with his magnum opus on the Protestant work ethic at the turn of the twentieth century. Yet more than a century later, the full dimensions of the Catholic work ethic often go unnoticed in Catholic literature. Many writers on the Catholic work life omit the value of work, writes David Cusimano, a new contributor at the Acton Institute’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website, in a new essay. Cusimano, a business advisor and entrepreneur who...

For the past many years, the news about extreme poverty around the globe has been extremely encouraging. The number of people living on $1.90 a day (2011 PPP), which the World Bank defines as extreme poverty, has been falling for decades. In 1990, approximately 1.85 billion people lived in extreme poverty. In 2015, that dropped to 736 million. In other words, extreme poverty was reduced by over fifty percent globally in just 30 years. That’s an astonishing plishment. Given this...

On this episode, National Review senior editor Jonah Goldberg speaks about his latest book, “Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Nationalism, Populism, and Identity Politics Is Destroying American Democracy.” Jonah will also be speaking at our ing annual conference in Grand Rapids, Acton University, and you can still register to hear him during the plenary dinner on Wednesday, June 19. After that, James Patterson, professor of politics at Ave Maria University, joins us to talk about the legacy...

Sweden’s transformation from a pious Lutheran nation to one of the most secular states in the West is among the most arresting in history. Few appreciate how this followed the Church of Sweden having its governance, and then its doctrine, changed by politicians to reflect statist orthodoxy. Per Ewert of the Clapham Institute tells the story in a new article for Religion & Liberty Transatlantictitled “Secularizing the Church of Sweden: By politics alone.” A leading Social Democratic politician of the...

Democratic presidential primary contender Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have unveiled a plan to cap credit-card interest rates at 15%: Under the “Loan Shark Prevention Act,” the annual percentage rate applicable to any extension of credit would not be allowed surpass 15% on “unpaid balances, inclusive of all finance charges” or “the maximum rate permitted by the laws of the State in which the consumer resides.” Consumer debt, and credit card debt in particular, is something many Americans...