Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Can you spare 12 minutes to learn the pillars of a free society?
Can you spare 12 minutes to learn the pillars of a free society?
Jul 1, 2025 10:58 PM

Communicating the underlying pillars of a free and virtuous society is sometimes like describing the Kingdom of God: We can envision it, but detailing its operations to non-believers can be difficult. (This is largely for the same reason – both are so rarely observed upon earth.) Thankfully, the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has finished releasing a series of brief videos that describe the six pillars of a free society.

Dr. Steve Davies, Head of Education at IEA, details the underlying prerequisites of a spontaneously ordered society in a pithy manner – the longest video in this series is just two-and-a-half minutes long – explaining how such elements as limited government, the rule of law, and free markets lead to greater prosperity, creativity, and (perhaps a surprise to many) equality. However, he rightly warns in the last video, posted this week, against imperialist attempts to jump-start the process in societies that do not possess the culture necessary to sustain liberty:

[T]he world is slowly … moving in the direction of greater freedom … Some people would like to speed this up and argue that you should impose the principles of a free society in parts of the world that do not have them through a kind of top-down reform process. This has never worked, and it’s easy to see why: It contradicts the very principle of a free society, which is that it a bottom-up and spontaneous order.

The six videos are drawn from the insights of IEA’s 183-page book Foundations of a Free Society, written by Eamonn Butler, the director of the Adam Smith Institute. As in every other field, the book is better than the movie, since video necessarily shortens and bowdlerizes the source material. Dr. Butler’s book features enlightening asides on topics as diverse as “equality of e,” “negative discrimination,” and “the problem of altruism.” Perhaps the most important part is on “moral equality”:

In a free society, people are thought equally worthy of consideration and respect. They all have the same right to make choices about their own lives, provided that they do not cause harm to others in the process.

This view is based on a deep belief about their very nature as human beings, the nature which we all share. We all want to make our own choices, regardless of our ethnicity, religion or gender; and we all want others to respect our right to do so. The rule in a free society is ‘do as you would be done by’.

This is not to say that people are equally moral in their actions. Those who attack or rob others do not act morally. Some may deliberately flout social or sexual conventions. But their lives remain of value. Their lawbreaking or immorality opens them up to punishment or rebuke that is proportionate to their offence. But it does not open them up to arbitrary or excessive cruelty and humiliation.

The full book is available as a free PDF download here. The videos may be seen below, or on YouTube at this link.

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
A Cultural Case for Capitalism: Part 10 of 12 — The Free Market that Wasn’t
[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...
The Moral Value of Economic Growth
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. ...
Charitable Giving Increases, But Smaller Proportion Goes to Religious Groups
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...
Radio Free Acton: Culture Care with Makoto Fujimura
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...
World War I and the Break with History
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...
A Cultural Case for Capitalism: 9 of 12 — Berry vs. Salatin
[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...
The Disease of Self-Chosen Sacrifice
In our efforts to serve others and do good in the world, we humans have a remarkable tendency to fall short, no matter how carefully constructed or well intended our plans and designs may be. When failure occurs, economists are likely to point to some kind of knowledge problem, notingthat, for instance, Western Congregation X didn’t (and perhaps couldn’t)know or foresee that sending hundreds of free shoes to Developing Nation Y would put several local merchants out of business. To...
A Cultural Case for Capitalism: Part 8 of 12 — Capitalism and Cronyism Confused
[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,...
Calvin Coolidge’s warning against an entrenched bureaucracy
As we read about the increase of scandal, mismanagement, and corruption within our federal agencies, it is essential once again to revisit the words of Calvin Coolidge. Recent actions at the IRS, Veterans Administration, and the ATF gunwalking scandal all point to systemic problems e from an entrenched bureaucracy. As more and more of the responsibilities of civil society is passed over to centralized powers in Washington, federal agencies have exploded with power and control, leading to greater opportunities for...
Using Drones for Good
Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have been a prominent and controversial topic in the news of late. Today, the Washington-based Stimson Center released its mendations and Report on US Drone Policy. The think tank, which assembled a bipartisan panel of former military and intelligence officials for the 81-page report, concluded that “UAVSs should be neither glorified nor demonized. It is important to take a realistic view of UAVs, recognizing both their continuities with more traditional military technologies and the...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved