Acton’s Director of Media Michael Matheson Miller joined host Dave Jaconette this morning on WJRW Radio in Grand Rapids, Michigan for an interview touching on a number of subjects including 3rd world poverty, Kony 2012, entrepreneurship in the developing world, and even a discussion of the HHS mandate issue. The interview lasts about 20 minutes; Listen via the audio player below: [audio: ...

Because you had party balloons at your 7-year-old’s birthday party, you many not be able to get a MRI scan by the time your 70. At least that is the conclusion of some scientists who say the world supply of helium, which is essential in research and medicine, is being squandered because we are using the gas for party balloons: “It costs £30,000 ($47,568) a day to operate our neutron beams, but for three days we had no helium to...

Is it unconstitutional for laws to be based on their supporters’ religiously founded moral beliefs? While most of us—at least most readers of this blog—would consider such a question to be absurd, some people apparently think it should be answered in the affirmative. Fortunately, legal scholar Eugene Volokh has provided a brilliant rebuttal which explains why “it would be an outrageous discrimination against religious believers to have such a constitutional rule”: My most recent brush with the argument happened with...

I love the scene in the movie, A Beautiful Mind, where it portrays John Nash finding his truly original idea. He isn’t in a library, classroom or lab. No, he is out with his friends in a bar, trying to figure out how to get a group of women to pay attention to him and his buddies. Out of that problem, he discovered a principle that could be applied to situations of much more significance and went on to continue...

We all know the promises government has made over the years about how certain programs and initiatives would eradicate poverty. But perhaps nothing rivals the Methodist movement in terms of effectively stamping out poverty in England. Charles Edward White and Bobby Butler’s essay “John Wesley’s Church Planting Movement: Discipleship that Transformed a Nation and Changed the World” is a splendid overview of Methodism’s impact on English society, especially as it relates to the middle class explosion. People of faith understand...

When thinking and talking about principle of subsidiarity I’ve tended to resort to using metaphors of size and space (i.e.,nothing should be done by a higher orlargerorganization which can be done as well by a smalleror lower organization). But philosopher Brandon Watson explains why that is not really what subsidiarity is all about: The subsidiarity principle is often paired with the principle of solidarity, and there is a real connection between the two. Solidarity is the active sense of responsibility...

Over the past decade the model of Business as Mission (BAM) has grown into a globally influential movement. As Christianity Today wrote in 2007, the phenomenon has many labels: “kingdom business,” panies,” “for-profit missions,” “marketplace missions,” and “Great panies,” to name a few. But as Swedish business consultant Mats Tunehag notes, Business as Mission is not a new discovery—it is a rediscovery of Biblical truths and practices. Many Evangelicals often put an emphasis on the Great Commission, but sometimes make...

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Business as Mission (BAM) model has e a global phenomenon. As more Christians embrace BAM it is not only changing the lives of individual Christians but is helping to change, as Daniel Devadatta explains, the culture of business in India: When Christian business persons begin to sense their calling, when they embrace this and begin to envision their enterprise from this perspective, they will begin to see the significant role they play...

Spring is almost here! In celebration of my favorite season, I invite you to visit the new and improved AU Online website. There, you’ll find information about the spring 2012 course offerings and enjoy free access to Acton’s core curriculum, our four part foundational series. Our first live session, Private Charity: A Practitioner’s View, will take place March 27 and feature the highly rated Acton lecturer Rudy Carrasco speaking from his years of experience on the front lines of urban...

Michael Matheson Miller, Acton’s Director of Media, recently made an appearance on NPO Showcase, munity access show here in the Grand Rapids area, to discuss the PovertyCure initiative. The full 15 minute interview is available for viewing below: ...