Why should we care about human dignity, creativity and flourishing? Why value human creativity? Why even believe that human beings possess dignity and rights? As Rev. Robert Sirico writes in the Washington Times, the free market system assumes, rather than defends, the value of all these things—something easy to miss because most of us share these sentiments. The religious foundation with which I was imbued as a child, and to which I returned after a spell in the wilderness of...

Over at the Libertarian Christian Institute, Jamin Hübner engages my reflection on taxation and Sam Gregg’s book, For God and Profit, with his sed contra: “But what if the ‘taxation is theft’ creed is consistent with both Christian and libertarian ideas, and that all things considered, taxation really is theft? And what if we’re simply misreading or misappropriating the New Testament? This wouldn’t be fortable or popular conclusion to draw, but it might be the case nevertheless.” Hübner accuses me...

Rev. Robert A. Sirico, President of the Acton Institute, joined host Neil Cavuto on Fox News Channel’s The Cost of Freedomthis morning to discuss the ments about conservative Catholics and Evangelicals by Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta and other campaign staffers in a recently released batch of hacked emails from Wikileaks. You can watch the interview below. ...

When Bob Dylan wrote, “The Times They Are A Changin’,” I doubt he had the Swedish Academy in mind. Nevertheless, by awarding him the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature the Academy has made a bold statement for a change in the way songwriting is viewed as literature. Many people have plained that there were many more worthy potential recipients. But let’s face the facts: Bob Dylan won, and they lost. He likely didn’t even know he peting. (Reportedly, he was...

“There are many things government can’t do—many good purposes it must renounce,” said Lord Acton. “It must leave them to the enterprise of others. It cannot feed the people. It cannot enrich the people. It cannot teach the people. It cannot convert the people.” Unfortunately for us, too few of our fellow Americans would agree with Lord Acton on that point. Many people think the government can feed, enrich, and teach us—and even convert us to the “right” (i.e., politically...

Acton Institute Director of Programs and Education Paul Bonicelli joined host Juliet Dragoson WZZM 13 News in Grand Rapids, Michigan yesterday to discuss the choice facing evangelical voters in the ing 2016 presidential election. You can watch the interview below. ...

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation recently released its annual report on U.S. attitudes towards socialism. Here are seven figures you should know from the survey: 1. The percentage of millenials who are unfamiliar with: Mao Zedong (42 percent), Che Guevara (40 percent), Vladimir Lenin (33 percent), Karl Marx (32 percent), Vladimir Putin (18 percent), Joseph Stalin (18 percent). 2. Among those familiar, at least a quarter have favorable impressions of Guevara (37 percent), Marx (34 percent), and Lenin (25...

Whether directly connected with our passions or not, God calls us first and foremost to do the next thing well, to his glory, with all of our might, says John Stonestreet. Short of this awareness, we risk “Christianizing” a sense of entitlement. Christians are guilty of inculcating false expectations to their young as well. For at least a couple of generations, Christian colleges and other educational institutions, with the noble intention municating the biblical concept of “calling” being more than...

Many Christians assume that the Bible has nothing at all to say about economics, says Albert Mohler. But a biblical worldview actually has a great deal to teach us about economic matters. Mohler notesthat while the Christian worldview does not demand or promote a particular economic system, there are several principles that should guide our thinking: 6. A Christian economic understanding rewards initiative, industry and investment. Initiative, industry and investment are three crucial words for the Christian’s economic and theological...

The implosion of Donald Trump’s campaign is a reminder that at the end of the day, character matters more than professional success or mitments. At the beginning of the second presidential debate Donald apologized again for the ments recorded during a private discussion with Billy Bush in 2005 in which he boasted of romantically pursuing married women and groping others. In his apology, he referred to that discussion as regular “locker room talk.” In other words, Trump believes he is...