C.S. Lewis is probably best known for his work in children’s literature and Christian apologetics. “Mere Christianity,” “The Problem of Pain” and “The Abolition of Man” are among his most popular works, but he has many more valuable essays regarding truth and Christianity which are not as widely read. A favorite lecture of mine, titled “The Poison of Subjectivism”, is found in his collected essays, “Christian Reflections.” After leaving Malvern College in June 1913, Lewis (or Jack as he preferred...

“Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought.” – Lord Acton Today, people across the United States will march in parades, set off fireworks, and don red, white, and blue to huge family cookouts, all in celebration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. In the years since those first Americans pledged their loyalty to the philosophy of natural rights and the equality of all men, the document has...

The benefits of free trade are vast, and enjoyed throughout the world. The alternative — trade restricted by protective tariffs and quotas — concentrates benefitsto a protected few who profitdue to petitionfrom petitors. The morality of free trade is clear. Individuals canchoose what they buy from where, linking the worldthrough a network of exchange. Integration through trade and exchange is a major factor lifting people out of poverty. The more and freer the trade, the better for human flourishing. Despite...

“It’s all in Plato, all in Plato: bless me, what do they teach them at these schools!” – Digory Kirke in C.S. Lewis’s The Last Battle The way Professor Kirk feels about Plato is how I feel about Frederick Bastiat. Whenever I hear someone repeating an economic fallacy online I have a tendency to cry out, “It’s all in Bastiat, all in Bastiat: bless me, what do they teach them at these schools!” Unfortunately, Bastiat, whose 215th birthday is today,...

Luis Hernandez traveled to Acton University from Mexico City, where he works as a pastoral coordinator for Anáhuac Sur University. He is responsible for managing projects and spiritual activities to help both the university students and the munity. He also holds a degree in Industrial Engineering, and frequently travels throughout Mexico munities build churches. He was excited to attend Acton University to learn about “ways munities can take control of their own development.” Most notably, Hernandez mentioned the impact of...

In an Acton University lecture titled “Religious Freedom: The Dawn of the First Amendment,” John Pinheiro sought to give a fuller understanding of the meaning of the First Amendment through its historical context. Contrary to a current widespread belief, religious freedom has not always been valued in the United States and has been almost constantly threatened, even after the ratification of the Constitution. Pinheiro described the Founders’ fight for religious liberty as both radical and counter-cultural because of the religious...

The Family & the Market, an Acton University lecture by Jennifer Roback Morse, uses Christian theology and logic to illustrate unique connections between seemingly unrelated aspects of society, at least to the secular world. Morse is the founder and president of the Ruth Institute, where she discovered that the economy depends on the intact family raising children. This Institute has a dream: that every child is ed into a loving home with a married mother and father. Their goal is...

“Having a heart for the poor isn’t hard. Having a mind for the poor…that’s the challenge.” –Poverty, Inc. This quote from the documentary Poverty, Inc. highlights the reason why so many people are willing to give their money to foreign aid, without necessarily understanding its harmful effects. This quote can also shed some light on the recent embrace of socialism by many millennials. When young people look at the rate of poverty in the U.S. and see that we are...

“Limits on free speech is uniquely troubling for the future health of a free society,” wrote Ray Nothstine in an Acton Commentary. “Students e accustomed to having their rights limited, and will be more lethargic in countering possible oppression from a growing and intrusive state.” Nothstine wrote those words in 2008 — and they’ve proven to be distressingly prophetic. Every year for the past decade limitations on speech by students has been increasing, leadingan entire generation to assume such restriction...

“Law professors and lawyers instinctively shy away from considering the problem of law’s violence,” says Yale law professor Stephen L. Carter. “Every law is violent. We try not to think about this, but we should.” Carter, one of the most astute legal minds in America, rightfully points out the inherent violence embedded in the law. But he draws some unfortunate conclusions from this fact: On the first day of law school, I tell my Contracts students never to argue for...