The EU has taken a symbolic stance against the worst human rights tragedy in South America, awarding its top human rights prize to the political prisoners and defiant opposition inNicolás Maduro’s Venezuela. The European Parliament announced the recipient of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought last Thursday, explicitly mentioning the socialist nation’s “political prisoners.” Eugénio Lopes provides the details about the award, named for the famous Soviet dissident, in a new essay forReligion & Liberty Transatlantic. The president of...

Earlier today, Congressional Republicans introduced the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the House version of their long-promised tax reform legislation. Here is what you should know about the bill: How does the plan affect individual taxpayers? The legislation proposes the following changes: • Increases the standard deduction from $6,350 to $12,000 for single filers and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples. • Creates a larger “zero tax bracket” by eliminating taxes on the first $24,000 of e. • Reduces...

Fr. Maximilian Kolbe is well-known for volunteering to die in place of another prisoner at Auschwitz. However, his history as a pioneering entrepreneur, who used the latest technology and managerial techniques to increase his ministry’s outreach, has inspired a new movement for the pope to name him “the patron saint of entrepreneurs and start-ups.” The fascinating history of how the Polish Franciscan used innovative techniques, employed the latest forms munications, and oversaw hundreds of workers is the subject of a...

Growing up, I was fascinated with authors such as Ayn Rand, Aldous Huxley, Lois Lowry, George Orwell, and others who developed dystopian worlds through their writing. Reading their works was a fun way to explore the extremes that our society would never e. According to a recent article inWiredby Rachel Botsman, some of those fictional worlds ing ever closer to reality, with the Chinese government developing a new algorithm that will allow them to rank their citizens on a so-called...

Earlier this year two evangelical groups, theLausanne MovementandBAM Global, released apaper on the role of wealth creation in the church to address these question. In the paper they note that wealth creation is a godly gift that is frequently misunderstood. Too many Christians still have a rigid divide between the sacred and secular, which causes them to miss that “God’s concerns are holistic, and so is the mission of the church.” Another problem is that many pastors lack any experience...

“One of the famous formulas e out of the Reformation era is that ofsemper reformanda, which means ‘always reforming,’” says Jordan Ballor in this week’s Acton Commentary. “This is a particularly appropriate topic for this observance of Reformation Day, now 500 years after Luther’s publication of the 95 Theses.” The point of departure for the Protestant Reformation was originally a somewhat limited set of topics or doctrines, particularly those related to soteriology the doctrine of salvation. In this sense Luther’s...

A slight majority of Americans oppose banning hateful and offensive speech—but mostly because we can’t agree on what speech is hateful and offensive. That’s a key takeaway from the Cato Institute’s new survey report, “The State of Free Speech and Tolerance in America.” The findings in almost every category are distressing for those who abhor offensive speech but believe it should remain legal to express such sentiments in the public square. According to the report, only 59 percent of Americans...

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, Marc Vander Maas talks to Joe Carter, senior editor at the Acton Institute, on wealth creation versus redistribution of wealth. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker discusses recent jazz releases with Daniel Montgomery, former director of marketing and design at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: “How should the church encourage wealth creation?” by Joe Carter “Getting serious about poverty means...

Some 23 percent of Americans, and a higher percentage of Europeans, say they belong to no religion in particular. Although this is the result of a centuries-long retreat from faith, one of Europe’s most prominent religious spokesmen believes that the process may e full-circle. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi ofthe UK and a member of the House of Lords, traced the boomeraging arc of secularization and re-evangelization as part of a lecture on “Faith and the Challenges...

Fueled by a mix of misguided cultural pressures and misaligned government laws and incentives, the path to educational and economic success has e increasingly cookie-cutter, consisting of a strict step-ladder from high school graduation to four-year college education. Rather than approaching each individual as a creative person with unique gifts and educational aspirations — not to mention unique advantages and disadvantages — our culture and policymaking continues to assume that one vocational or educational track ought to apply to all....