There is no one experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. National experiences vary wildly between New Zealand and Italy. Business experiences differ, as well. Pier 1 is going out of business, while Walmart sales have jumped. In West Michigan restaurants have expanded their distribution to grocery stores, while yoga studios have brought their teaching online. Some people are working harder than ever, while others are barely keeping it together. At a time when both prudent political leadership and scientific research are...

Many restaurants still remain closed or constrained due to COVID-19 and the corresponding lockdowns, spurring renewed appreciation for the contributions that such businesses make. Yet in addition to reminding us of the humanizing aspect and social value of these businesses, the lockdowns have also highlighted the vulnerability of local enterprise in the face of onerous rules and regulations. Whatever one thinks about the prudence of the restrictions in this particular crisis, the disruption and destruction we’ve seen ought to stir...

As Minnesota prepares for its next phase of reopening—which includes malls, casinos, salons, restaurants and bars—local churches have grown frustrated with the lack of clarity and guidance on the expectations for munities and houses of worship. Now, given Gov. Tim Walz’s indefinite extension of the ban on gatherings of 10 or more people at church services, several of the state’s religious leaders are pushing back. Leaders from the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in Minnesota say they...

Religion plays, and has always played, a crucial role in American life. In the past 75 years, however, religiosity has been in rapid decline. What’s causing the decline? In a new study from the American Enterprise Institute, demographer Lyman Stone helps answer. Lyman joins this episode to uncover his findings, including the history of religious life in the United States dating back four hundred years ago and how secular education is likely playing a large role in declining religiosity. Read...

From the Enlightenment to the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Jacques Derrida, the power of French ideas has radically altered the rest of the world. The Acton Institute has engaged France’s long history as a global thought leader in two new French-language articles, which discuss contemporary French influence on U.S. and Spanish leaders. The first translation discusses what politicians in general, and one senator in particular, could learn from French efforts to pare back their notoriously inefficient welfare state: “Elizabeth...

In an article I published today in Catholic World Report, “The profitable Vatican Museums remain closed, look toward a June opening,” I posed some tough questions to Rev. Kevin Likey, a priest of the Legionaries of Christ from Flint, Michigan, who is currently serving as the director of the Vatican Museums Patrons’ Office. The Patrons’ Office is responsible for procuring a major portion of philanthropy necessary for maintaining and restoring some of the world’s finest art located inside the Vatican...

The Acton Institute’s Rome office is sponsoring an online seminar on Thursday, May 28, at 7 p.m., Central European Time: “‘Banned’ wagon? Why dissenting freethinkers are censured on social media.” The topic is most timely as independent voices–doctors, scientists, economists, activists, and journalists whose duty it is to be inquisitive–are being silenced by social media giants like Facebook and YouTube. Now, even Google has joined the “banned” wagon, removing content it considers “misinformation” from its private file-sharing accounts on Google...

First Things magazine has transformed radically from the days when Rev. Richard John Neuhaus established it as the foremost magazine of Christian engagement with the public square. Acton Institute President and Co-founder Rev. Robert A. Sirico discussed its devolution and the broader challenge of Catholic integralism on the Friday, May 15, edition of “The Federalist Radio Hour.” Since Rev. Neuhaus’ death, the publication’s literary editor hascalledhimself a “socialist Roman Catholic,” and its authors have erroneouslydescribedwealth as “an intrinsic evil.” Podcast...

One must praise conservative material that airs on PBS for the same reason one must take note of shooting stars: for parative rarity and brevity of the experience. Yet high praise is due to the taxpayer-funded network for airing the magisterial documentary Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words on May 18. Much of the justice’s rags-to-black-robes story had been told in his autobiography, My Grandfather’s Son, but without his own resonant voice and Solomonic demeanor. Much of the...

During the coronavirus pandemic, the media crowned a new set of heroes: healthcare workers, essential employees, and first responders. But politicians who classify church attendance as non-essential ignore the fact that churches “are the first of the first responders,” says Acton Institute President and Co-founder Rev. Robert A. Sirico. Rev. Sirico makes the observation during a brief interview on the Fox News Channel’s Your World with Neil Cavuto, which aired on Friday, May 22. “This is not the first time...