One night during either my sophomore or junior year of college, while delaying the doing of homework by walking around the upstairs of Taylor University’s library looking for embarrassing books I could hide in friends’ backpacks so the alarm would go off when we walked out together and they’d have to sheepishly present them at the front desk, I stumbled upon a little treatise called The Law by some French dude named Frederic Bastiat I had never heard of. I...

I will not indulge in any sort of “what would Dorothy Day do” when es to thinking about the current US Catholic Bishops’ Conference taking place in Baltimore. However, it is interesting to ponder this woman who exemplifies so much of 20th century Catholicism and the bishops’ agenda, especially as the bishops discuss cause for her canonization, while on the same day failing to pass a pastoral message on economics. Their last pastoral letter on economics was in 1986, “Economic...

Peter Lawler,Dana Professor of Government at Berry College, has written a piece at Ethika Politika urging those upset by last week’s election results to be calm and take a deep breath. First, Lawler says we have to understand that there are small political parties and great ones. Great parties are parties of high principle. Their dominance on the political stage has the advantage of bringing great men into political life. They have the disadvantage of rousing up animosity that readily...

In this entertaining video Walter Williams, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, explains whythe free market is morally superior to other economic systems. My favorite es near the beginning when Williams explains that money is a form of “certificate of performance” that serves as proof of having served our neighbors. ...

After every electoral defeat—whether suffered by Republicans or Democrats—a period of hand-wringing and soul-searching inevitably develops in the days and weeks after the election. Journalists and politicians take to print to explain “What went wrong” and “Here’s what should be done differently.” Although the solutions are almost always what the pundits were saying before the election, the exercise in self-reflection is, on the whole, a much needed corrective. But too often the advice tends to be of the always terrible,...

“Forever stamps” are a form of non-denominated postage first introduced in 2006. The U.S. Postal Service recently issued a “Four Flags” version which “continues [the U.S. Postal Service’s] tradition of honoring the Stars and Stripes.” But there seems something peculiar—even a bit ominous—about the new stamps. Is the USPS trying to send us a message that freedom and liberty in America won’t last forever? Well, probably not. Turns out that when images of postage stamps are printed, a line is...

Here is ment posted this this morning on the National Catholic Reporter article titled, “Statement on economy denounced by archbishop fails to pass.” Full statement follows: An important clarification. Archbishop Fiorenza’s assertion that the Acton Institute views Rerum Novarum as “no longer applicable today” is incorrect. The archbishop is most likely basing this claim on a June 2012 America Magazine blog post by Vincent Miller titled, “Sirico Completely Wrong on Church’s Social Teaching.” See link. In the post, Miller cites...

Registration for 2013 Acton University, scheduled for June 18-21 at the DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., will open Thursday November 15. Stay tuned to Acton’s homepage and the AU website for further news and announcements. If you haven’t had the chance to attend in the past, make this the year you do! ...

In the November issue of Christianity Today, Dr. Amy Sherman, senior fellow at the Sagamore Institute has published an article entitled “The Cutting Edge of Marketplace Ministries.” In this article Sherman describes “holistic ministry” being done by a variety of businesses. Businesses are able to plish this kind of ministry in part when “pastors and faithful Christians grasp their role in God’s economy of all things,” as Stephen Grabill, director of programs and international at Acton Institute describes the work...

Writing on The Corner over at National Review Online, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg points to the election and, refreshingly, tells us that, “I’m not one of those who, in recent days, have seemed inclined to indulge their inner curmudgeon, apparently convinced that it’s more or less game-over for America and we’re doomed to Euro-serfdom.” Gregg, author of the soon-to-be-released and available for pre-order ing Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and How America Can Avoid a European Future (Encounter Books, January...