Earlier today the Supreme Court issued its ruling in American Legion v. American Humanist Association—also known as the Bladensburg Cross case. The Court ruled that the 40-foot-tall stone and concrete “Peace Cross” memorial displayed on government-owned property in Bladensburg, Maryland outside Washington, DC does not violate the Establishment Clause. The Court said retaining established, religiously expressive monuments, symbols, and practices is quite different from erecting or adopting new ones. Here are six quotes from the ruling you should know about....

In the preamble to its constitution, the Industrial Workers of the World proclaimed that it would bring about socialism (which it dubbed “industrial democracy”) by “forming the structure of the new society within the shell of the old.” But can Christian rhetoric be hollowed out to make room for secular leftist principles? According to one observer in Poland, precisely such a program is taking place in Europe. And the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczynski,...

The 313 Conservative MPs held the second round of voting to elect the new leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister of the United Kingdom. Each of the six remaining candidates – Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Dominic Raab, Sajid Javid, and Rory Stewart – had to receive at least 33 votes to advance to the next round. The results, which were announced around 6 p.m. London time, were as follows: Johnson: 126;Hunt: 46;Gove: 41;Stewart: 37;Javid: 33; andRaab:...

A plurality of American Christians now believes that capitalism is at odds with “Christian values,” a trend that’s been panied by a range of political leaders and Religious-Left thinkers who promote the patibility of Christianity with expansive state control. Paired with our culture’s growing interest in “democratic socialism,” such arguments are especially worthy of reflection. In a new video, Russell Moore examines this debate, mon plaints against capitalism and asking, “Is socialism consistent with a Christian view of reality?” While...

Proponents of a national health care system often describe the program as “all-inclusive.” However, a Canadian court ruling and a new U.S. congressional report show that single-payer health care could permanently exclude faithful Christians. Health care workers in Canada’s national health service must participate in abortion and physician-assisted suicide because they receive government funding, a Canadian provincial court ruled. Wesley J. Smith highlighted the Canadian case at National Review. Physicians argued in court that their constitutional right to conscience is...

In our efforts to reduce poverty and spur economic growth, we can be overly consumed in debates about top-down policy tactics and the proper allocation of physical resources. Yet, as many economists are beginning to recognize, the distinguishing features of free and flourishing societies are more readily found at the levels of culture—attitudes, beliefs, and imagination. According to economist David Rose, for example, “it is indeed culture—not genes, geography, institutions, policies, or leadership—that ultimately determines the differential success of societies.”...

Every year the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which measures the amount of time people spend doing various activities, such as paid work, childcare, volunteering, and socializing. Here are seven figures you should know from the latest report: 1. In 2018, 89 percent of full-time employed persons worked on an average pared with 31 percent on an average weekend day, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Full-time employed persons averaged 8.5 hours...

At his campaign rally last night President Trump vowed that he’d make “America wealthy again.” But the taxes he’s imposed on Americans in the form of tariffs are making America poorer—both materially and spiritually. When Trump imposed tariffs on China last year I mentioned that in 2019 the tax would cost households to suffer losses equivalent to $2,357 per household (or $915 per person). Since then we’ve found that the tax increase may have other harmful effects, including causing a...

On this episode of Acton Line, Romanian author and public intellectual, Mihail Neamtu, joins the show to talk about what he calls the “ghost” of Marxism. What defines Marxism and what remnants of the ideology are we seeing today? After that, Daniel J. Mahoney, writer and professor of politics at Assumption College, speaks with Acton’s Director of Communications, John Couretas, about the legacy of the 20th century Russian writer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn’s writings are said to have contributed greatly in...

This week is “Religious Freedom Week,” a time set aside by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to “pray, reflect, and take action on religious liberty, both here in this country and abroad.” In honor of the Religious Freedom Week, here are three explanations about what religious freedom means in America. 1. Basic Explanation Religious freedom is a right, given by God and guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, that allows individual people or groups to...