The Making Men Moral conference at Union University is over, but there are some takeaways. This was a unique engagement of many natural law thinkers such as the Catholics Robert George and Francis Beckwith with Southern Baptists like Russell Moore and Greg Thornbury. In that connection, Russell Moore delivered a message that I think would be considered a highlight of the conference by anyone who attended. He addressed the differences between Catholics and Evangelicals irenically without being ecumenical in any...

I have a piece up today at the First Things website on conservative Protestants (like me) and their attitude toward corporate behavior. Here’s a clip: Experience and prudence have demonstrated that free markets are demonstrably better than other alternatives. But the problem is that we have tuned our antennae in such a way such that they pick up market problems like the promotion of hedonistic vice but do not take adequate notice of other wrongs. Thus, conservative evangelicals are quick...

Free trade seems to get all the blame when things go wrong and none of the credit when things go right. It’s the Rodney Dangerfield of global economics: it gets no respect. Certainly in this worldwide economic downturn globalism is going to take its bumps and bruises. And as trouble es to roost at home (and vice versa) more then ever the lesson is going to be how truly interdependent we all are. In the short term there will certainly...

Again reporting from the Making Men Moral conference at Union University . . . The evening panel featured Robert George, Jean Bethke-Elshtain, David Novak, and Harry Poe. Their primary subject was the life of Richard John Neuhaus. Lots of great material, but Robert George spoke very movingly of Neuhaus’ career. In the 1960’s, Neuhaus was a friend and associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. During the next decade, Neuhaus moved into position to e the most prominent religious liberal in...

In the wake of Joseph Lawler’s piece on George Mason economists evaluating conservative magazines’ affinity for liberty on the basis of their treatment of sex, gambling, and drugs, Princeton’s Robert George is the perfect antidote. He could have reminded the measurers of liberty that those who favor laissez faire with regard to vice are often much less friendly to consensual acts of capitalism between adults. It’s a point he made in his seminal book Making Men Moral. I’m currently attending...

Gina over at The Point links to a piece by Jennifer at Conversation Diary, which reads in part, …I got out a pen to add some things to the store list. I do this about five times every day. But this time, as I wrote “bread” and “black beans” on my little pad of paper, it hit me: I am doing something really, really amazing here. Out of the blue, I suddenly saw writing items on my grocery list in...

Still reporting from the Making Men Moral Conference in honor of Robert George at Union University . . . I’ve had the chance to hear some great lines offered up by conservative academics. Here are a couple: Paul Kerry (BYU) on the difference between Robert George and Cornel West: “Last year, Robert George was invited to meet with Pope Benedict XVI. Cornel West was similarly honored to be invited to meet with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez.” Russ Moore (Southern Seminary)...

As Dave Ramsey admits, all of the advice he gives is something that you would be able to get from your grandma. It’s a mentary on our society that this basic wisdom, that prudential use of money (i.e. thrift) is a virtue, is so alien to us. ...

Today on the Acton website we launched a resource page devoted to the global economic crisis. This page is a collection of recent Acton articles, interviews, and video that directly relates to the economic crisis. It includes material that addresses the causes of the crisis, the government’s responses, and market-based solutions to the crisis. It also has a link to a superb video in which Sam Gregg discusses the government’s response to the crisis and how its policies, such as...

Somewhere in the United States today, government officials are writing a plan that will profoundly affect other people’s lives, es, and property. Though it may be written with the best intentions, the plan will go horribly wrong. The costs will be far higher than anticipated, the benefits will prove far smaller, and various unintended consequences will turn out to be worse than even the plan’s critics predicted. That’s the first paragraph of Randal O’Toole’s wonderful book, The Best Laid Plans:...