On April 19, 2005, JosephRatzinger was elected to e the next Pope after John Paul II.Several Acton Institute analysts wrote articles looking ahead to what kind of papacy the world could expect from Benedict XVI. Take a look and let us know how we did. (We’ve added links where they are still available). Alejandro Chafuen, a member of the Acton Institute’s board of directors, wrote a piece on April 20, 2005, titled, “Benedict XVI: A defender of personal freedom” for...

I recently wrote about the need to reach beyond an earthbound economics, re-orienting our thinking around a more transcendent framework that requires active spiritual engagement and discernment. Even as Christians, far too often we set our focus too strongly on temporal features like material needs, happiness, and quality of life—all of e into play accordingly—without first concerning ourselves with what God is actually calling us to do as individuals. Transcendent ends will e from transcendent beginnings, and those beginnings will...

On January 31, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility issued a press release, announcing the organization’s “2013 Proxy Resolutions and Voting Guide.” A quick read of the release and ancillary materials, however, reveals that these resolutions have very little to do with issues of religious faith and everything to do with the progressive political agenda. The ICCR guide “features 180 resolutions filed at panies” that call on shareholders to “promote corporate responsibility by voting their proxies in support of investor...

Crony Chronicles, an online resource about crony capitalism, wants to help college students and/or campus groups interested in exposing and eradicating corporate welfare. They are offering free kits for anyone interested. These kits will contain: 100 informational flyers on corporate welfare to give to students after they sign a postcard100 post cards addressed to a senator telling them you want to end corporate welfare, and so should theyStamps100 hilarious bumper stickers100 candy coins to give out And great resources to...

Calvin Coolidge is ripe for national recognition and his wisdom is being sought out perhaps now more than ever. If you’re a voracious reader mentary and columns you’ve noticed mon sense adages are being unearthed at a rapid pace. Most of the credit and recognition for the Coolidge revival goes to Amity Shlaes. Her newly released and splendid biography Coolidge can’t be mended enough. (Full review on the PowerBlog ing) Coolidge was the last president to oversee federal budget surpluses...

For George Washington’s birthday, Julia Shaw reminds us that the indispensable man of the American Founding was also an important champion of religious liberty: All Presidents can learn from Washington’s leadership in foreign policy, in upholding the rule of law, and—especially now—in the importance of religion and religious liberty. While the Obama Administration claims to be modating” Americans’ religious freedom concerns regarding the Health and Human Services (HHS) Obamacare mandate, it is actually trampling religious freedom. President Washington set a...

If you’re a gradeschooler you’re probably sitting in a classroom right now thinking there’s no way teachers could possibly make school more tedious and boring. Well, I have some bad news for you. According to the New York Times, you may soon be studying the periodic table while playing dodgeball: Ms. Patelsky, the physical education teacher at Everglades Elementary School here, instructed the students to count by fours as they touched their elbows to their knees during a warm-up. They...

In this episode of Radio Free Acton, Research Fellow Michael Matheson Miller is joined by Director of Research Samuel Gregg to reflect on the papacy and legacy of retiring Pope Benedict XVI. This is part 1 of a two part podcast. This Radio Free Acton podcast runs just over 21 minutes. Click the media player and listen in: ...

When we think of the concept “economic freedom” we often think about essential liberties and the factors that make them possible (e.g., free markets, the rule of law, and property rights). But for Christians economic freedom is not an end unto itself but the means for freeing our resources to use in ways that God intends. Being free of the bonds of economic statism is therefore useless if we use our liberty to enslave ourselves. As Kevin DeYoung asks, Do...

It can be tempting to judge the papacy, the world’s longest continuously functioning institution, by its various historical stages that often have little relevance to the modern office. While the Chair of Peter remains the central teaching medium of the Roman Catholic Church, it is safe to say that the challenges faced by Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI are not the challenges faced by Pope Adrian I (772 – 795) or even Pope Leo XIII (1878 – 1903)....