When students go back to school Monday morning, they will have more protections to exercise their constitutional freedom of religion than at any time in decades. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos issued updated federal guidelines requiring public schools to respect the religious liberty of students and teachers – or lose federal funding. The document has the unwieldy title, “Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools.” However, it contains pithy truths and robust protections...

During a Martin Luther King Day discussion with the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., made clear that she is not just a democratic socialist but a Marxian one. Evie Fordham of Fox Business has written a helpful summary of the remarks, including Ocasio-Cortez’s concise explanation of the Marxist theory of the exploitation of labor: “No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars,” Ocasio-Cortez said, receiving applause. “I’m not here to villainize and to say...

President Donald Trump made history on Friday when he became the first president to address the March for Life in person. As I watched the moment unfold, I was taken aback by a poster I saw held by one of the attendees: “Medicare for All. Abortion for None.” A sticker at the bottom read, “Democratic Socialists of America. Pro-life caucus.” hell yeah bröther /M66zR2d1Xs — Barstool Shop Steward (@j_arthur_bloom) January 24, 2020 At first blush, one would be tempted to...

Things are getting better. A lot better. If you spend a significant amount of time watching cable news, this e as a surprise. So, how much better is the world getting? Currently, less than 10 percent of the global population lives in extreme poverty! Yet, a study from Barna recently found that 67 percent of Americans believe the global poverty rate to be increasing. The good news doesn’t stop simply stop there. Globally, people are living longer, eating more, drinking...

When Sir Roger Scruton passed away at the age of 75 on January 12, the world lost a giant in philosophy. Scruton wrote approximately 50 books on topics ranging from food to music to conservative thought, and in 2016 he was knighted for his contribution to philosophy and education. On this episode, Acton’s Samuel Gregg explains the most important veins of Scruton’s thought, especially those related to political philosophy and the arts. Resources: “Roger Scruton: a year in which much...

This is the seventh in a series of essays on Peter Drucker’s early works. In his 1942 book, The Future of Industrial Man, Peter Drucker pointed to the Christian anthropology of man as a promising building block for society. He credited Christianity with the idea that men are more alike in their moral character than in their race, nationality, and color. Though we are imperfect and sinful, we are simultaneously made in God’s image and are responsible for our choices....

Note: An expanded version of this post was released as this week’s Acton Commentary. This week, Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, tweeted the following reaction to a story from The Economist describing rising American rent payments: This is a crisis. We need national rent control. — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 19, 2020 Sanders is certainly right that we face a housing crisis. Prices for housing have continued to rise with the decline in housing stock relative to population....

Sweden is often hailed for its sweeping cultural and political emphasis on the equality of all things. But while the popular discourse tends to center on its progressive economic policies and far-reaching public services, the country’s focus on fairness stretches across the spheres of Swedish society—including, more recently, its school cafeterias. At a local school in Falun, head cook Annica Eriksson was ordered by city officials to pursue a bit more mediocrity in her cuisine. Her food was good—too good....

“Economic inequality is out of control,” according to Oxfam, which releases a dire-sounding report about inequality every year on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The 2020 edition faults the supposed “dominance of neoliberal economics, which values deregulation and reduction in public spending,” and the alleged existence of “monopolies,” for “accelerating economic inequality.” “Oxfam focuses primarily on wealth inequality, because it fuels the capture of power and politics, and perpetuates inequality across generations,” the report states. While...

In his new book, “L’Islam: menace ou défi?” (“Islam: Menace or Challenge?”), Bishop Dominique Rey addresses how Catholics in Europe can best respond to the growth of Islam throughout the continent. While Rey lays out various manifestations of Islam in the book, he chooses to focus mainly on Christianity rather than Islam, writes Samuel Gregg at The Catholic World Report. “Rey is more concerned with how Catholics respond to Islam’s growth throughout Europe.” Islam’s presence in Europe offers Catholics a...