Caesar’s Palace didn’t have slot machines in the age of the apostles, so it’s not surprising that there is no explicit, direct, biblical prohibition of casino gambling. How then should Christians in America think about the growing trend of regional casinos? For some Christian groups, the answers is based on their opposition to all forms of gambling. My own denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, calls on “all Christians to exercise their influence by refusing to participate in any form of...

Readers following my series of blog posts on shareholder proxy resolutions submitted by religious groups such as As You Sow and the Interfaith Council of Corporate Responsibility already know these resolutions have little to do with issues of faith. In fact, an overwhelming majority of these resolutions concern corporate speech and attempts to stifle it. AYS and ICCR – as well as a host of other religious shareholders – submit proposals drafted by Bruce Freed, head of the Center for...

“Detroit developed best when it was bottom-up,” says Harry Veryser, economist and professor at University of Detroit Mercy. “When munities, small parishes, small schools were formed… that’s when Detroit prospered.” In a recent discussion on what makes cities flourish, Chris Horst and I argued that cities need a unique blend of munity action, good governance, and strong business to thrive. Cities like Detroit have monstrous plex problems, and the solutions will e from additional top-down tweaking and tinkering. Rather, any...

In a new book, Roman Catholic Archbishop José H. Gomez proclaims that immigration is always about more than immigration. It’s about families, national identity, poverty, economics and mon good. Elise Hilton reviews the book in this week’s Acton Commentary. The full text of her essay follows. Subscribe to the free, weekly Acton News & Commentary and other publications here. Immigration and the Soul of America byElise Hilton America was born from the Christian mission. This is not an article of...

Acton’s Director of Research and author of Tea Party Catholic: The Catholic Case For Limited Government, A Free Economy And Human Flourishing, Samuel Gregg, has a new interview featured at The Catholic World Report. In it, Gregg is asked about the title of his new book. CWR: Why the use of the term “Tea Party Catholic”? Isn’t the Tea Party mostly made up of angry white voters who hate government and don’t want to pay their fair share of taxes?...

“When you read the Book of Revelation,” says Gregory Alan Thornbury, president of The King’s College, “it’s about not giving in to tyranny when es to economics. I don’t know why we don’t talk about that in church.” In an interview with Jerry Bowyer at Forbes, Thornbury expounds on how the revelation to St. John is a precursor to the idea that F. A. Hayek later would call “The Fatal Conceit.” Jerry:Should a Christian be a Hayekian? Do you see...

Acton on Tap: Lawrence Reed at Speak EZ Lounge – 10.8.13 The Fall 2013 Acton On Tap series kicked off at Speak EZ Lounge in downtown Grand Rapids, Mich., this evening with Lawrence Reed, president of the Foundation for Economic Education, who addressed gathered attendees on the lessons our society can learn from the history of Rome. In the interest of speedy delivery, you can listen to the raw audio of Reed’s presentation and the Q&A that followed using the...

New York magazine’s fascinating interview with Justice Antonin Scalia offers much to enjoy, and as Joe Carter has already pointed out, one of the more striking exchanges centers on the existence of the Devil. When asked whether he has “seen evidence of the Devil lately,” Scalia offers the following: You know, it is curious. In the Gospels, the Devil is doing all sorts of things. He’s making pigs run off cliffs, he’s possessing people and whatnot. And that doesn’t happen...

Today is day nine of the government shutdown and currently there is little optimism in Washington that an agreement will be reached to end the stalemate. While many are focusing on the unpopularity of ObamaCare, or as the White House claims, Republicans are using the budget to hold funding for the new health care law hostage; however there is an even more important factor that requires our attention: Lawmakers need to get control of our budget. In The Washington Post,...

From Gerard Berghoef and Lester DeKoster’s Faithful in All God’s House: Stewardship and the Christian Life: The Lord God is a free enterpriser. This is one reason why Karl Marx, who was not a free enterpriser, rejected God. God is a free enterpriser because he expects a return on his investments. Jesus’ parables of the talents (Matt. 25:14–30) and of the ten minas (Luke 19:11–27) clearly teach us that God expects interest on the talents he invests in each of...