How much value does religion add to the U.S. economy? According to a new study the effect of religion exceeds the revenue of the ten largest panies—including Apple, Google, Amazon, and bined. The study, recently published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, provides three estimates of the value of faith to U.S. society. The first and most conservative estimate takes into account only the revenues of faith-based organizations falling into several sectors (education, healthcare, local congregational activities, charities,...

Every year, the U.S. es out with its report on es and poverty. And every year the same finding repeatedly surprises me. As economist David Henderson says, the report “always shows that there is mobility between e categories, even in the short run, and that poverty is temporary for most people in America who experience it. Virtually all reporters ignore it.” First, the bad news. The report reveals that during the 4-year period from 2009 to 2012, more than one...

Air pollution is now the world’s fourth-leading fatal health risk, causing one in ten deaths in 2013. According to a new study by the World Bank, the premature deaths due to air pollution costs the global economy about $225 billion in lost labor e, or about $5.11 trillion in welfare losses worldwide. That is about the size of the gross domestic product of India, Canada, and bined, notes the report While we tend to think of air pollution as occurring...

On this edition of Radio Free Acton, we speak with Jordan Ballor, a general editor of the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology, a major series of new translations of Abraham Kuyper’s key works. We discuss the genesis and scope of the project, and examine what Kuyper has to say to modern Christians and why his contributions remain relevant a century after their initial publication. You can listen to the podcast via the audio player below. ...

Pope Francis recently referred to climate change as a sin in a message he gave on the world day of prayer. Research fellow at the Acton Institute, Dylan Pahman, had a lot to say about this in a new article at The Stream. mented on Francis’ message as well as analyzing the effects on the poor of some of the policy prescriptions that Francis has praised. He says: What seems to be lost on these hierarchs is what to do...

More and more, Western churches are opening their eyesto the risks and temptations inherent in so-called “short-term missions,” whether manifested inour basic vocabulary, paternalistic attitudes, or reactionary service. As films like Poverty, Inc. and the PovertyCure seriesdemonstrate, ourcultural priorities and preferred solutions often distract us from the true identities and creative capacities of our neighbors. Paired with apassion to “do good,” and standing atop an abundance of resources, it’s easy toforget and neglect the importance of real relationship, holistic service,...

Two months ago Russian president Vladimir Putin signed into law a number of “anti-terrorism” measures that limit missionary and evangelistic efforts and restrict the religious freedoms on non-Orthodox groups. As Christianity Today notes, to share their faith, citizens must now secure a government permit through a registered religious organization, and they cannot evangelize anywhere besides churches and other religious sites. The restrictions even apply to activity in private residences and online. Why is Russian taking implementing such constraints on believers?...

In this week’s Acton Commentary, “Piety and Politics: The Church’s Social Responsibility,” I take up the Kuyperian distinction between the church conceived as organism and as institute and point out some ways in which such ideas can help us navigate the dangerous waters of social and political engagement. When the Letter to Diognetus describes the diffuse influence of Christians in the world, it uses the living imagery of the soul: What the soul is in the body, that Christians are...

“If all of our working and all of our resting serves the same vocation of love, why do we so often feel out of balance?” In a recent talkfor theOikonomia Network, author and church historian Dr. Chris Armstrong offers a fascinating exploration of thequestion, challenging mon Christian responses on “work-life balance” andoffering a holistic framework forvocation, service, and spiritual devotion. Recounting a situation where hehimself wasfaced with frustrations about work and family life, Armstrong recalls the advice he received from...

Yesterday the U.S. Census Bureau released itslatest report on e and poverty in the United States. Here are seven figures from the report you should know about: 1. Real median household e increased 5.2 percent between 2014 and 2015—from $53,700 to $56,500. (This is the first annual increase in median household e since 2007.) 2. In 2015 the median e of a married-couple household was $84,626. For a female head of household (no husband present) the median e was $37,797....