On this episode of Radio Free Acton, John Couretas, Director of Communications at the Acton Institute, speaks with Daniel J. Mahoney, Professor of Political Science at Assumption College, on the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker and Daniel Menjivar talk about Blade Runner 2049. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: “The Gulag Archipelago” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “Judging Communism and All Its Works: Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago Reconsidered” Video:...

Helen J. DeVos (PRNewsfoto/DeVos Family) I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Helen DeVos, the wife of Amway co-founder Rich DeVos, in Grand Rapids at the age of 90. She was one of those people who had an incalculable impact in building munities with her generosity and, yes, business acumen. Rich and Helen’s philanthropy has been estimated to exceed $1.2 billion over the years, a testament to their deep faith mitment to be responsible stewards of the...

Christianity planted the seed that germinated into Western thought for two millennia. Yet the contributions of the faith, and its practitioners, remain unsung, underappreciated, and unheralded in an ever-secularizing west – a fact remedied in part by the bookGreat Christian Jurists in English History, edited by Hill and Helmholz. The book is reviewed in the latest essay for Religion & Liberty Transatlanticby Stephen F. Copp, Ph.D. Copp’s credentials – as an associate professor and former head of the department of...

The most charitable assumption you can make about people who support tariffs and other forms of protectionism is that they are economically illiterate. But if they are able to demonstrate they understand the economics of protectionism and still support such policies, then we are justified in assuming they don’t care about harming their neighbor. This binary choice may sound overly simplistic—after all, aren’t most policy plex?—but it really is that clear-cut. As Mark J. Perry explains, It’s a scientifically and...

After the Brexit referendum, the UK stands at a crossroads. Free from the restrictions of Brussels, Great Britain is free to chart its own destiny. Some hope to use that freedom to undermine free markets, that leaving the EU will alleviate pressure for deregulation or privatization. Others see departure from the EU in 2019 as the door to a new vista of trade and innovation. We get an eyewitness account of the latter group in a new essay inReligion &...

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was warmly ed at the Acton Institute’s 27th Annual Dinner on Wednesday night and won applause for her plans to promote innovation and choice in schools. MLive news reported on the event. “We can amplify the voices of families that only want better for their kids, we can assist states who are working to further empower parents, and we can urge those who haven’t to start,” said DeVos. The “outdated education model” is to blame for...

Amid modern society’s mon materialistic assumptions about business and economics, Christians have a great deal to contribute when es to reviving and sustaining a transcendent view toward work and calling. Yet in highlighting the centrality of vocation, we risk the adoption of a different set of misaligned priorities and assumptions. For too many, our renewed emphasis on “vocation” is quickly misconstrued as an imperative to “follow your passion” or “live your dreams” — a cozy affirmation of our culture’s hedonistic...

In his most recent homily Pope Francis said that amassing wealth—both money and land—while children suffer and die is a morally unacceptable form of idolatry. There’s an “idolatry that kills,” said Francis, that makes “human sacrifices” by those who are hungry of money, land and wealth, who have “a lot” in front of “hungry children who have no medicine, no education, who are abandoned.” From a biblical perspective, Francis is correct. But there is more he needs to say about...

When disasters strike – as they have repeatedly across the transatlantic sphere this season – government exercises its most essential function: saving lives. Do these heroic actions validate the ongoing intervention of the federal government into local affairs? This hurricane season has given federal officers too many opportunities to provide this service. Hurricanes Harvey, Irene, and Maria tore across the countryside in violent succession. Most recently, Hurricane Ophelia’s 100 mph winds killed three people in the Republic of Ireland and...

Earlier this year two evangelical groups, the Lausanne Movement and BAM Global, met in Thailand to “discussvarious aspects of wealth creation, including justice, poverty, Biblical foundation, wealth creators, stewardship of creation and the role of the church.” During the meeting 30 peoplefrom 20 nations, primarily from the business world, and also from church, missions and academia, put together theWealth Creation Manifesto: Affirmations 1. Wealth creation is rooted in God the Creator, who created a world that flourishes with abundance and...