Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico continues to promote Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy on radio and television across the country; today’s roundup of media includes two radio interviews on west coast radio stations, starting with host Brian Sussman on the KSFO Morning Show in San Francisco, California: [audio: Next came a trip up the coast to Medford, Oregon and the Bill Meyer Show on KMED: [audio: Keep checking back for more clips here...

Telling young people that some jobs are menial, says Thomas Sowell, is a huge disservice to them and to society: It was painful, for example, to see an internationally renowned scholar say that what e young people needed was “meaningful work.” But this is a mon among educated elites, regardless of how counterproductive its consequences may be for society at large, and for e youngsters especially. What is “meaningful work”? The underlying notion seems to be that it is work...

On , Rev. Robert A. Sirico looks at the recent anti-capitalism, anti-NATO protests in Chicago: In countless debates and conversations with modern proponents of social justice, I have noticed that they are less interested in justice than in material equality. They borrow the language of justice and mon good but have either forgotten or rejected the classical meanings of those terms. In the classical tradition of reflection on justice (especially seen in Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, and their intellectual descendants)...

Acton Institute president and co-founder Rev. Robert Sirico is slated to appear on Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto” today at 4:30 p.m. (EST). Be sure to tune in for Rev. Sirico’s perspective on his recently published book, Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy, and other relevant happenings of the day. ...

Rev. Sirico’s new book is not the only recent entry on the topic of markets and morality (though paring reviews, it may be the best). Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel also examines the subject in What Money Can’t Buy. Unlike his wildly overpraised Justice, though, Sandel’s latest work is getting mixed reviews—even from those who you’d expect to sing his praises. For instance, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, seems to believe that Sandel missed an opportunity to provide a stronger...

Does God side with the poor and oppose the rich? Glenn Sunshine looks at what the Bible says about the issue: So why are the poor described as blessed? The issue isn’t poverty per se, but rather the attitude of humility and reliance on God that it can produce in us, which is why Matthew’s version of the beatitude isn’t just “Blessed are the poor,” but “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Reliance on personal wealth or government help (Ps....

In this week’s Acton Commentary (published May 30), Anthony Bradley argues that racial discrimination is no match for the power petition: panies were free to discriminate against blacks it was not in their economic interests to do so because, at the end of the day, pany’s favorite color is green.”The full text of his essay follows. Subscribe to the free, weekly Acton News & Commentary and other publicationshere. The Power of Market-Driven Diversity byAnthony B. Bradley The story of Chicago-based...

Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico continues to promote Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy on radio and television across the country. Yesterday, Father Robert spent a full broadcast hour with Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radio’s Kresta in the Afternoon: [audio: And if you missed it, here’s Father Robert’s appearance from yesterday on Your World With Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel: UPDATE: Here’s the audio from Father Robert’s interview last night on...

RJ Moeller of “Values and Capitalism,” an American Enterprise Institute initiative, recently hosted two Acton Institute staffers on his podcast, The RJ Moeller Show. First, president and co-founder kicks off the segment with a self-introduction and a discussion of his new book Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy. Later, Acton Research Fellow Jordan Ballor closes out the segment with a testimony to his own work and that of the Acton Institute. The segment can be...

I recently finished the advanced copy of Os Guinness’s A Free People’s Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future. I posted a previous excerpt on the topic of virtue in a free republic a couple of weeks ago. In recent writing and speaking about President Calvin Coolidge, it is encouraging to study a leader who saw himself as a civic educator rather than an imperial president. We need a cultural change before we can ever expect reasonable change in the...