In For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles, we routinely point to Jeremiah 29 as a primer for life in exile, prodding us toward active and integrative cultural and economic witness, and away from the typical temptations of fortification, domination, and modation. As Christians continue to struggle with what it means to be in but not of the world — whether in government, business, the family, or elsewhere — Jeremiah reminds us to “seek the welfare of...

In the wake of the last presidential election, the American people appear to be fracturing and shifting on the long-held consensus about the benefits of free trade. Meanwhile, state-owned television in the People’s Republic of China is churning out pro-trade propaganda such as this (HT Pethokoukis): Yet the underlying irony is a bit overstated, I’d suspect. According to AEI’s Dan Blumenthal and Derek Scissors, China’s One Belt One Road initiative aims to “create a network of infrastructure projects linking itself...

The State Department recently released its International Religious Freedom Report for 2017.A wide range of U.S. government agencies and offices use the reports for such efforts as shaping policy and conducting diplomacy. The Secretary of State also uses the reports to help determine which countries have engaged in or tolerated “particularly severe violations” of religious freedom in order to designate “countries of particular concern.” A major concern addressed in this year’s report is that “international religious freedom is worsening in...

At a time when populist sentiments are on the rise on both sides of the Atlantic, the leader of one former Communist nation has affirmed that free markets open acrossborders area blessing. In anew essay at Religion & Liberty Transatlantic,Mihail Neamtu, Ph.D., argues that the wealth created by foreign investment furthers the national interest. In his mentary, titled“Romania chooses prosperity over populism,”he recounts thenation’s unusually bold embrace of international capital. Urged to keepforeigners out of its economy or restricttheir investment,...

“Frank Underwood, masterfully played by the award-winning Kevin Spacey, embodies the corruption that so often attends to the pursuit of political power,” says Jordan Ballor in this week’s Acton Commentary, “and as the new season nears it’s worth looking back at where it all began for Francis and Claire Underwood.” In their review of the show’s first season, David Corbin and Alissa Wilkinson rightly observe that the example of Frank Underwood provides an important negative lesson about the need for...

What happens when governments, NGOs, charities, and churches all converge in scurried attempts to alleviate global poverty, whether through wealth transfers or other top-down, systematic solutions? As films like PovertyCure and Poverty, Inc. aptly demonstrate, the results have been dismal, ranging from minimal, short-term successes to widespread, counterproductive disruption. Surely we can do better, avoiding grand, outside solutions, and ing alongside the poor as partners. Yet even amid the menu of smaller and more direct or localized “bottom-up” solutions, there...

Brexit may suffer from the most uniquely invertedpublic perception in modern international affairs. The British referendum to leave the European Union – the most successful rebellion against global governanceto date – is depicted as a racist and xenophobic retreat into an isolated and atomized existence.In fact, it is only Brexit that allows the UK to leave behind Brussels’ schedule ofsubsidies and tariffs that deny developing nations access to the world’s largest market,setting millions on a path to independence and self-sufficiency....

Note: This is post #16 in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introductionhere. Cabinet position:Attorney General Department:Department of Justice Current Secretary:Jeff Sessions Succession:The Attorney General is seventh in the presidential line of succession. Department Mission:“The Judiciary Act of 1789 created the Office of the Attorney General which evolved over the years into the head of the Department of Justice and chief law enforcement officer of the Federal...

I have confession to make: I don’t like conferences. I don’t like seminars or conventions, either. I also don’t like colloquiums, symposiums, forums, or summits. I love people (really, I do) and I love discussions about ideas. But something happens when you put them together into a “conference” that causes my introverted tendencies to spike. I’m just not a conference-going kinda guy. That’s probably an odd admission to make, especially in a post in which I try to convince you...

pictured: Leonard Leo With Neil Gorsuch elected to the Supreme Court in mid April, and a slate of other candidates on Trump’s radar for the lower courts, there is a mitment by the Trump administration to the election of conservative appointees to the federal judiciary. Could this be a judicial renaissance of sorts? Will there be a resurgence of true conservatism and originalism in the courts? To find e join us on Thursday May 11 at Acton’s headquarters in Grand...