Things really aren’t looking good across the pond. Acton’s Director of Research, Samuel Gregg, has written quite a bit about the decline in Europe. His latest ‘Meanwhile, Europe is (Still) Burning’ in the American Spectator, discusses the inability or unwillingness of European governments to respond to economic trouble. Two of the world’s large economies, France and Italy, are examples of this. In France, workforce unemployment is 11 percent, the government has engaged in possibly illegal activity by hiding the fact...

Can something as simple as a shoe build civilization? I recently had the pleasure of touring the Red Wing Shoe Museum in Red Wing, Minnesota, home of the Red Wing Shoe Company, andthe answer becamequiteclear. Founded in 1905, Red Wing Shoes has from the very beginning focused on producingboots and shoes forthose who “work on their feet.” At a time when blacksmiths, carpenters, lumberjacks, and farmers had few options for footwear, founder Charles Beckman grew frustrated with the status quo,...

Now that the midterms and 2014 shareholder proxy resolution thankfully are in our rearview mirror, we can pick through the claims of the progressive religious groups such as those affiliated with the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. Some of the charges hurled against donations by the libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch serve only to deflect similar charges that progressive political mittees, candidates and causes are receiving storage lockers full of mad stacks of beaucoup bucks (author’s redundancy intentional). In...

People are not lab rats. Regardless of who they are, where they live, how much money they have or don’t have, people are not to be used for scientific experimentation without their permission. The shameful Tuskegee experiment, the horrific medical experimentation carried out by the Nazis, and the modern eugenics movement all share an underlying principle: there are some people that aren’t quite people at all – not the “kind” we want anyway. In Kenya, the United Nations has been...

More groups are beginning to notice the hypocrisy of nuns advocating for progressive causes, including and especially their stumping for campaign finance disclosure. Over at Juicy Ecumenism, the blog published by the Institute of Religion & Democracy, guest writer T.J. Whittle echoes what loyal PowerBlog readers will recognize as a familiar theme. Namely, the nuns are working in league with leftist organizations interested only in stifling their opponents’ political speech. In his essay, “Nuns in Glass Buses,” Whittle, a research...

The Education Department has concluded an investigation at Princeton University, and determined that the school violated the Title IX gender equity law in its handling of sexual assault cases. What did Princeton do wrong? Part of the problem, says the Education Department, is that the university violated the rights of rape survivors by using a standard of proof for sexual assault cases higher than the federally mended standard, which requires a “preponderance of evidence” for responsibility. At this point you...

Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...

“How am I supposed to get a baby?” There are many people who cannot get pregnant and have a child. Some are infertile. Some are single and have no one that wishes to parent with them. Gay couples cannot naturally have children. So how are these folks supposed to get the baby that they want? This is the question Alana S. Newman was faced with while speaking at the Bonds that Matter conference. It’s not the first time Newman has...

What is the purpose of a for-profit business? Just for revenue to exceed expenses or something more? The Acton Institute and Calvin College recently answered this question by co-sponsoring a Symposium on Common Grace and the role it plays in business. Chris Meehan of CRC (Christian Reformed Church) Communications attended the event held at Calvin’s Prince Conference Center and recently wrote about it. He quotes keynote speaker, Peter Heslam, director of Transforming Business. “Business can be a positive agent in...

“What would happen if instead of focusing on what we don’t have, we consider what God has already given us — our talents, our dreams, our motivations — and offer them back to Him as an act of worship?” In a new video from HOPE International, we’re challenged to counter our tendencies to approach God through an attitude of lack and self-doubt (“if only I had x I would do y”), trusting instead that God has already given us exactly...