Rev. Ben Johnson

Rev. Ben Johnson is an Eastern Orthodox priest and served as executive editor of the Acton Institute from 2016 to 2021. His work has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including National Review, the American Spectator, The Guardian, National Catholic Register, Providence, Jewish World Review, Human Events, and the American Orthodox Institute. His personal websites are therightswriter.com and RevBenJohnson.com. You can find him on X: @therightswriter.

Posts by Rev. Ben Johnson

November 18, 2019

The 101 greatest philosophers of liberty (and Lord Acton is #70)

The Acton Institute’s namesake, Lord Acton, finds himself honored in a new book about the philosophers who cultivated the intellectual seeds that blossomed into Western civilization. Lord John Dalberg-Acton ranks at number 70, not because he had less influence on liberty than 69 others, but because the new collection unfolds in chronological order. Continue Reading...
November 15, 2019

College student sets himself on fire for socialism

On Friday, November 8, a 22-year-old French college student set himself on fire outside the government agency that administers university housing and living allowances. The reason? The government had revoked his monthly benefits after he failed his courses for the second year in a row. Continue Reading...
November 12, 2019

Ronald Reagan statue unveiled on ruins of the Berlin Wall

In the early church, new converts would often raze pagan temples and build Christian churches on the ruins. A secular version of this triumphant gesture took place this weekend as the unveiling of a statue of President Ronald Reagan, and an invocation of God, took place on the toppled remains of the Berlin Wall. Continue Reading...
November 08, 2019

5 facts about the Berlin Wall

This weekend, the world celebrates the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. On November 9, 1989, East Germans began picking at the wall with hammers, picks – even their bare hands – until the mammoth structure that had divided the city for the past 28 years lay in ruins. Continue Reading...