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

March 10, 2017

The unique way economic revival in ‘flyover country’ may affect the Dutch elections

As a wave of populism sweeps from Donald Trump’s Oval Office to the Brexit-ravaged headquarters of the European Union in Brussels, observers look to next week’s Dutch elections. Current polls show Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV) slipping a few seats behind Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy’s (VVD) – but, like Donald Trump, Wilders could outperform his polls. Continue Reading...
March 08, 2017

Why does the Syrian refugee debate ignore private charity?

On Monday, President Trump signed a new executive order barring refugees from six majority-Muslim nations that have strong ties to terrorism. This executive order differs from the last one by removing Iraq from the ban and eliminating the preferential option for the area’s persecuted Christian minority. Continue Reading...
March 02, 2017

The morality of Brexit

As a setback in the House of Lords leaves the UK debating how best to accomplish its departure from the European Union, perhaps the most neglected question is the moral one. Continue Reading...
February 28, 2017

The Christian patristic roots of religious liberty

One of the aspects that I left out of my article yesterday on the fifth European Catholic-Orthodox Forum statement worth noting is its declaration on the origins of religious liberty. Freedom of conscience and the right to choose one’s own religion – two human rights extolled by the modern, secular EU – grew out of the Christian conception of human dignity. Continue Reading...
February 27, 2017

Ignoring faith and human dignity leaves Europe ‘adrift’: Joint Catholic-Orthodox statement

Leaders from the world’s two largest churches say that Christians in the West are facing “unprecedented” hurdles to living out their vocation according to their conscience. A statement from Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians says that as traditional Western culture – liberally influenced by Christianity – is replaced with relativistic secularism and radicalized Islam, Christians are facing new barriers to entering whole sectors of the workplace, as well as other forms of hard and soft persecution. Continue Reading...
February 27, 2017

Movie review: ‘The Founder,’ Schumpeter, and the entrepreneur

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty made a mistake of historic proportions at the 2017 Academy Awards, when they mistakenly awarded the Oscar for “Best Picture” to La La Land. They should have awarded it to The Founder, the new biopic about McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc which, alas, did not garner any Oscar nominations. Continue Reading...
February 22, 2017

Temporary jobs have long-term effects on European youth

Ask any economist what the greatest force undermining prosperity is, and he will answer with one word: uncertainty. But since economics is just human action, uncertainty hurts every aspect of peoples’ lives, upending their plans and delaying – or destroying – their dreams. Continue Reading...
February 20, 2017

Explainer: What is the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)?

On Wednesday, February 15, the European Parliament approved the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a free trade agreement abolishing most trade restrictions between the European Union and Canada. Negotiators hammered out the 1,600-page agreement over the course of seven years before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and  European Council President Donald Tusk signed CETA last October 30. Continue Reading...