Joe Carter

Joe Carter is a senior writer for The Gospel Coalition, author of The Life and Faith Field Guide for Parents, the editor of the NIV Lifehacks Bible, and coauthor of How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History’s Greatest Communicator. He also serves as an associate pastor at McLean Bible Church in Arlington, Va.

Posts by Joe Carter

October 29, 2013

The Real Lesson of Prohibition

In 1919 Congress passed the Volstead Act enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting, for almost all purposes, the production, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages. There are two erroneous things everybody has learned from Prohibition, says Anthony Esolen: “First, it is wrong to try to legislate morality. Continue Reading...
October 28, 2013

What the Poor Need Most

During the late 1970s and early 1980s I spent two extended periods living below the poverty line. The first experience came as I entered the first grade. My father was a chronically unhappy man who was skillful and ambitious, yet prone to wanderlust. Continue Reading...
October 28, 2013

The Economics of Sainthood

Want to be canonized as a saint? Then you should probably move to Italy: 46.7 percent of saints lived in that country at the time of their deaths. That is just one of the many interesting tidbits to be gleaned from a 2010 paper by Barro, McCleary, and McQuoid titled, The Economics of Sainthood (a preliminary investigation): Saint-making has been a major activity of the Catholic Church for centuries. Continue Reading...
October 25, 2013

Social + Economic = Winning Conservative Strategy

The American Principles Project (APP) released a new report yesterday that marshals data showing a majority of Americans support policies held by social conservatives. The document challenges the existing “truce model” and puts forward a case for integrated conservatism. Continue Reading...
October 24, 2013

Disestablishing Our Secular Schools

When it comes to public education, racial bias has not been acceptable for almost fifty years. So why is religious bias still tolerated? If we really want to promote religious liberty and educational reform, says Charles L. Continue Reading...
October 23, 2013

The Spending Splurge and the End of Sacrifice

America’s debt is creating not servants of higher things but slaves to government, says Ray Nothstine in this week’s Acton Commentary. As our nation’s $17 trillion debt spirals out of control, and spiritual disciplines decline in the West, we need to face the reality of America’s inability to collectively sacrifice. Continue Reading...
October 23, 2013

An Eastern Orthodox Moral Case for Property Rights

While Chrysostom speaks in terms of the morally good use of wealth, says Rev. Gregory Jensen in this week’s Acton Commentary, it is a standard inconceivable apart from private property. As a pastor, I’ve been struck by the hostility, or at least suspicion, that some Orthodox Christians reveal in their discussions of private property. Continue Reading...