Transatlantic

August 09, 2017

Classical high school students say this attribute defines the West

Josh Herring teaches history at a secular, classical academy – but as with all teachers, sometimes he learns valuable lessons from his students. As high school students at the Thales Academy progress from studying ancient cultures to modernity, they invariably tell him they are struck by one principle that sets the Judeo-Christian West apart from previous civilizations. Continue Reading...

August 07, 2017

Should Catholics support a ‘ruthless’ sin tax on demon rum?

A pastoral letter recently read in Catholic pulpits across Poland highlights the real and pressing problem of alcoholism. In it, the bishop called for the complete suppression of alcohol advertising and for a significant price increase to reduce consumption. Continue Reading...

August 04, 2017

The Burkean lessons of children’s lemonade stands

Every year when the air turns warm and green leaves bud, the same story seems to repeat itself: A motivated young person opens a lemonade stand, only to have police or a local zoning authority close it down because it lacks a business license. Continue Reading...

August 03, 2017

When is Tax Freedom Day 2017 in the EU?

Tax Freedom Day dawns in the U.S. earlier than 26 of the EU’s 28 member states. For two European nations, the date when employees stopped paying taxes and began earning money for themselves and their families came last week. Continue Reading...

August 02, 2017

How EU immigration policy spiked human smuggling

The trouble with modern politics is not merely that it is tribal. It is that the tunnel vision these tribal allegiances demand blind us to the permanent things. In Europe, a rhetorical battle wages over Europeans’ self-image. Continue Reading...

July 31, 2017

Free trade is good stewardship of creation

Christians seeking to be good stewards of God’s creation sometimes find themselves torn. The environmentalist movement tells them that the most destructive force ever unleashed upon Mother Nature is rapacious “neoliberal” capitalism, which they also know has has been the greatest producer of wealth in history. Continue Reading...

July 28, 2017

To rescue persecuted Christians, the West must be the West again

Images of persecuted Christians have not inflicted less emotional pain for the fact that they have become altogether too commonplace. Their fellow believers, and benevolent people of all backgrounds, have asked what they can do about it. Continue Reading...

July 27, 2017

Populism is now more popular than liberty with European voters: Study

How popular is populism in Europe? A new study reveals that populist parties have displaced traditional advocates of liberty among European voters. It also reveals the nations where populism attracts the greatest support. Continue Reading...

July 26, 2017

The one virtue personified by all good fathers and entrepreneurs

  It has become passe to accuse defenders of the free market of selfishness and atomization. Even Pope Francis recently denounced “libertarian individualism.” But Mihail Neamtu, in a new essay for Religion & Liberty Transatlantic, argues that open markets rely on one specific virtue, best exemplified by fathers and entrepreneurs, which requires them to care for others: Over nearly half a century, secular academia, pop culture, and the managerial welfare State have undermined an important moral quality of the West: individual responsibility, rooted in inherent human dignity. Continue Reading...

July 25, 2017

Brexit: From poultry to prosperity

An unusual debate – over chlorinated chickens, of all things – is showing how Brexit and free markets can lead the UK and the developing world to greater flourishing. The debate has been brewing for years. Continue Reading...