Religion & Liberty Online Archives

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July 30, 2015

Owen Chadwick, 1916-2015

Earlier this month, the eminent historian Owen Chadwick passed away. Chadwick’s immense scholarly accomplishments included Acton and History, his study of our namesake here at the Acton Institute. John Morrill wrote a wonderful reflection for The Guardian on Chadwick’s life, character, and accomplishments at the time. Continue Reading...
July 24, 2015

Income Inequality and Legal Plunder

Fueled, in part, by the Pope’s passionate appeals, the campaign to reduce income inequality is growing rapidly around the globe. The income equality movement argues that there is a growing gap between the incomes of top earners and everyone else. Continue Reading...
July 24, 2015

House Rejects Mandatory GMO Labeling

Yesterday the the United States House of Representatives passed H.R. 1599, known as the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015.” The bill prevents states from requiring mandatory labeling for any products containing genetically modified food. Continue Reading...
July 23, 2015

Minimum Wage OR Minimum Unemployment?

Various forms of government intervention negatively affects economic vitality in many ways, however few policies impact the market as directly as wage laws. The $15 minimum wage law in Seattle dramatically influences determinants of business owners’ hiring practices. Continue Reading...
July 15, 2015

Bill McKibben, Climate-Change Opportunists, and the Pope’s Encyclical

I recently enjoyed a brief back-and-forth with 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben in which he claimed that I accused him of lacking religious faith. That most assuredly was not the case. I told him so, but also stood by my initial assertion that he and other environmental activists are cherry-picking Pope Francis’ Laudato Si for religious and moral firepower on climate-change while ignoring those elements that are core Roman Catholic teachings with which they disagree. Continue Reading...
July 15, 2015

An Economics Ode to Joy

In the weeks since the June 18 release of Laudato Si, the discussion has bifurcated into the realms of prosaic, progressive pantheistic pronouncements that Earth requires tender ministrations post haste on one hand. Continue Reading...