Acton Line

In this episode, Dylan Pahman, executive editor and research fellow here at the Acton Institute, sits down with Kevin Schmiesing, director of research at the Freedom & Virtue Institute and coauthor and editor of the newly released Race and Justice in America. They discuss cultural tensions stemming from race and justice issues, the civil rights and Black Lives Matter movements, and how to move forward in a peaceful, unified manner.  Race and Justice in America tackles the most enduring and provocative issues with a rare combination of intellectual sophistication and bracing realism. Featuring the writings of John Sibley Butler, Ismael Hernandez, and Kevin Schmiesing, this collection is an original and necessary contribution to our national discourse.Race and Justice in America: The Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter, and the Way Forward Freedom & Virtue Institute About Kevin Schmiesing The Economy of Order: Justice Requires LoveActon Lecture Series - Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America Justice, applied equally Institutionalizing the critical race revolution America's two warring views of race Is Critical Race Theory un-American? Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Digital technology has undoubtedly brought many benefits, but it has also come with growing threats to our privacy, our families and businesses, our mental health, and our freedom. Call it digital contagion. From cancel culture to fake news, from data collection and surveillance to outright social manipulation, we are bombarded by content that insidiously influences our behavior and threatens our security and even our livelihood.In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton's director of communications, sits down with Michael Matheson Miller, Acton senior research fellow, to discuss Michael's new book, Digital Contagion: 10 Steps to Protect Your Family & Business from Intrusion, Cancel Culture, and Surveillance Capitalism.Digital Contagion: 10 Steps to Protect your Family & Business from Intrusion, Cancel Culture, and Surveillance Capitalism Bio | Michael Matheson Miller Google and surveillance capitalismThe panic over Big TechCivil society in a time of pandemic Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Increasingly, people are turning to intermittent fasting to bolster their health. But we aren’t the first people to abstain from eating for a purpose. This routine was a common part of our spiritual ancestors’ lives for 1,500 years. In his new book, Eat, Fast, Feast: Heal Your Body While Feeding your Soul―A Christian Guide to Fasting, Jay Richards argues that Christians should recover the fasting lifestyle, not only to improve our bodies, but to bolster our spiritual health as well. He draws upon forgotten insights from the Christian tradition on fasting and feasting and combines them with the growing body of modern scientific literature on ketogenic diets and fasting for improved physical and mental health, arguing that re-thinking our modern diet with an eye toward these ancient insights and new discoveries will lead us to a far more healthy and wholesome lifestyle.Today, Dylan Pahman, research fellow at Acton and executive editor of the Journal of Markets and Morality, talks with Jay Richards about his new book and how Christians can and should recover the fasting lifestyle, not only to improve our bodies, but to bolster our spiritual health as well.Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault Eat, Fast, Feast: Heal Your Body While Feeding Your Soul―A Christian Guide to Fasting | Jay W. RichardsJay W. Richards bioActon’s 31st Annual Dinner Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On October 3, 2021, Frances Haugen—the so-called Facebook whistleblower—appeared on 60 Minutes to detail her time with the social media giant, as well as the content of the thousands of internal documents that reveal, according to her, the "conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook.” Two days later, she was testifying before Congress, who had hauled Big Tech CEOs like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and others before them at least a half-dozen times in recent years.The conventional wisdom is that Big Tech and social media platforms like Facebook are a threat: to our way of life, to our democracy, and even to our happiness and our well-being.But is this threat real or just moral panic? Today, Acton senior research fellow Michael Matheson Miller talks with Robby Soave, a senior editor at Reason and author of the new book Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn’t Fear Facebook and the Future. In the book, and in this interview, Soave examines the recent kneejerk calls to regulate Big Tech from both sides of the aisle. He argues that we should balance our concerns about Big Tech with the consequences of altering the ecosystem that allowed tech to get big in the first place, cautioning us to at least ask the question, “Are we sure we really want to do this?”Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault Tech Panic: Why We Shouldn't Fear Facebook and the Future | Robby SoaveWhistleblower: Facebook is misleading the public on progress against hate speech, violence, misinformation | 60 MinutesDigital Contagion: 10 Steps to Protect your Family & Business from Intrusion, Cancel Culture, and Surveillance Capitalism | Michael Matheson MillerScott Lincicome on Section 230 and social media | Acton LineHold internet companies responsible for content on their platforms, not just the government | Paul Clyde, Acton InstituteActon’s 31st Annual Dinner Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All children deserve the love and affection that come from being in a family. Most importantly, children deserve to have their needs met in a permanent and loving home. The original ideal of the foster care system was to provide such fundamental necessities until a child is reunited with his or her biological parents, or adopted. However, the present reality shows us something entirely different. The child welfare system has declined to the point where it now caters to the needs of the adults rather than to those of the children. In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton director of communications, sits with Naomi Schaefer Riley, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, to discuss her new book, No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives. Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives Bio | Naomi Schaefer RileyAnti-religious hostility takes aim at foster care and adoption agencies Our Foster Care System Is Becoming A 'Pipeline' For Human Trafficking Social justice crusaders are putting kids in the foster care system at risk Banter Podcast | Naomi on American child welfare Why kids in foster care end up sleeping in offices  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

William Shakespeare is undoubtedly one of the greatest writers of Western civilization. As we watch or read his plays, we are still able to draw applicable lessons on politics, our fallen human nature, and how one should relate to God and neighbor.In this episode, I sit down with Nicolas McAfee to discuss the political wisdom of Shakespeare's late plays.Bio | Nicolas McAfee is a fourth-year doctoral student studying political philosophy at the University of Dallas. He is currently writing a dissertation on the political wisdom of William Shakespeare’s late plays under the direction of Dr. Gerard Wegemer. By unpacking the power of narrative storytelling to shape communities for good or ill, Nicolas’ work aims to foster thoughtful engagement of political literature and healthy participation in civic life. A native of Upland, Calif., he and his wife currently live in Irving, Texas.Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault Playing Shakespeare: An Actor's Guide by John Barton Playing Shakespeare, The Two Traditions, 1984 A Guide to Shakespeare's Political Thought Can Shakespeare Survive Woke? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forced labor camps have been embedded in Chinese politics since the birth of the People’s Republic of China. Mao Zedong created and instituted these camps to terrorize and indoctrinate anyone who didn’t “fall in line.” Today these camps are more prevalent than ever. Not only are they hothouses for indoctrination and torture, but the products they produce are sold globally, generating more profit for the communist regime. In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton's director of communications, sits down with Weifeng Zhong, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, to discuss Dr. Zhong's troubling research.Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault The China Challenge: The West Struggles To Respond To Beijing’s Forced-Labor CampsWeifeng Zhong, Author at Discourse  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Friday, October 8, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Acton Institute will host its First Annual Academic Colloquium on Markets & Morality. This year’s theme is “Neo-Calvinism & Modern Economics.” In this episode, Dan Hugger, librarian and research associate, and Sarah Negri, research project coordinator, both at the Acton Institute, sit down with Dylan Pahman, an Acton research fellow and executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality, to discuss why Acton is hosting an academic colloquium, what an academic colloquium is, and who should attend. Register here for the colloquium More details   Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

COVID-19 has impacted us in ways that will continue to affect us for generations. In this episode, I explore a very particular consequence of COVID: Children born during the pandemic have scored significantly lower on IQ tests.I sit down with Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, president and founder of the Ruth Institute, to unpack this disturbing phenomenon.Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault The Ruth Institute Bio | Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D Love & Economics: It Takes a Family to Raise a Village Love and Economics: Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn't Work The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives and Why the Church Was Right All Along Covid-19: Children born during the pandemic score lower on cognitive tests, study finds Forbes deletes article on psychological damage of masking children - LifeSite School Mask Mandates Mean Trauma For Millions Of Children, Especially Those From Low-Income Families  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Beatles will go down in history as one of the most prolific music acts of all time. Their music is still played in our homes and around the world and has influenced pop culture on a global scale.In this episode, Eric Kohn, Acton's Director of Communications, sits down with Samuel Staley to discuss his new book The Beatles and Economics: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and the Making of a Cultural Revolution. Book | Beatles & Economics Pope John Paul, George, and Ringo on the harms of high taxes  Subscribe to Acton Line, Acton Unwind, & Acton Vault Music contained in this episode:Getting Better | The Beatles | 1967I Want to Hold Your Hand | The Beatles | 1963Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | The Beatles | 1967Here Comes the Sun | The Beatles | 1969Everything in its Right Place | Radiohead | 2000Come Together | The Beatles | 1969Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) | The Beatles | 1965Tomorrow Never Knows | The Beatles | 1966Strawberry Fields Forever | The Beatles | 1966Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds | The Beatles | 1967Revolution | The Beatles | 1968 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.