TweetHere’s a letter to a new correspondent. Mr. __: Thanks for sharing Sohrab Ahmari’s tweet, which I’d not otherwise have noticed. It is, frankly, pathetically inept. In order to criticize the pro-free-market Acton Institute, Ahmari favorably quotes Pope Leo’s assertion that “pseudo-scientific data are invoked to support the claim that a free market economy will…
Sorry, But Pope Leo Is Mistaken
Sorry, But Pope Leo Is Mistaken
13 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of religion, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: The Great Enrichment
Could China Have Gone Christian?
12 Sep 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of religion Tags: China
The Taiping Rebellion is arguably the most important event in modern history that even educated Westerners know very little about. It’s also known as the Taiping Civil War and it was one of the largest conflicts in human history (1850–1864), with death toll estimates ranging from 20 to 30 million, far exceeding deaths in the […]
Could China Have Gone Christian?
A schism between secular organizations
07 Sep 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of education, economics of religion, gender Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left, sex discrimination
You may recall that Richard Dawkins, Steve Pinker, and I resigned from the Honorary Board of the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) because they canceled a post I wrote for the FFRF—a statement they first vetted, approved, and published but then removed—without telling me or answering my email inquiries. (My canceled piece is archived here, […]
A schism between secular organizations
The End is Nigh: Liberal Justices Predict “Chaos” and the Demise of Public Education Without Mandatory LGBTQ Material
30 Jun 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of religion, politics - USA
Below is my column in The Hill on the ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor in favor of parents who want to withdraw their children from LGBTQ lessons in public schools. I agreed with the majority, but it was Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent (joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson) that was the most striking in its […]
The End is Nigh: Liberal Justices Predict “Chaos” and the Demise of Public Education Without Mandatory LGBTQ Material
Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ blasphemy
30 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics Tags: Blasphemy, British politics, free speech, political correctness, regressive left
The latest Jesus and Mo cartoon, called “sky,” came with the caption, “Important court case today.” It’s this, from the National Secular Society: The prosecution of a man on trial tomorrow for burning a Quran could edge the UK “dangerously close to a prohibition on blasphemy”, the National Secular Society has warned. Hamit Coskun will stand […]
Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ blasphemy
Sacramental Snitches: Church to Excommunicate any Priests Complying with Washington State Law
15 May 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, politics - USA
We previously discussed the legislation passed by Washington State democrats that requires priests to violate the sanctity of the confessional to report child abuse. I described the law as “blatantly unconstitutional” in eviscerating the right to the free exercise of religion. The state is moving to create an effective system of sacramental snitches and the […]
Sacramental Snitches: Church to Excommunicate any Priests Complying with Washington State Law
The Persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Nazi Germany
26 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of religion, war and peace Tags: Nazi Germany, World War II
The Nazi regime, targeted numerous groups during its reign from 1933 to 1945. Among those persecuted were Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination whose beliefs and practices placed them in direct opposition to Nazi ideology. Unlike many other victims of the regime, Jehovah’s Witnesses were not targeted based on race or ethnicity, but because of their […]
The Persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Nazi Germany
Supreme Court Hears Major Parental Rights Case Over LGBT Readings
26 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of education, economics of religion, gender, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - USA Tags: sex discrimination
Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on a major parental rights case in Mahmoud v. Taylor, a challenge to Montgomery County (Md.) requiring their children to participate in instruction that includes LGBTQ+ themes. It is a case that could produce sweeping changes across the county as parents object to the use of public […]
Supreme Court Hears Major Parental Rights Case Over LGBT Readings
NYT series: Religion is back, and it’s a good thing, too. Dawkins responds and dissents.
25 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
The NYT’s associate editor Lauren Jackson is doing a year-long series on “belief” for the paper. In her latest piece (click below to read, or find it archived here), she pulls out all the stops, averring the several points that we’ve seen appearing over and over again in the MSM. To wit: 1.) America needs […]
NYT series: Religion is back, and it’s a good thing, too. Dawkins responds and dissents.
Same scandal, different script: how the Herald protects one MP and targets another
23 Apr 2025 1 Comment
in discrimination, economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, politics - New Zealand
Centrist reports – In brief NZ Herald gave Green MP Benjamin Doyle 4,000+ words of forensic coverage. National MP Hamish Campbell got 1,300 words and no expert input. Doyle’s social media scandal, with no police angle, was softened by cultural context and framed as a moral panic. Campbell’s ties to a sect under FBI/NZ Police […]
Same scandal, different script: how the Herald protects one MP and targets another
Catholics in the Commons after emancipation
13 Apr 2025 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economic history, economics of religion Tags: British constitutional law, British politics
Today (13 April) marks the anniversary of the Roman Catholic Relief Act gaining royal assent in 1829, which removed many of the barriers restricting Roman Catholics from sitting in Parliament. However, as Dr Philip Salmon of the Victorian Commons explores, hostility to Catholics continued despite their emancipation … It may seem surprising to some that […]
Catholics in the Commons after emancipation
Hitchens: Did Jesus exist?
15 Mar 2025 Leave a comment
in economics of religion, liberalism
Posting will be light today as I am embroiled in many issues and am troubled. One question for which I’ve always received feedback is this: did a “Jesus person”—a human on which the Biblical legends of the New Testament are based—really exist? I’m not accepting that any of the deeds attributed to a “Jesus” are […]
Hitchens: Did Jesus exist?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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