My opening statement for my 2005 debate versus Larry Iannaccone
Why Religious Beliefs Are Irrational, and Why Economists Should Care
Why Religious Beliefs Are Irrational, and Why Economists Should Care
27 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic history, economics of religion
What Freedom of Speech Is For: The case against silencing
11 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of crime, economics of education, economics of religion, Karl Popper, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA Tags: Age of Enlightenment, conjecture and refutation, free speech, Freedom of religion, philosophy of science, political correctness, regressive left
In 1633, the Roman Inquisition condemned Galileo for heresy. His offence was to argue that the Earth moves around the Sun. The Church was not acting out of malice. It was protecting a politically approved consensus against what was considered to be dangerous nonsense. The theologians and philosophers who condemned Galileo were not fools. They […]
What Freedom of Speech Is For: The case against silencing
Now The Atlantic touts religion—or rather, beliefs that don’t need evidence
30 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, economics of religion Tags: Freedom of religion
I’ve been posting from time to time about how the mainstream media is suddenly touting religion and its benefits—a phenomenon I don’t fully understand. Now The Atlantic has joined the queue with an article by Elizabeth Bruenig, who’s written for the magazine for 6 years, and before that for the NYT, the WaPo, and the…
Now The Atlantic touts religion—or rather, beliefs that don’t need evidence
The Rushdie fatwa
30 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of education, economics of religion, law and economics, liberalism Tags: free speech
Jonathan Rosen writes: Thirty-seven years ago, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader and founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, sentenced Salman Rushdieto death on Valentine’s Day for writing a novel. It is hard to write that sentence without feeling it is a parody of the opening line of Franz Kafka’s The Trial: “Someone must have slandered Josef K.,…
The Rushdie fatwa
What power would allow Ministers to close down a community?
22 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, libertarianism, politics - New Zealand
The Herald reports: Senior Government minister Louise Upston visited Gloriavale in late January, months after refusing to rule out closing the religious community following allegations of child abuse in the community. Newstalk ZB has confirmed Upston visited the sect on January 30, alongside officials from the Ministry of Social Development. This story is puzzling. As…
What power would allow Ministers to close down a community?
A good UK police officer
15 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of religion, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, British politics, free speech, Freedom of religion, regressive left
The Telegraph reports: A short video went viral last weekend that briefly restored my faith in British policing. It showed a female Metropolitan Police officer standing alone in Whitechapel, surrounded by a crowd of angry Muslim men, calmly defending the right of a Christian street preacher to preach. “In this country, we have freedom of speech,” she…
A good UK police officer
Woke Wellington strikes again
25 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of education, economics of religion, politics - New Zealand
The Herald reports: A bicultural overhaul of Army doctrine that features Māori cosmology at its core has led to a Government revolt, with the NZ Defence Force putting on hold part of the controversial programme. The NZ Army’s new “general orders” to soldiers uses a pantheon of te ao Māori gods as guiding influences for…
Woke Wellington strikes again
Pinker and Tupy tout worldwide progress, espouse an objective morality
15 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, economics of religion, liberalism, Marxist economics Tags: Age of Enlightenment, free speech
In this Free Press article, Steve Pinker and Marian Tupy (the latter identified as “the founder and editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, and co-author of Superabundance”) once again recount the undoubtable progress that humanity has made over the past six or seven centuries. The progress described here will be familiar…
Pinker and Tupy tout worldwide progress, espouse an objective morality
In support of a pragmatic alliance
13 Feb 2026 1 Comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, liberalism, Marxist economics, property rights Tags: free speech, political correctness, regressive left
For centuries, atheists, Christians, and Jews have regarded one another as intellectual and cultural adversaries. Their disagreements are real and often profound. They disagree about the existence of God, the authority of scripture, the nature of morality, the meaning of history, and the destiny of humanity. These disputes have generated entire libraries of argument and […]
In support of a pragmatic alliance
Iwi ensure respect is shown to a crash site – but how are the beliefs of crash victims and their families respected?
04 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of religion, liberalism, politics - New Zealand Tags: Freedom of religion
About this time a week ago, the New Zealand Police released a statement to report that two people had died in a helicopter crash north of Wellington earlier in the day. Work was under way to recover the deceased and to examine the crash scene, near the Battle Hill regional park. The statement included: Police […]
Iwi ensure respect is shown to a crash site – but how are the beliefs of crash victims and their families respected?
Yes Islamist terrorism is religiously inspired
21 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in defence economics, economics of crime, economics of religion, law and economics, liberalism, war and peace Tags: regressive left, war against terror
A crazy article by Halim Rane at the ABC: In the aftermath of violent attacks, public commentary quickly reaches for a familiar label like “religiously motivated terrorism”. The term sounds intuitive but it is analytically flawed, socially harmful and counter-productive to both national security and social cohesion. I would argue that a more accurate and useful…
Yes Islamist terrorism is religiously inspired
Western Leftists and Islamic States
14 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in economics of education, economics of media and culture, economics of religion, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, politics - USA, war and peace Tags: regressive left
Western leftists do criticise Islamic states at times—but they rarely prioritise opposing them, and often treat them with conspicuous restraint. That asymmetry is not accidental. It follows from the same ideological lenses that drive anti-Zionism. Here are the main reasons. 1. Anti-imperialism outweighs liberal values For much of the Western Left, opposition to Western power is the overriding moral […]
Western Leftists and Islamic States
Church of England orders parish to rip out brand new gas boilers
12 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in economics of climate change, economics of religion, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism, global warming
By Paul Homewood h/t Ian Magness Sometimes I wonder if I’ve woken up on a different planet! From the Telegraph: The Church of England has ordered a parish to rip out new gas boilers because they are not “sustainable”. Christ Church Chineham, in Basingstoke, Hants, spent £18,200 last year replacing two […]
Church of England orders parish to rip out brand new gas boilers
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
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
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?
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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