Acton Institute Explained

Acton Institute
Native Name Lang:en
Full Name:Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty
Size:250px
Type:nonprofit
Status:501(c)(3)
Tax Id:38-2926822
Purpose:civil policy think tank
Headquarters:
  • 98 E Fulton St
  • United States
Addnl Location City:Rome
Addnl Location Country:Italy
Addnl Location City2:Buenos Aires
Addnl Location Country2:Argentina
Revenue:$9,931,504[1]
Revenue Year:2018
Expenses:$10,887,803
Expenses Year:2018
Founders:
Leader Title:President
Leader Name:Kris Alan Mauren
Leader Title2:Chairman
Leader Name2:David Humphreys

The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is an American research and educational institution, or think tank, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, (with an office in Rome) whose stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles".[2] Its work supports free market economic policy framed within Judeo-Christian morality.[3] [4] It has been alternately described as conservative[5] [6] [7] and libertarian.[8] [9] [10] Acton Institute also organizes seminars "to educate religious leaders of all denominations, business executives, entrepreneurs, university professors, and academic researchers in economics principles."[11]

History

The Acton Institute was founded in 1990 in Grand Rapids, Michigan by Robert A. Sirico and Kris Alan Mauren.[12] It is named after the English historian, politician and writer Lord Acton, who is popularly associated with the dictum "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".[13] The institute is a member of the Atlas Network.[14]

Sirico and Mauren were concerned that many religious people were ignorant of economic realities, and that many economists and businessmen were insufficiently grounded in religious principles. Sirico explained the link between economics and religion with reference to the institute's namesake: "Acton realized that economic freedom is essential to creating an environment in which religious freedom can flourish. But he also knew that the market can function only when people behave morally. So, faith and freedom must go hand in hand. As he put it, 'Liberty is the condition which makes it easy for conscience to govern.'"[15]

The release in 1991 of the papal encyclical Centesimus annus buoyed the institute at a critical time. The document provided, a year after Acton's founding, established support for the institute's economic personalism and defense of capitalism. Robert Sirico said at the time that it constituted a "vindication".[16] [17]

In 2000, the institute was involved in setting up the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, described by Deutsche Welle and The New Republic as a climate denial group.[18]

In 2002, the institute opened a Rome office, Istituto Acton, to carry out Acton's mission abroad.[19] In 2004, the institute was given the Templeton Freedom Award for its "extensive body of work on the moral defense of the free market".[19] In 2012, the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania included Acton in its list of the top 50 think tanks in the United States.[20]

In 2005, Mother Jones published a chart which included the Acton Institute on a list of groups that had received a donation ($155,000) from ExxonMobil.[21] As of 2007, the institute had received funding from the Earhart Foundation and the Bradley Foundation.[22] [23] The Grand Rapids Press wrote in 2013 that much of the Acton Institute's funding comes from wealthy residents of western Michigan, including John Kennedy, president and CEO of Autocam Corp., and Amway co-founder Richard DeVos.[24] The New Republic said in 2023 that the Acton Institute "has long pushed a Christian-flavored brand of climate denial".

Affiliations

The Acton Institute is a member of the State Policy Network, a network of free-market oriented think tanks in the United States.[25]

The Acton Institute has built a network of international affiliations including Centro Interdisciplinar de Ética e Economia Personalista, Brazil, Europa Institut, Austria, Institute for the Study of Human Dignity and Economic Freedom, Zambia and Instituto Acton Argentina Organization.[26]

Research and publications

From its guiding principles and economic research, the institute publishes books, papers, and periodicals, and maintains a media outreach effort.[27]

Films

Films produced by the Acton Institute include The Call of the Entrepreneur (2007), The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom (2022) and Poverty, Inc. (2014), which won a 2014 Templeton Freedom Award from the Atlas Network.[38] Poverty Inc. is part of the Acton Institute's PovertyCure initiative, which seeks to create solutions to poverty by "moving efforts from aid to enterprise and from paternalism to partnerships."[39]

The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom

The Hong Konger was produced along with Iron Light Labs. It premiered in 2022.[40]

The main subject of the documentary is Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong businessman and entrepreneur known for his media and fashion businesses: Giordano, Next Media, and Apple Daily. The film covers Lai's struggles with the mainland Chinese government that caused him to sell Giordano and then later focus exclusively on his media companies. The film portrays Lai as a leader in advancing civil rights and freedom in Hong Kong, and as a key figure in supporting independence for Hong Kong from mainland China. Lai was convicted of violating the Hong Kong national security law—a highly controversial law that criminalizes speech dissenting from that of the official Chinese Communist Party doctrine—on December 10 2022, and was sentenced to 5 years and 9 months in prison.[41] [42] [43] [44]

Kyle Smith of The Wall Street Journal described the movie as portraying "Jimmy Lai’s Moral Heroism."[45] Jack Wolfsohn of National Review said the film "sends a vital message about the importance of preserving liberty and fighting tyranny".

The Call of the Entrepreneur

The Call of the Entrepreneur was produced along with Cold Water Media. It premiered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, US on May 17, 2007.[46] [47]

The main subjects of the documentary are Brad Morgan, Frank Hanna, and Jimmy Lai.[48] Morgan, a dairy farmer from Evart, Michigan discusses his journey from a struggling dairy farmer to the owner and operator of a million-dollar composting operation. Hanna, a merchant banker in New York City who originally hails from Georgia, explains how financial engineering not only makes credit more widely available to entrepreneurs today but also played a crucial role in the discovery of America. Lai talks about his childhood in Communist China and his move at twelve years old to Hong Kong. There, he founded Giordano, a retail outlet, and later Next Media. Lai explains that entrepreneurs, when taking risks, are "dashing into hope." The documentary also contains information from experts in the field of economics, including Rev. Robert Sirico, founder and president of the Acton Institute, Samuel Gregg, Jay Richards, George Gilder, and Michael Novak.

Entrepreneur called it "a non-stop barrage of uplifting tales" and wrote that Morgan's story was "inspiring" and "enough to remind you that our society thrives on entrepreneurial ideas."[47] Fortune Small Business was more negative, writing, "With no critical analysis, few sources cited outside of the Acton Institute, and no concrete counter-examples examined, it's difficult to see the documentary as anything more than an infomercial for Acton's libertarian religious doctrine aimed at those already inclined to agree with it."

Personnel

Besides Sirico, people associated with the institute include Anthony Bradley,[49] Jordan Ballor,[50] Stephen Grabill,[51] Michael Matheson Miller,[52] Marvin Olasky,[53] Kevin Schmiesing,[54] and Jonathan Witt.[55] The institute's director of research is Samuel Gregg, author of the prize-winning book The Commercial Society.[56] Andreas Widmer is a research fellow in entrepreneurship for the research department.[57]

Current and former members of the institute's board of directors include Alejandro Chafuen, former president of the Atlas Network; Gaylen Byker, president emeritus of Calvin College; Sean Fieler, Equinox Partners; Leslie Graves, president of the Lucy Burns Institute; Frank Hanna III of Hanna Capital; and Robert Sirico, president of the Acton Institute.[58]

Assets

As of 2018 the Acton Institute had total assets of $16,064,623.

Funding details

Funding details as of 2018:

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Acton Institute . Candid . 12 October 2020 .
  2. Web site: About the Acton Institute . Acton Institute . https://web.archive.org/web/20101024125730/http://www.acton.org/index/about . 24 October 2010 . 25 April 2019 .
  3. News: Burke . Greg . 8 September 1991 . The Market & Liberty . . North Haven, CT.
  4. Worrall. Malika. New film promotes entrepreneurship as divine. 21 November 2014. Fortune Small Business. 20 December 2007.
  5. News: Did Descartes Doom Terri Schiavo?. The New York Times. 27 March 2005. John. Leland.
  6. News: Bush Turn on Treaty Galvanizes New Green Coalition. Los Angeles Times. 7 April 2001. Larry B.. Stammer.
  7. News: McBrien . Father Richard P. . 29 May 2005 . Pope chronicles . Los Angeles Times.
  8. News: Conservatives squawk over pope's tweet on inequality. Religion News Service. 29 April 2014. David. Gibson.
  9. News: Regensburg Redux: Was Pope Benedict XVI right about Islam?. Religion News Service. 10 September 2014. David. Gibson.
  10. News: Can you be Catholic and libertarian?. The Washington Post. 6 June 2014. Melinda. Henneberger.
  11. Web site: Profile . 2020-04-24 . guidestar.org.
  12. Book: Convissor, Kate . The Acton Institute: Of Morality & the Marketplace. . August 1999 . . 36–37.
  13. Sullivan, Elizabeth (February 1993). "Rev. Robert Sirico: Inside Track." Grand Rapids Business Journal: 5–6.
  14. News: Westervelt . Amy . Amy Westervelt . Dembicki . Geoff . 2023-09-12 . Meet the Shadowy Global Network Vilifying Climate Protesters . 2023-09-16 . . 0028-6583.
  15. News: Koshelnyk. William J.. Separation of Church and ... Capitalism. 6–7. The American Voice. 1. 5. 1996.
  16. News: Bandow . Doug . 26 November 1992 . Preaching liberty to the unconverted . . Washington, D.C..
  17. News: Harger. Jim. Free enterprise wins moral victory. The Grand Rapids Press. Grand Rapids, MI. 1 May 1991.
  18. Web site: Christian groups denying human-induced climate change – DW – 04/09/2013 . 2024-02-21 . . en.
  19. Book: Acton Institute awarded for work in economics and ethics. . 13 March 2004 . The Grand Rapids Press.
  20. Web site: 2012 Global Go To Think Tanks Report and Policy Advice. https://web.archive.org/web/20130627063611/http://www.gotothinktank.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/2012_Global_Go_To_Think_Tank_Report_-_FINAL-1.28.13.pdf. Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania. 24 January 2013. 27 June 2013. dead.
  21. Web site: Put a Tiger in Your Think Tank . 30 April 2016 . Mother Jones.
  22. Liberty, Economics, and the Clergy . Organization Trends. Capital Research Center. Washington, D.C.. July 1992.
  23. Book: R., Mosey . 2030, the coming tumult: unlimited growth on a finite planet . Algora Publishing . City . 2009 . 978-0-87586-744-1 . 166–167.
  24. News: Harger . Jim . 22 February 2013 . Acton Institute's financial backing has strong ties to West Michigan's wealthiest families . 22 December 2015 . . MLive.
  25. Web site: Directory SPN Members . . 23 March 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150318011132/http://www.spn.org/directory/organizations.asp . 18 March 2015 .
  26. Web site: International Affiliates. 18 August 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110704012107/http://www.acton.org/about/international-affiliates. 4 July 2011. dead. dmy-all.
  27. Heather Richardson. Connecting Morals to Markets. Philanthropy. 6. 2. 4–5. Spring 1992 .
  28. Book: Rosmini, Antonio . 2007 . The Constitution under Social Justice . Lexington Books . 978-0-7391-0725-6 .
  29. Web site: Journal of Markets & Morality. Acton Institute . . https://web.archive.org/web/20121106071202/http://www.highbeam.com/publications/journal-of-markets--morality-p408252 . 6 November 2012 . 25 April 2019 .
  30. News: Baker. Hunter. Jordan Ballor on Ecumenical Babel. Mere Comments (Touchstone Magazine). 24 January 2011. 21 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110626082240/http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments/2011/01/jordan-ballor-on-ecumenical-babel.html. 26 June 2011 . live.
  31. News: Kopenkoskey. Paul R.. 'Grace' translation under way. The Grand Rapids Press. C1–C2. 28 May 2011.
  32. Acton Institute and Kuyper College launch 'Common Grace,' a major Abraham Kuyper translation project . The Acton Institute . 19 April 2011 . 23 August 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110721033210/http://www.acton.org/press/release/2011/acton-institute-kuyper-college-launch-common-grace . 21 July 2011 . dead . dmy-all.
  33. Christian's Library Press Launches New Kuyper Book in San Francisco and Grand Rapids . Christian's Library Press . 15 November 2011 . 15 November 2011 .
  34. Web site: Award – The Samaritan Guide. 4 August 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110715234805/http://www.samaritanguide.com/award/. 15 July 2011 . live.
  35. News: Olasky. Marvin. Fighting the Good Poverty Fight. WORLD Magazine. Asheville, NC. 1 September 2007.
  36. Web site: Acton Notes. 11 August 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110704030735/http://www.acton.org/pub/acton-notes. 4 July 2011 . live.
  37. Web site: Welcome to the Acton Institute PowerBlog . Couretas . John . 4 April 2005 . Acton Institute . 25 April 2019 .
  38. News: Harger. Jim. Acton Institute film about poverty wins $100,000 Templeton Freedom Award. 23 December 2015. MLive. Grand Rapids Press. 13 November 2015.
  39. News: Chafuen . Alejandro . 20 February 2013 . From Aid To Enterprise: How To Intelligently Cure Poverty . 23 December 2015 . Forbes.
  40. Web site: 2021-10-04 . The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom . 2023-05-26 . The Hong Konger Movie . en-US.
  41. News: Smith . Kyle . 2023-05-18 . ‘The Hong Konger’ Review: Jimmy Lai’s Moral Heroism . 2023-05-26 . . en-US . 0099-9660.
  42. Web site: 2022-06-08 . The Hong Konger Documentary Is a Lesson on Freedom . 2023-05-26 . . en-US.
  43. Web site: 2022-12-02 . Watch The Hong Konger, about Jimmy Lai, Whose Trial Looms . 2023-05-26 . . en-US.
  44. Web site: 2021-10-04 . The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom . 2023-05-26 . The Hong Konger Movie . en-US.
  45. News: Smith . Kyle . 2023-05-18 . ‘The Hong Konger’ Review: Jimmy Lai’s Moral Heroism . en-US . Wall Street Journal . 2023-05-26 . 0099-9660.
  46. Web site: Acton Institute's 'Call of the Entrepreneur' Documentary to Premiere in Grand Rapids . PR Newswire . 28 July 2011.
  47. News: Ohngren Prior . Kara . October 1, 2012 . 10 Must-See Documentaries for Entrepreneurs . Entrepreneur . 21 November 2014.
  48. Worrall . Malika . December 20, 2007 . New film promotes entrepreneurship as divine . . 21 November 2014.
  49. Web site: About Anthony Bradley. 5 April 2011.
  50. Web site: Jordan Ballor . Academia . 25 April 2019 .
  51. Web site: Stephen J. Grabill | Effective Stewardship . 17 July 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120622152201/http://www.effectivestewardship.com/stephen-j-grabill . 22 June 2012 . dmy .
  52. Web site: Michael Matheson Miller. 30 April 2016.
  53. Web site: Staff Profile: Marvin Olasky PhD. Acton Institute. 30 April 2016.
  54. Web site: Kevin Schmiesing. 22 December 2015. Crisis Magazine. 30 April 2016.
  55. Web site: Jonathan Witt - Discovery Institute. 30 April 2016.
  56. Book: Gregg, Samuel. The Commercial Society. 13 October 2016 . pbk. 2006. Lexington Books. 978-0-7391-1994-5. 196.
  57. Web site: Andreas Widmer . 19 November 2018 . Catholic Answers . 25 April 2019 .
  58. Web site: Our team . Acton Institute . 25 April 2019 .

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