Memory, Justice and Moral Cleansing
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SPRING 2017 | VOL.27 | N0.2 ACTON INSTITUTE'S INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RELIGION, ECONOMICS AND CULTURE Memory, justice and moral cleansing What are Freedom and the When our success transatlantic values? nation-state threatens our success EDITOR'S NOTE Sarah Stanley MANAGING EDITOR This spring issue of Religion & Liberty is, among other things, a reflection on the 100-year anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution and the horrors committed by Communist regimes. For the cover story, Religion & Liberty executive editor, John Couretas, interviews Mihail Neamţu, a leading conservative in Romania. They discuss the Russian Revolution and current protests against corruption going on in Romania. A similar topic appears in Rev. Anthony Perkins’ re- view of the 2017 film Bitter Harvest. This love story is set in the Ukraine during the Holodomor, a deadly famine imposed on Ukraine by Joseph Stalin’s Soviet regime in the 1930s. Perkins addresses the signifi- cance of the Holodomor in his critique of the new movie. Romanian Orthodox hermit INTERVIEW Nicolae Steinhardt was another victim of a 07 Memory, justice and moral cleansing Communist regime. During imprisonment Coming to grips with the Russian Revolution and its legacy in a Romanian gulag, he found faith and Interview with Romanian public intellectual Mihail Neamţu even happiness. A rare excerpt in English from his “Diary of Happiness” appears in this issue. You’ve probably noticed this issue of Religion & Liberty looks very different from previous ones. As part of a wider look at international issues, this magazine has been updated and expanded to include new sections focusing on the unique chal- lenges facing Canada, Europe and the Unit- ed States. A senior editor at Acton, Rev. Ben Johnson, explains this new project in “What are transatlantic values?” TRANSATLANTIC ESSAY ESSAY Another feature discusses the surge of populism and why global elites are getting 05 Freedom and the nation state 11 The middle class in an age the boot. Robert F. Gorman, author of Ac- Crisis of Liberty in the West Conference of inequality ton’s latest monograph What’s Wrong with Sir Roger Scruton Jordan J. Ballor Global Governance?, sits down with John Couretas to expand on the themes of his 02 Acton Briefs latest work. For the first “In the Liberal Tradition” of 03 What are this newly redesigned publication, we learn transatlantic values? about the life and work of Lucretia Mott. 10 Faith as a bulwark This fearless Quaker fought for the most against inhumanity vulnerable of her time and was a champion 12 for both women’s suffrage and the rights of It’s time to bury the ‘executioner’ Lenin for good America’s newly freed slaves. Plenty of other important topics are also 16 Lucretia Mott (1793–1880) scattered throughout the issue: the danger INTERVIEW 17 Observing the of success, how poverty follows children well American experiment into adulthood, a brief on the accomplish- 13 Populists push back on ments of Elinor Ostrom and much, much global elites and expert rulers 20 When our success threatens more. Enjoy the new Religion & Liberty! Interview with Robert F. Gorman our success 01 SPRING 2017 ACTON.ORG Ten good reasons for They worship God or gods on The long shadow of The Pope, the professor optimism their own. They also disagree EU law and the poor and fight about territory and Oliver Riley R&L TRANSATLANTIC BLOG Rev. Ben Johnson Jordan J. Ballor religion on their own. Under- R&L TRANSATLANTIC BLOG JOURNAL OF MARKETS & MORALITY Leading economist Johan Nor- lying all of human life and its berg’s latest book, Progress, many activities is a concern The think tank Open Europe The preferential concern for was a joy to read. He draws for justice and claims about calculated that EU regulations the poor, in Scripture as in the attention to the fact that pes- the best way of life. siphon £13 billion ($16.2 bil- writings of Abraham Kuyper simism across the globe is Live and let live is the lib- lion) out of the U.K.’s economy and Pope Leo XIII, should widespread—from the chair- eral/libertarian answer to the a year. The Telegraph reports not be understood as pitting man of the joint chiefs of staff question of how we ought to that the EU’s Common Agricul- rich against poor in a kind of testifying before Congress that organize politically, but it does tural Policy (CAP), which places zero-sum game of righteous- “the world is a more dangerous not go nearly far enough. The high tariffs on imported food, ness. Where worldly and ma- place than it has ever been” to greatest thinkers, from Plato “reportedly costs £10 billion terialistic philosophies preach Pope Francis claiming that and Aristotle to Augustine and in direct costs and by inflating conflict between classes and globalization has condemned Thomas Aquinas to Hobbes food prices” annually. These groups, the gospel proclaims many people to starve. Then and Locke to Rousseau and analyses do not include anoth- reconciliation. As Leo puts it: he gives us 10 good reasons Nietzsche and all who have er estimated 14.3 percent of “The great mistake made in in 10 good chapters why this come after them, hold politics all acts passed by the U.K.’s regard to the matter now un- sentiment is wrong. to be fundamentally more im- Parliament from 1980 to der consideration is to take up Norberg zooms you through portant than economics be- 2009, which “incorporated a with the notion that class is food, sanitation, life expectan- cause it conditions how we degree of EU influence.” naturally hostile to class, and cy, poverty, violence, the envi- think about justice. By freeing itself of EU reg- that the wealthy and the work- ronment, literacy, freedom and Nationalism is an import- ulation, the U.K. can manifest ing men are intended by na- then equality before rounding ant issue today because we another kind of European eco- ture to live in mutual conflict.” things up with a chapter titled realize that the vast amounts nomic culture: one that frees It is not, moreover, as if “the next generation,” in which of wealth provided by econom- the wealth-creating powers of the poor are simply righteous he asserts that “the future is ic globalization is insufficient the private sector by valuing while the rich are simply evil. in our hands.” Along the way, in at least two ways: It does innovation, growth, dynamism, The history and legacy of rev- you are bombarded with facts not necessarily result in better initiative, entrepreneurship, olutions teach us that. As and figures and pleasantly human beings or in the com- subsidiarity, choice and the Kuyper observes, the corrup- surprised by the occasional mon good, however we think traditional charitable role of tion of the government came graph, so that by the end you of our community (ethnic, reli- intermediary institutions. This about “not because the stron- scratch your head and ques- gious, political or global). The contrasts sharply with Brus- ger man was more evil in his tion just how on earth it could first concern is connected to sels’ economic culture: one heart than the weaker man.” be possible that so many de- virtue in general, the second that empowers global gover- Rather, “no sooner did a mem- spair so much. to justice in particular. We nance institutions by valuing ber of the lower class rise to Occasionally the book are being forced to reconsider regulation, preservation of the the top than he in turn took reads a little staccato, and at some old questions. economic status quo, stability, part just as harshly—if not times the speed at which the The modern world has pro- bureaucracy pliable to the lob- more harshly—in the wicked facts are hurtled your way can vided us with many benefits, bying of labor unions and spe- oppression of members of his feel somewhat overwhelming. including the political form of cial interest constituencies, former class.” Even a reversal But overall it is hard to come the nation-state. Compared public-private “partnerships,” of fortunes between entire away from the book feeling to alternatives such as the centralization and the social classes would not solve the anything other than optimistic. city-state or the empire, the assistance (welfare) state. problem, for today’s victims nation has the advantage of Why would London wish to often become tomorrow’s op- providing people with both the maintain this edifice after de- pressors, and the cycle of vio- Nationalism is here freedom of self-determination claring independence? Should lence continues. to stay and the solidarity of belong- it do otherwise, the govern- Together Leo and Kuyper ing to something larger than ment warns, “UK’s statute give us insight into the only Kishore Jayabalan ACTON ROME one’s own group or identity. At book would contain significant way out of this sinful para- To a very basic degree, eco- its best, nationalism leads to gaps once we left the EU.” digm: the identification of the nomics takes care of itself; to cosmopolitanism. That is precisely what many dignity of the human person in survive, people produce and As defenders of freedom, British experts hope for. “Brex- eternal and spiritual perspec- consume on their own without we need to take these challeng- it gives us the opportunity: all tive, as created in God’s im- being told to do so. But peo- es more seriously not only as regulations, but not directives, age, fallen into sin, called to ple also come together to form individuals but also together. will fall away automatically,” redemption and intended for communities on their own.