The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is an American research and educational institution in Grand Rapids, Michigan (with an office in Rome). Its stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles". Its work supports free market economic policy framed within Judeo-Christian morality. Acton Institute also organizes seminars "to educate religious leaders of all denominations, business executives, entrepreneurs, university professors, and academic researchers in economics principles".
History
The Acton Institute was founded in 1990 in Grand Rapids, Michigan by Robert A. Sirico and Kris Alan Mauren1. 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"2. The institute is a partner of the Atlas Network3.
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 principles4. 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'"5.
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Kate Convissor, "The Acton Institute: Of Morality & the Marketplace", Grand Rapids Magazine (August 1999): 36-37. ↩︎
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Elizabeth Sullivan, "Rev. Robert Sirico: Inside Track", Grand Rapids Business Journal (February 1993): 5-6. ↩︎
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Amy Westervelt and Geoff Dembicky, "Meet the Shadowy Global Network of Right-Wing Think Tanks" (NewRepublic.com, 12 September 2023), accessed 6 February 2025. ↩︎
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Robert A. Sirico, "Acton Institute", in Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy: Volume 1: A-J, ed. Michael L. Coulter et al. (Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2007), 6. ↩︎
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William J. Koshelnyk, "Separation of Church and ... Capitalism", The American Voice 1, no. 5 (1996): 6-7. ↩︎
This article is derived from the English Wikipedia article "Acton Institute" as of 5 Jan 2025, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.