Grand Rapids — “We need healing when we use violence,” says Kevin Vallier at the Acton Institute’s “University,” an annual international gathering of nonprofit, faith-based, and civil leaders. The Acton Institute is named after the 19th-century Englishman Lord Acton, known best for the quote “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Here, the attendees are also motivated by his admonition that “liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.”
Vallier is talking about the so-called culture wars and politics more generally. He’s reflecting on the obvious: our polarized times. One side thinks that if the other side wins, it will be the end of life in the United States as it should be.
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