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Contents
- Effective Compassion and Civic Renewal
- The Ethics and Economics of Wealth Redistribution
- Hazards of Public-Private Partnerships
- Labor Issues
- Marriage and the Family
- Parental Choice in Education
- Preferential Option for the Poor
- The Social Thought of Abraham Kuyper
- Catholic Social Teaching and the Poor
- Spiritual Dimensions of Poverty
- Subsidiarity and the Role of Mediating Institutions
- The Work Ethic
- Welfare Statism
1. Effective Compassion and Civic Renewal
Reforming our Attitudes
Practicing compassion is more than the act of giving money to someone, writes
Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico. It requires belief that one
can actually help the poor to grow and become fully contributing members of
society. Ultimately, this entails a love that sees beyond someone’s financial
needs and ministers to the whole human person.
The Only Hope for Civic Renewal
Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico argues that the welfare state
has created, and also enhanced, a myriad of problems, and he calls upon churches
to recommit themselves to their salvific mission and historic role of primary
charitable provider to properly address them.
Liberty vs. Democracy
With Biblical and current examples, Tom Ellis of Korean American Bible Studies
explores the relationship between liberty, democracy, morality, and religion.
Ellis concludes that religious leaders have the responsibility to teach morality
and encourage liberty because virtue must be rooted in freedom.
Giving a Boost to
Private Charity
Charitable tax credits would give taxpayers a voice in where their hard earned
money goes and also provide a much needed financial boost to effective charities.
Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico points out how this would
work, without requiring anything more from the taxpayers or from government.
A reinvigorated civil society is essential to a genuine war on poverty, and
charitable tax credits should play an important role in the next phase of
welfare reform.
Why Reform Welfare?
Budget-hungry politicians could chew the moral substance from a truly reformed
welfare system that would encourage authentic charity. Moral principles instilled
in our society’s giving, says Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A.
Sirico, will help renew faith in God and protect those in need from becoming
dependent on a consuming monster.
Models of Effective Compassion:
Dr. John M. Perkins and "the Three R's of Community Development"
Acton Institute policy analyst Michael B. Barkey comments on the life and
work of John Perkins, Chairman of the Christian
Community Development Association. Barkey focuses especially on Perkins’s
paradigm of the three R’s: Relocation, Reconciliation, and Redistribution.
Perkins aims to empower and develop others with the salvation of Jesus Christ
in order to break the cycle of poverty.
A Revolution of Compassion
Scripture instructs us to discern how we aid widows and orphans and to hold
the recipients of aid accountable for performing their duties to themselves
and to the community. Religion and Liberty interviews Dr. Marvin Olasky,
author of The Tragedy of American Compassion, about how charity is
incorrectly administered today. His experiment living as a homeless person
reveals the dangers of indiscriminate giving.
Building Social Capital
Relationships are social capital, and they often make the essential difference
in people’s lives. Acton Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Marvin Olasky wants
to reclaim compassion as a conservative principle, noting that it takes tough
people, who understand the nature of the human person, to turn a life around.
A Moral Solution to Moral
Problems
The welfare state costs taxpayers billions of dollars every year, but it costs
the "underclass" much more in ruined lives. William F. Lauber finds the solution
in individuals extending themselves through time and effort to meet the spiritual
needs of the poor.
Corporate Philanthropy
Willa Johnson, Chairman of the Capital
Research Center, speaks of her Center’s study of corporate giving
and the influence clergy have on corporate philanthropy and society. In this
interview with Religion and Liberty, Johnson asserts that corporations
are neither compassionate nor common-sensical in their philanthropy, and argues
in favor of reorienting their giving through greater moral understanding.
A Better Approach to Fighting
Poverty
Leaders that follow ungodly council become hard-hearted Pharaohs. Acton Institute
Senior Fellow Dr. Marvin Olasky is optimistic, though, that God’s grace
is still working through individuals to transform sons into servant-leaders.
A Sense of Community and
Brotherhood in the Information Age
Individuals must decide if information technology is an outlet for our communities,
or destructive to them. Acton Institute Policy Analyst Michael B. Barkey gives
examples of how individuals may use this wealth of information for action,
growth, protection, responsibility, and to hold charitable organizations more
fully accountable for how they meet human needs.
Reclaiming the Term Charitable Choice:
A Matter of Individual Responsibility and Planned Giving
"Charitable Choice" holds that government is not the best institution for
meeting personal needs, but that it is a decent distributor of means. This
article tells us how one may practice charitable choice on an individual level
by giving to worthy charities and planning one’s ultimate transfer of
wealth through estate planning.
How can welfare reform
improve?
With the passage of H.R. 7, known as the Community Solutions Act of 2001,
the relationship between the role of the state, private charity, and welfare
reform is back in the spotlight. In this recent Detroit News commentary, Rev.
Robert A. Sirico, Acton’s president and co-founder, offers some important
distinctions and sounds the necessary cautions in the continuing debate over
the next phase of welfare reform.
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2. The Ethics and Economics of Wealth Redistribution
Equality
In this article, Rev. Dr. John K. Williams discourses on the subject of equality
and concludes that a goal of either equal treatment or equal outcomes requires
that something be unequal because of different starting places and characteristics
of individuals. Williams comments on the moral implications of this reality
from a Christian perspective.
The Economics of Bertrand
de Jouvenel
Dr. William Luckey, associate professor of political science and economics
at Christendom College, surveys the work of Bertrand de Jouvenel in this article
from the Journal of Markets & Morality. Luckey focuses, in large
part, upon de Jouvenel’s treatment of the ethics and economics of wealth
redistribution.
Liberty vs. Democracy
With Biblical and current examples, Tom Ellis of Korean American Bible Studies
explores the relationship between liberty, democracy, morality, and religion.
Ellis concludes that religious leaders have the responsibility to teach morality
and encourage liberty because virtue must be rooted in freedom.
Religion and the Welfare
State
Many in the faith community have been made complacent by government programs
that tend to the poor, instead of serving the needy themselves. Government
agencies are ineffective at saving their clients from their oppressive situations,
argues Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico. We must become more
involved as a faith community in ministering to the needs of the poor, instead
of advocating the bureaucratic welfare state.
Morality and Social
Security
Social Security has helped to foster an attitude of personal and familial
irresponsibility, as persons are made to believe that the government, not
the family, will serve as primary caregiver from cradle to grave. Acton Institute
President Rev. Robert A. Sirico shows us how this view is costing us both
culturally and economically.
The Folly of Paticipating
in Government Welfare
Dr. Paul Cleveland, professor of Finance at Birmingham-Southern College, makes
an argument for refusing to accept government largess on the basis of Biblical
principles. Christians are called to reject the offer to share a common purse,
and are encouraged instead to be productive in order to share of their own
accord with others in need.
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3. Hazards of Public-Private Partnerships
The Samaritan and Ceasar
Government support is a tempting offer to many religious charitable organizations.
The acquiescence of such an offer can bring about a perilous dependence on
government for financial support and induce conformity to stifling regulations
that threaten to undermine their religious mission, warns Dr. Todd Flanders,
Headmaster of Providence Academy near Minneapolis.
Turning Lives Around
Tough love and tough faith are not natural responses to the problem of poverty.
Acton Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Marvin Olasky tells us why Rebuild Resources
and other faith-based organizations are essential to helping people off welfare.
These organizations provide an effective alternative to the welfare state.
Charities on the Dole
The budgets of private organizations are increasingly comprised of public
funds. Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico points out that welfare
creates dependency on the organizational level, as well as on the private
level. Sirico argues instead in favor of a reinvigorated non-profit sector
to help empower persons (and charitable organizations) in genuine need.
Putting "Voluntarism"
to the Test
AmeriCorps volunteers, priests, and entrepreneurs alike are motivated by the
desire to serve the needs of others. Acton Institute President Rev. Robert
A. Sirico asks the important question: Are taxpayers wrongly promoting the
idea that the "volunteers" who receive taxpayer money are more noble than
those persons who earn their own money or volunteer without government compensation?
Catholic Charities
and Public Funding
How tempting is it for religious charitable organizations to view government
as a prime source of support, and what effect might such temptation have on
charitable missions? Dr. Todd Flanders examines this fairly new offer for
charitable organizations, and he focuses on the perils faced by one in particular.
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4. Labor Issues
Three New Testament Roots of
Economic Liberty
Christian businessman Howard Ahmanson explores three New Testament passages
that bring out foundational issues regarding the nature of economic justice
and demonstrate a biblical sympathy with liberty and the market.
Justice and Charity in Wages
During the nineteenth century the concept of poverty changed from not being
able to provide for oneself to not having a certain amount of money. Clifford
Thies, who holds the Durrell Chair of Money, Banking, and Finance at Shenandoah
University, describes the relationship between wage levels and economic justice.
Thies contends that an artificially imposed minimum wage makes the least skilled
workers unemployable, creating an underclass of people who are deprived of
the opportunity to demonstrate that they can provide for themselves.
Human Capital and Poverty
Human capital, e.g., the skills, education, and values of an individual, constitutes
our most valuable and available resource for ameliorating poverty, argues
Dr. Gary S. Becker, Nobel Laureate in Economics, in a Religion and Liberty
interview. Education raises the standard of living for all people, by enabling
them to create wealth through the fullest realization of their God-given potential.
Models of Effective Compassion:
Dr. John M. Perkins and "the Three R's of Community Development"
Acton Institute policy analyst Michael B. Barkey comments on the life and
work of John Perkins, Chairman of the Christian
Community Development Association. Barkey focuses especially on Perkins’s
paradigm of the three R’s: Relocation, Reconciliation, and Redistribution.
Perkins aims to empower and develop others with the salvation of Jesus Christ
in order to break the cycle of poverty.
The Living Wage: A Moral
and Economic Evaluation
Acton's director of programs, Rev. Jerry Zandstra, asserts that although living
wage legislation aims to use government-mandated wage controls to "level
the playing field" for the working poor, that legislation will, over
time, actually harm those it is trying to save.
'Living wage' is anti-Christian
Proponents of "Living Wage" legislation claim that using the government's
power to force wage hikes is just. Some claim that such action is inherently
Christian. Acton's president, Rev. Robert Sirico, and its director of programs,
Rev. Jerry Zandstra, state, "The problem with the 'living wage'... is
that it leads to negative consequences that are equal to or sometimes worse
than the problem the policy sought to remedy."
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5. Marriage and the Family
Welfare and Abortion
Mix Too Well
Allowing single mothers to be affected by the results of their unwise premarital
decisions, rather than subsidizing their condition through government aid,
would help to reinforce the importance of moral decision-making to human flourishing.
Those who truly have the mother’s best interests in mind should realize
that removing public support would not encourage abortions, says Acton Institute
President Rev. Robert A. Sirico, but ultimately discourage an immoral lifestyle.
Marriage and Economic Liberty
David Murray, Director of Research at the Statistical Assessment Service,
details how illegitimate births are detrimental to our society. Children from
homes where Mother and Father are married to one another become better economic
providers and are more likely to create solid families themselves.
Learning from Victorian
Virtues
Professor emeritus Gertrude Himmelfarb of Brooklyn College and City University
of New York discusses with Religion and Liberty her book, The Demoralization
of Society. In the interview, she emphasizes the important role played
by virtue and stigma in Victorian culture. Himmelfarb, a foremost expert on
Lord Acton, also lends insight into what Lord Acton would say about our society
today.
Freedom From Welfare Dependency
Discovery Institute Fellow George
Gilder asserts that deliberately seeking Christian morality is the only way
to reject corruption in our culture. He details the purposes of God in our
family relationships, business endeavors, and public policies.
Human Capital and Poverty
Human capital, e.g., the skills, education, and values of an individual, constitutes
our most valuable and available resource for ameliorating poverty, argues
Dr. Gary S. Becker, Nobel Laureate in Economics, in a Religion and Liberty
interview. Education raises the standard of living for all people, by enabling
them to create wealth through the fullest realization of their God-given potential.
Models of Effective Compassion:
Dr. John M. Perkins and "the Three R's of Community Development"
Acton Institute policy analyst Michael B. Barkey comments on the life and
work of John Perkins, Chairman of the Christian
Community Development Association. Barkey focuses especially on Perkins’s
paradigm of the three R’s: Relocation, Reconciliation, and Redistribution.
Perkins aims to empower and develop others with the salvation of Jesus Christ
in order to break the cycle of poverty.
Healing Lives, One Person
at a Time
Providing handouts to people without at the same time requiring accountability
creates a situation of dependence and leaves souls empty. Barbara von der
Heydt, founder of the Center for
Renewal, tells us why direct involvement in people’s lives through
mentoring relationships is crucial for building honorable and self-sufficient
individuals.
Slaying the Leviathan: Going
Beyond the Great Society
Our generosity cannot be measured by the amount of money we give to the poor.
Matthew Coffin argues that we must instill values and the virtue of selfless
love back into our families and charitable giving.
"Encouraging
Marriage and Discouraging Divorce"
After four decades of rising government spending to treat the effects of broken
families, a cultural shift in attitudes toward marriage is evident across
America, says Patrick F. Fagan. Elected officials, social scientists, community
leaders, and policymakers across the ideological spectrum are admitting that
strong marriages--not government intervention--are key to improving social
and personal well-being. Increasingly, research is showing that children in
married families are healthier, perform better in school, live in poverty
less frequently, and are involved in crime or other destructive behaviors
less often. But as marriages fail, social problems and social spending to
deal with those problems increase.
The
Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action
The fatherhood movement has established itself as the most innovative and
effective response to the most daunting crisis facing American families. Written
by Dr. Wade Horn and other founders of the movement, the book illustrates
methods for reconnecting men with their children and restoring the fragile
bonds that hold our society together. This book provides valuable insights
into the historical, social, economic and spiritual dimensions of the "disappearance"
of fathers from society.
Faith, Families, and Welfare
Reform
The Bush administration's welfare reform agenda contains promising affirmations
concerning the role of faith based services and two parent families. Acton's
public policy manager, Phillip W. DeVous, reminds us, however that "that
very good intentions do not always make the best policy."
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6. Parental Choice in Education
The Education Policy Page
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7. Preferential Option for the Poor
Welfare Gone Awry
Rev. Dr. J. Michael Beers of the Pontifical College Josephinum looks at Oscar
Schindler as a capitalist and a proponent of welfare, as the word welfare
means doing good for someone else. Our welfare system today cannot accomplish
what well-faring capitalists can in uplifting the poor. As Pope John Paul
II points out, our welfare system devalues work and workers and degrades human
dignity.
The Church: Lobbyist
for the Welfare State
In an editorial written at the dawn of the Clinton era, Acton Institute President
Rev. Robert A. Sirico writes that the welfare state and socialism have failed
for the same reasons: Central planning impedes the natural ability of the
market to respond to changes in human need. The welfare state reduces the
incentive of members of the religious community to personally involve themselves
in charitable enterprises, thus reducing the church to a lobbyist.
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8. The Social Thought of Abraham Kuyper
The Writings of Abraham Kuyper:
Christianity and the Social
Question
What Attitude Should Christians
Assume toward Charity
Sphere Sovereignty and
the Problem of Poverty
Abraham Kuyper: In the Liberal
Tradition
This brief biography of reformed thinker and statesman Abraham Kuyper
(1837-1920) highlights Kuyper's contribution to the liberal tradition. A special
emphasis is placed upon his view of the human person and doctrine of sphere
sovereignty.
Whose Liberty? Which Religion?
Acton and Kuyper
Calvin Theological Seminary Professor John Bolt compares the thought of "two
champions of liberty," the contemporaries, Dutch Calvinist theologian-statesman
Abraham Kuyper and Roman Catholic British historian Lord Acton, in this essay.
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9. Catholic Social Teaching and the Poor
Charity, the Universal
Destination of Material Goods, and the Preferential Option for the Poor
Subsidiarity and the
Role of Mediating Institutions
The Nature of Work
Marriage & the Family
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10. Spiritual Dimensions of Poverty
Liberty vs. Democracy
With Biblical and current examples, Tom Ellis of Korean American Bible Studies
explores the relationship between liberty, democracy, morality, and religion.
Ellis concludes that religious leaders have the responsibility to teach morality
and encourage liberty because virtue must be rooted in freedom.
The Two Faces of Moral Poverty
Kristen Burroughs Kraakevik argues that true poverty isn't the lack of money
or things, but the lack of love, compassion, and selflessness. Thus there
are two faces of moral poverty: that of the materially wealthy who are morally
poor and that of the materially poor who are morally poor. Kraakevik calls
upon private institutions within civil society, beginning with religious institutions,
to begin to restore the conditions of moral teaching that existed only a few
generations ago, and to tackle the underlying social problem of our time:
moral poverty.
The Futility of Coerced
Benevolence
Dr. Gregory Gronbacher, supports Tibor Machan’s thesis in the book Generosity:
Virtue in Civil Society, that generosity cannot possibly exist in a controlled
economy because freedom and private ownership are prerequisites to a virtuous
society. Gronbacher adds to Machan’s book the truths of fallen man, grace,
and redemption, central to a fuller understanding of the economy and the human
person.
Effective Aid to the Poor
How does one decide the most efficient way of giving? Dr. Digby Anderson,
Director of the London-based Social Affairs Unit, addresses the two challenges
which poverty-relief faces: Generosity and Efficiency.
Escape from the Welfare
Trap
Statistics now show that welfare recipients are realizing by their own free
will and intelligence that independence is superior to life on the dole. At
the same time that welfare roles are dropping, private charity is increasing.
According to Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico, cutting back
the welfare state serves the common good and establishes a sound fiscal policy.
Slaying the Leviathan: Going
Beyond the Great Society
Our generosity cannot be measured by the amount of money we give to the poor.
Matthew Coffin argues that we must instill values and the virtue of selfless
love back into our families and charitable giving.
Productivity and Potential
Dr. John M. Perkins, Chairman of the Christian
Community Development Association, converses with Religion and Liberty
about his experiences in ministry, lending insight into issues such as faith,
racism, government burdens, values, and human potential. Perkins emphasizes
the important role for the church, rather than the government, in revitalizing
inner city communities and building strong Christian citizens.
Models of Effective Compassion:
Dr. John M. Perkins and "the Three R's of Community Development"
Acton Institute policy analyst Michael B. Barkey comments on the life and
work of John Perkins, Chairman of the Christian
Community Development Association. Barkey focuses especially on Perkins’s
paradigm of the three R’s: Relocation, Reconciliation, and Redistribution.
Perkins aims to empower and develop others with the salvation of Jesus Christ
in order to break the cycle of poverty.
The Free Society Requires a Moral
Sense, Social Capital
The task of our communities is to enforce a "moral sense" while encouraging
a free society. Dr. James Q. Wilson, professor emeritus of the School of Management
at the University of California–Los Angeles, explains how capitalism,
strictly defined, provides the resources and framework for a balanced society
by serving as a "moralizing force."
Reflections on the Bell Curve
Borrowing from the controversial book by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray,
Noel Black likens the separation of classes in our society to a bell curve,
with a "cognitive elite" on one end, and a permanent "underclass"
on the other. Black proceeds to examine the bell curve thesis from a Christian
perspective.
Centesimus Annus
and the Renewal of Culture
Rev. Avery Dulles, professor of theology at Fordham University, considers
the encyclical, Centesimus Annus, in this Journal of Markets &
Morality article. Dulles expands upon the two problems that the encyclical
addresses: one, that politics and the economy can become suffocating forces
when human action is not properly informed by virtue, and, secondly, that
our culture is starving for the gospel of Christ.
Private Solutions: The Best
Hope for Cultural Renewal
Our families, faith, and moral philosophies have kept some immune from the
violence, addictions, and despair which is attacking our society. Kay Cole
James, former Secretary of Health and Human Services for the State of Virginia,
is one example of a conservative Christian who is fighting this cultural virus
that lives among us. James places a special focus upon uplifting the underclass
through sound public policies and effective compassion.
Working to stop prison's
revolving door
In this article, Acton Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Marvin Olasky explores
how the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is causing a permanent lifestyle
change in Texas inmates through the Innerchange Freedom Initiative.
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11. Subsidiarity and the Role of Mediating Institutions
The U.S. After the
Welfare State
Because humans do not fit a standard mold, a standardized program for meeting
their needs cannot work. Individual attention and love is necessary–something
the government can never provide. It may be a mental stretch to imagine life
without the welfare state, but Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico
encourages local efforts to keep authentic charity personal and flexible.
Mediating Institutions
Mediating institutions are organizations separate from the state that are
important to everyday life. The historian William Klimon lauds the idea of
a retromedieval world where the successful mediating institutions of the European
medieval society are reconsidered.
The State that Justifies
Rev. James V. Schall, professor of political science at Georgetown University,
makes an alarming statement about the dangerous level of state control that
is being proposed by our republican form of government. Such control by anxious
bureaucrats shows characteristics of a false religion and degrades the human
person. Schall argues for a return to reliance upon voluntary associations
for meeting human needs and strengthening communities.
The Time has Come to Reevaluate
Strategy for Change
Heather Richardson Higgins, executive director of the Council on Culture and
Community, suggests a new strategy for Americans to effect change in this
Religion & Liberty interview. Churches and families must get involved
with their neighbors before they seek government’s hand.
Effective Aid to the Poor
How does one decide the most efficient way of giving? Dr. Digby Anderson,
Director of the London-based Social Affairs Unit, addresses the two challenges
which poverty-relief faces: Generosity and Efficiency.
Religion and the Welfare
State
Many in the faith community have been made complacent by government programs
that tend to the poor, instead of serving the needy themselves. Government
agencies are ineffective at saving their clients from their oppressive situations,
argues Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico. We must become more
involved as a faith community in ministering to the needs of the poor, instead
of advocating the bureaucratic welfare state.
Models of Effective Compassion:
Dr. John M. Perkins and "the Three R's of Community Development"
Acton Institute policy analyst Michael B. Barkey comments on the life and
work of John Perkins, Chairman of the Christian
Community Development Association. Barkey focuses especially on Perkins’s
paradigm of the three R’s: Relocation, Reconciliation, and Redistribution.
Perkins aims to empower and develop others with the salvation of Jesus Christ
in order to break the cycle of poverty.
The Principle of Subsidiarity
Father David Bosnich of the Byzantine Catholic Church defines the principle
of subsidiarity in this article, and answers why this fundamental principle
of Catholic social teaching is not being fully supported in political debates
by many U.S. Catholic Bishops.
Liberty vs. Democracy
With Biblical and current examples, Tom Ellis of Korean American Bible Studies
explores the relationship between liberty, democracy, morality, and religion.
Ellis concludes that religious leaders have the responsibility to teach morality
and encourage liberty because virtue must be rooted in freedom.
Local Communities Are Charity's
Resource of First Resort
Drawing from his experience as a leader in welfare reform, Senator Rick Santorum
of Pennsylvania offers a sensible explanation of how the government and individuals
can be part of the solution to the stale bureaucracy and irresponsibility
fostered by the welfare state.
Are They Bishops or Pawns?
The United States Catholic Conference's
desire for political reform is sincere, but sincerely wrong, argues Acton
Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico. Catholic social thought is based
on helping others on an individual level, not removing the responsibility
of the Church and communities through government activism. Sirico argues for
a reaffirmation of the principle of subsidiarity in public policy decisionmaking.
John Wesley's Social Ethic
John Wesley’s leadership among Methodist Societies provides a clear framework
for social action today. In agreement with Wesley’s social ethic, John
Lunn, professor of economics at Hope College, cries that redeeming people,
rather than restructuring society, is key to practicing the two greatest commandments:
to love God and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.
A better approach to fighting
poverty
Leaders that follow ungodly council become hard-hearted Pharaohs. Acton Institute
Senior Fellow Dr. Marvin Olasky is optimistic, though, that God’s grace
is still working through individuals to transform sons into servant-leaders.
Think Locally, Act Locally
As the reauthorization of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act is debated in Congress,
the Institute's director of programs, Rev. Jerry Zandstra, reflects on the
principles needed for genuine change during the next phase of welfare reform.
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12. The Work Ethic
Rediscovering the Work Ethic
Christianity Today founding editor Dr. Carl F.H. Henry argues that
Americans must recommit themselves to the work ethic, for moral, rather than
economic, reasons. Work is a spiritual endeavor, Henry maintains. This argument
has profound implications for the welfare policy debate, and the need to assist
individuals safely make the transition from welfare to work.
Poverty, Virtue, and Grace
With much reference to Lord Acton and classical thought on poverty, Robert
Johansen notes that aiding others is primarily a spiritual work. Christ is
personified in the suffering of the needy and the servitude of the helping
neighbor.
Human Capital and Poverty
Human capital, e.g., the skills, education, and values of an individual, constitutes
our most valuable and available resource for ameliorating poverty, argues
Dr. Gary S. Becker, Nobel Laureate in Economics, in a Religion and Liberty
interview. Education raises the standard of living for all people, by enabling
them to create wealth through the fullest realization of their God-given potential.
Learning from Victorian
Virtues
Professor emeritus Gertrude Himmelfarb of Brooklyn College and City University
of New York discusses with Religion and Liberty her new book, The
Demoralization of Society. In the interview, she emphasizes the important
role played by virtue and stigma in Victorian culture. Himmelfarb, a foremost
expert on Lord Acton, also lends insight into what Lord Acton would say about
our society today.
Models of Effective Compassion:
Dr. John M. Perkins and "the Three R's of Community Development"
Acton Institute policy analyst Michael B. Barkey comments on the life and
work of John Perkins, Chairman of the Christian
Community Development Association. Barkey focuses especially on Perkins’s
paradigm of the three R’s: Relocation, Reconciliation, and Redistribution.
Perkins aims to empower and develop others with the salvation of Jesus Christ
in order to break the cycle of poverty.
Challenges Facing the Culture
Religion and Liberty interviews the founder of Prison
Fellowship Ministries, Chuck Colson, on criminals, penal institutions,
and the free-enterprise system. Colson maintains that the integrity of our
economic and political systems require a resurgence of individual responsibility,
personal accountability, and commitment to objective moral principles that
are grounded in faith.
Healing Lives, One Person
at a Time
Providing handouts to people without at the same time requiring accountability
creates a situation of dependence and leaves souls empty. Barbara von der
Heydt, founder of the Center for
Renewal, tells us why direct involvement in people’s lives through
mentoring relationships is crucial for building honorable and self-sufficient
individuals.
Productivity and Potential
Dr. John M. Perkins, Chairman of the Christian
Community Development Association, converses with Religion and Liberty
about his experiences in ministry, lending insight into issues such as faith,
racism, government burdens, values, and human potential. Perkins emphasizes
the important role for the church, rather than the government, in revitalizing
inner city communities and building strong Christian citizens.
John Paul II and the Problem
of Consumerism
Pope John Paul II endorses the free economy for encouraging producers to serve
their neighbors through voluntary exchange and enterprise. In the context
of freedom for the human person, however, exists the possibility of consumerism:
when material things are made to become one’s identity. John Paul and
Rev. Raymond de Souza argue that human freedom must be exercised in relation
to the truth of the human person, so that commerce does not become all consuming
and those in genuine need receive authentic charity.
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13. Welfare Statism
The Pope's Warning
on the Welfare State
Not only do Pope John Paul II and President Bill Clinton disagree on the issue
of abortion, but they also hold dissenting opinions about bureaucracy, private
charity, and welfare. In his 1991 encyclical, Centesimus Annus, John
Paul warns against some of the economic policies that emerge in Clinton’s
budget proposal.
Slaying the Leviathan: Going
Beyond the Great Society
Our generosity cannot be measured by the amount of money we give to the poor.
Matthew Coffin argues that we must instill values and the virtue of selfless
love back into our families and charitable giving.
Liberty vs. Democracy
With Biblical and current examples, Tom Ellis of Korean American Bible Studies
explores the relationship between liberty, democracy, morality, and religion.
Ellis concludes that religious leaders have the responsibility to teach morality
and encourage liberty because virtue must be rooted in freedom.
Concerning the Education of
Clergymen
The late conservative thinker Russell Kirk noticed during his lifetime that
many clergy are poorly educated in the principles of the civil social order.
In this article, Kirk argues that the concepts of poverty, charity, and justice
must be seriously reconsidered and taught in light of the current social condition.
Welfare: Separating Fact
from the Rhetoric
Syndicated columnist Doug Bandow reviews Welfare Realities, by Mary
Jo Bane and David T. Ellwood. The book successfully discusses the facts that
are so easily lost in most passionate exchanges on welfare and poverty, making
it a good research tool for policymakers. However, according to Bandow, the
book’s solutions fall short of addressing the genuine reform that would
be required to purify the economic incentives for recipients to stand on their
own.
The State that Justifies
Rev. James V. Schall, professor of political science at Georgetown University,
makes an alarming statement about the dangerous level of state control that
is being proposed by our republican form of government. Such control by anxious
bureaucrats shows characteristics of a false religion and degrades the human
person. Schall argues for a return to reliance upon voluntary associations
for meeting human needs and strengthening communities.
The Futility of Coerced
Benevolence
Dr. Gregory Gronbacher supports Tibor Machan’s thesis in the book Generosity:
Virtue in Civil Society, that generosity cannot possibly exist in a controlled
economy because freedom and private ownership are prerequisites to a virtuous
society. Gronbacher adds to Machan’s book the truths of fallen man, grace,
and redemption, central to a fuller understanding of the economy and the human
person.
Models of Effective Compassion:
Dr. John M. Perkins and "the Three R's of Community Development"
Acton Institute policy analyst Michael B. Barkey comments on the life and
work of John Perkins, Chairman of the Christian
Community Development Association. Barkey focuses especially on Perkins’s
paradigm of the three R’s: Relocation, Reconciliation, and Redistribution.
Perkins aims to empower and develop others with the salvation of Jesus Christ
in order to break the cycle of poverty.
Liberty vs. Democracy
With Biblical and current examples, Tom Ellis of Korean American Bible Studies
explores the relationship between liberty, democracy, morality, and religion.
Ellis concludes that religious leaders have the responsibility to teach morality
and encourage liberty because virtue must be rooted in freedom.
Prophet or Siren? Ron Sider's
Continued Influence
Dr. Paul Mastin, professor of Finance at Birmingham-Southern College of the
Acton Institute reviews Ron Sider’s book Just Generosity: A New Vision
for Overcoming Poverty in America. Sider, president of Evangelicals for
Social Action, is likened to a prophet calling Christians to a renewal of
civil society by refusing to tolerate the level of poverty that exists in
America today. Although he affirms the role of government as a last resort
for those in need, he emphasizes the need for Christians to spend the time
praying for and getting to know the poor in their neighborhoods.
Justice, Mercy, and Economics
Paul Cleveland weaves thoughts on justice and mercy with government’s
temptation to plunder from the many to feed a few. By the end of the article,
Cleveland presents an ironic picture of an economic truth.
Michigan Welfare Reform has
Long Since Begun
Michigan Governor John Engler speaks to Religion and Liberty about
two things that must happen in the welfare paradigm shift: the federal government
must relinquish control, and whatever programs are implemented must encourage
individual responsibility rather than create dependency.
Faith and the Limitations
of the State
Lady Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Britain, makes known her support
of capitalism and advances the idea that man is free and responsible to God.
She adds that the synthesis between morality and economics is imperative to
a good society.
Ethics and the Budget Debate
The voice for the conservative moral side of the budget debate has not been
heard. Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico comments on the liberal
clergy’s encouragement that government programs are a substitute for
personal involvement in the lives of the poor.
Preferential Option: A New
Strategy for Latin America's Poor
After her visit to Guatemala and witnessing the "excruciating poverty" and
corrupt bureaucracy there, Dr. Amy Sherman, Director of Urban Ministry at
Trinity Presbyterian Church in Virginia, calls for a Christian compassion
that will wed intellect with heart, in a genuine preferential option for the
poor. Only then will the poor masses have the freedom and materials to better
themselves.
Are They Bishops or Pawns?
The United States Catholic Conference’s
desire for political reform is sincere, but sincerely wrong, argues Acton
Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico. Catholic social thought is based
on helping others on an individual level, not removing the responsibility
of the Church and communities through government activism. Sirico argues for
a reaffirmation of the principle of subsidiarity in public policy decisionmaking.
Beyond Liberation Theology
Humberto Belli and Ronald Nash, authors of Beyond Liberation Theology,
claim a new liberation theology, supported by the encyclical Centesimus
Annus, which truly liberates the oppressed from patterns and beliefs that
restrict them. Capitalism, socialism, and interventionism are viewed as three
separate points along an economic continuum of freedom.
Is Welfare Compassionate?
The moral deficit in America today is reflected by the lack of human needs
being met by State handouts. True compassion is standing with someone in his
time of crisis. Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico illustrates
that lines, forms, and monthly checks fail to address personal fears and difficulties
and suggests instead that local, private charities meet these needs.
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