Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Poverty

September 05, 2013

Calvin Coolidge and the Power of Connectedness

In the latest episode of Uncommon Knowledge, Peter Robinson interviews Amity Shlaes, author of the new biography, Coolidge. Read Ray Nothstine’s review here. In the book, Shlaes makes an explicit connection between Coolidge’s rough-and-humble upbringing in Plymouth Notch, VA, and his bootstraps optimism about commerce and markets. Continue Reading...
August 30, 2013

Blacks as Mascots of Progressivism

There are times when you have to imagine that black justice pioneers like Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and the like, must be turning in their graves at the nonsense circumstances that black Americans find themselves in in 2013. Continue Reading...
August 28, 2013

How King’s dream turned into a nightmare

In a symposium at National Review Online about where Dr. King’s dream stands, 50 years after his historic speech, Anthony Bradley writes: Fifty years ago, Dr. King provided America with a provocative vision, in which our republic would become a place of greater political and economic liberty for African Americans. Continue Reading...
August 28, 2013

A Dream Celebrated and Sabotaged

As we mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream Speech,” we find reason for pause, for praise, and for lament. There is much to celebrate because MLK’s dream has been experienced for many blacks, albeit imperfectly, especially for the black middle-class. Continue Reading...
August 26, 2013

Should We Simply Give Cash to the Poor?

Why do people live in poverty? Sometimes the problem is structural, and the cause can be attributed to a corrupt government or economic injustice. Sometimes the problem is individual, and the cause can be attributed to poor work ethic or a dependency on drugs. Continue Reading...
August 20, 2013

Why a ‘Living Wage’ Can Hurt the Poor

Near the top of my long and ever-growing list of pet peeves is articles titled, “The Conservative Case for [Insert Proposal Usually Rejected by Conservatives Here].” It’s almost an iron-clad rule that before you even read the article you can be assured of that the case being made will use words that appeal to conservatives while being based on principles that are contrary to conservatism and/or reality. Continue Reading...
August 20, 2013

Does Loving The Poor Mean Keeping Them Poor?

Fr. James V. Schall, S.J., in an essay for The Catholic World Report, offers some points worth pondering regarding Christianity and poverty. Entitled “Do Christians Love Poverty,” Schall insists that we must make the distinction between loving the poor – actual people – and loving “poverty” in some abstract way. Continue Reading...