I’ve been wrestling with economic issues as it relates to faith all my adult life. Particularly over the last twenty years. I’ve been in deep with Mainline lefties, Neo-cons, Evangelical lefties, Religious Right types, libertarians, and even some honest to God Marxists. (Okay, that last one is a bit of an oxymoron but you get the picture.) Over the years I think I’ve seen a pattern in what leads people into unhelpful thinking about economic issues.
Several months ago I heard Dr. Jay Richards give his presentation Myths Christians Believe about Wealth and Poverty. (If you have iTunes you can find a 67 minute long podcast of one of his presentations by clicking here and getting the free podcast by the above name.) He has a book coming out in 2009 that will include a discussion of myths and more. What I found interesting as I heard his presentation is that, on a couple of occasions, he used precisely the examples I’ve used to challenge the same notions; specifically the use of rent controls as an example of misplaced good intentions and projecting horse transportation problems indefinitely into the future at the beginning of the 20th Century as an example failing to anticipate change. I’ve taken his myths and let them simmer in my mind a little. I think he is on to something.
What I want to do now is take a shot at my own list of economic fallacies Christians believe. I will use Richards' presentation as a launching pad. I’ve tentatively identified about seven or eight that I will describe over the next two weeks or so. Some of these overlap and intersect so we will see how this works.
I’ll be in Louisville at the end of this week and I don’t expect to blog much the Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week so the entries may be sporadic. We will see what time allows.
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