Economic Fallacies Christians Believe

I've been wrestling with economic issues related 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'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 discuss 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.

I want to 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 seven or eight that I will describe over the next two weeks. 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.

[Index]

Comments

[jim]

Michael, i'm looking forward to this...thanks for helping enlighten us about these things!

[Michael W. Kruse]

Thanks Him. Writing this stuff help me better articulate. We'll see if it makes any sense.

[Viola Larson]

Thanks Michael,
I am looking forward to this too, and you can imagine why.

[Jon Wilson]

Sounds like an interesting topic. A few items that might be of interest if they fit into your topic:

1) Are tax deductions for church contributions a good thing?

2) Should government provide charitable services? Is governement capable, in the medium to long term, of providing such assistance ethically (ie without using it as a lever to exert control)?

[Michael W. Kruse]

Jon, the items included within this series (see here) fit more into what I think are errors of logic or misapplication of scripture.

I think tax deductions and government services fall more into the realm of wisdom and discernment. We are talking about trade-offs from a set of policies, not errors in logic and biblical interpretation.

However, they are important policy questions.