This Is Our City

Every purchase is an investment; investment in the product, in the company, and in how it produces the product. It is my responsibility to see that what I choose to invest in supports my Christian values; that of loving my neighbor, respecting and caring for the the creation that sustains us. I do not permit my choices to be solely determined by low price as the marketplace and economics would dictate. I will not buy from companies, if at all possible, that violate those values. I most often choose to buy books and gifts from my nearby independent bookstore (the last of two in the county) and the closest remaining Christian bookstore. It would be cheaper and more convenient to buy from Amazon.com; however, Amazon does not employ my neighbors (and incidentally does not employ as many people per volume of sales), and does not put into the local economy. I do not believe that I am 'destroying jobs' in so doing. I am supporting MORE jobs, and local, than Amazon.

Jim, You’re right. Capitalism requires shared morality. Capitalism was a brief flash in the pan. It happened in Western Europe and the US because we adopted the Biblical principles of property and markets as discovered by the theologians at the School of Salamanca. But as we have become less Christian we have abandoned freedom for socialism, just as Israel did when it rebelled against God and demanded a king. Envy keeps most people in the world poor and is the power of socialism. As Schoeck wrote, the genius of Christianity was its ability to restrain envy. I realize you have good intentions, but the actions you recommend will only hurt the poor of the world more than doing nothing.

Paul, I’m not saying any such thing. I’m saying it’s none of my business. I think it very arrogant of Americans to try to rule a foreign country from 3,000 miles away through our purchasing decisions. We should have more respect for the people of other countries and let them run their countries as they see fit. They know far more about it than we do. I’m asking Christians in the US to have a tiny bit of humility. We don’t know the situation or how best to solve the problems. But I know this: destroying jobs that feed families is not the way to go about helping the poor.

Rick, here is a link to a good intro article that contains a few books: http://mises.org/daily/3787/The-World-of-Salamanca. Also, the article in Wikipedia about the School of Salamanca is good. Deirdre McCloskey, econ prof at Chicago, comes at it from a different perspective in her series “The Bourgeois Values.” The bourgeois values are Christian values about commerce. She traces them back to the Dutch Republic of the 16th century. She doesn’t call them Christian or make the Christian connection, but anyone who has read the history of the Dutch Republic understands how godly the founders were. They considered their nation to be a new Israel. The Dutch rejected the old world ways of getting wealth through war and kidnapping and implemented the principles of the School of Salamanca.

One can agree with Roger's points but in order for capitalism (as described by Roger in its original state) to work, it must be borne on a basis of a shared morality. We do not have a shared morality any longer. So the question is how would be be able to bring capitalism (in the purest form) back and maintain it? Maybe we need to be mindful in our activity (economic and otherwise) and require ourselves to be the example (treating others properly and not seeking cheap goods made via slave labor (China for example), practically slave labor (China in other areas, Bangladesh, Vietnam, etc) or asking desperate peoples to become toxic waste dumps so we can have iPods and leather handbags (for example). To expect the USA and the rest of the world to go back and doing nothing in the meantime to foster proper treatment of His creatures is not rational nor does it work. Maybe the answer is yes and yes.