This Is Our City

Roger: With respect to mindful purchasing, what you are staying is, that when you purchase, you will not support a company paying a decent wage, that has safe working conditions, that doesn't pollute, but instead purchase from a company that keeps its employees in poverty, in unsafe working conditions, that is environmentally destructive...? Is that how you 'love your neighbor'? Increased demand for responsibly produced goods will result in a loss of jobs that keep people in poverty- but an increase in jobs that give people to opportunity to get out of poverty.

God bless you Roger. There is a huge need for your insight in the church today. I love the brief thesis you give here. Is there a book for a layman level that would delve into the history of free market capitalism and its Christian roots that you might reccommend?

"19 You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. 20 You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest,..." Deuteronomy 23:19-20 ESV "35 If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 36 Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. 37 You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit."Leviticus 25:35-37 ESV "25If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him." Exodus 22:25 ESV God does not expect the poor to be taken care of by 'the marketplace'. Only foreigners- not Israelites- were to be charged interest under Mosaic law. This doesn't support Capitalism.

Rick, yes I teach economics. My main focus is on economic history and developmental economics. I am passionate about capitalism because it came out of Christian thought in the 16th century. By capitalism, I don't mean the current system in the US. That is properly called market socialism. Real capitalism is free markets with the rule of law and honest courts. Church scholars at Salamanca, Spain (the top university in the world at the time) determined that just prices can be found only in free markets with the rule of law and respect for property. The very Godly Protestants of the Dutch Republic were the first to implement the thinking of the scholars.

Yes, "mindful purchasing" will force businesses to close and end the work that very poor people depend on to feed their families. It will do far more harm to the poor than good. If you really care about the poor, why focus on activities like "mindful purchasing" that hurt the poor? Why not champion free markets, the only method that has ever helped the poor on a large scale?