capitalism

So why is inequality increasing?

Christian nationalism finds harmonious home with smaller government anti-tax crusade. What a coincidence.

The conservative group behind the Texas “Traditional Values Centers.”

A leading scholar comments on the nation’s largest class action suit.

Shopping is an ethical act. Today we live in a culture of cheap. We have an unprecedented access to cheap goods, yet we must recognize that cheap goods are cheaply made. I am not speaking of quality, I am speaking of cheap labor. We must recognize that through the act of shopping—whether it is for an article of clothing, a toy, a pint of strawberries, or even our morning cup of coffee—we participate in a global economy that values profit over people. Disposable goods are made by disposable people, faceless individuals whose backbreaking and unjustly paid labor produce the goods we consume. What we buy and where we buy it is a political act. It is also, I argue, a religious act.

The old mainline market theology may yet be seen for what it is: a heresy.

Am I stepping out of bounds by raising the possibility that perhaps a good many Christians who love this country, and who hate this president and blame the government for all that ails them, are religious in ways that are not so readily apparent in their own self-image?

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Not long ago I helped lead a graduate seminar in leadership in which I challenged the old idea of the heroic leader and messianic deliverer; an idea that has deep roots in all three Abrahamic faith traditions. Not one person in that seminar room—not even the white males who were present—had anything good thing to say about the old model. Everyone agreed that we can do better by listening to each other, trusting each other, and finding new paths together.

No president could ever tell this truth and hope to stay in office.