It should perhaps be pointed out that the NDP in Canada was largely founded on the "social gospel" before, during and after the first world war. The first leader of the CCF, the predecessor of the NDP, was J S Woodsworth who was originally a methodist minister. The first socialist premier in Canada (later national leader of the NDP) was Tommy Douglas, the founder of medicare, who was a Baptist Minister. One of the longest servince federal MPs and a stalwart advocate and defender of old age pensions and the Canadian Pension Plan (our equivalent of SS in the US) was Stanley Knowles, a baptist minister from Brandon Manitoba. I believe the present NDP premier of Saskatchewan is a 'man of the cloth' though I could be wrong on that. My own (left) family comes from generations of Christian socialists and social gospellers. Perhaps the strongest appeal of the left over the years has been embedded in the appeal to judeo-christian values, in particular 'you are your brother's keeper'. Anyone that has ever heard a speach by Tommy Douglas knows the compelling inspiration that he conveyed. It is not surprising, therefore, that in the current contest by the CBC to name the 'greatest Canadian ever' , Tommy is currently in number one position. I guess my point is that if you do not ground your political message in social values and not just personal gain, one's chance at success is greatly diminished. (I would also point to the political success of such value-founded individuals as Martin Luther King, Desmond Tutu, Aristide, etc.)
For what it is worth,
Paul Phillips
Eubulides wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Daniel Davies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
How about, since this is Appeal To The Religious Week, just saying that gutting SS is a pretty poor way to "Honor thy Father and Mother?"
dd
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Here's the website for the Association of Christian Economists. You have no choice on this if you want to be strategic:
http://www.gordon.edu/ace/
http://www.gordon.edu/ace/aceNews.html
I would recall also the Evangelical who did incredible work on taxation in Alabama.
There's also been quite a few good texts that take historical sociology-political economy and use them as tools to analyze Biblical history. They suspend the issues of Christology etc. quite well. Some have even gone so far as to use Eric Hobsbawm's theory of banditry to inform their analyses. Here are three worth a peek [ I have them and they're quite good]:
Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements in the Time of Jesus; Richard A. Horsley, John S. Hanson
Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder; Richard A. Horsley [a great anti-imperial polemic, btw]
Jesus, Justice, and the Reign of God: A Ministry of Liberation: William R. Herzog
