"God doesn’t mind prosperity as long as it is shared," said Jim Wallis, president of the liberal Christian activist group, Sojourners, while debating Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute. Wallis and Brooks debated each other at the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference in Indianapolis on October 13, 2011.
Wallis argued that "reducing the deficit is a moral issue," and the government must protect "the safety nets of the poor" because "God doesn’t judge nations by their GNP, by their military fire power, or how much their popular culture is the envy of the world. God says I will judge you by how you treat the most vulnerable in your midst." Wallis said the debate over the economy is not a "debate," but a "dialogue ... about an economy that has become unfair, unsustainable, unstable, and is making many people unhappy." Brooks agreed that many Americans are unhappy, and there is a serious problem with the economy. But he responded, "I don't think the debates we’re having are really getting at what we’re trying to get at" because "we’re having materialistic conversations about moral matters." The debate is off because "money doesn’t make you happy and the pursuit only of money will make all of us worse off," Brooks explained. "So what do we seek, if it’s not money? It’s called earned success," he said, which is "the belief that you have created value in your life or value in the life of other people." Brooks said "it is our moral calling to look for better ways to allow more people to avail themselves of a system in which they can earn their success."
At the center of the debate, Brooks said, is the question, "what is the pursuit of happiness?" This
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"'So what do we seek, [Brooks asked] if it’s not money? It’s called earned success," he said, which is "the belief that you have created value in your life or value in the life of other people." Brooks said "it is our moral calling to look for better ways to allow more people to avail themselves of a system in which they can earn their success.'" |
He cited studies that show "by the time you get past the level of subsistence, money truly doesn’t buy happiness for you." He explained "if you don’t earn [money], it doesn’t make you happy. If you don’t get it as a source of earning your success from opportunity, it’s no good ... That’s an empirical regularity, that’s not just philosophy." Wallis and the religious left emphasize inequality of conditions between rich and poor in America, but "the real inequality problem we have today is inequality of opportunity," Brooks said. Protecting cumbersome entitlement programs does not create opportunity, but instead teaches "learned helplessness."
Such a state "happens to all people when they feel that their merits are detached from their rewards," and "there are profound lessons about dangerous public policy when people learn their helplessness," Brooks warned. "People are debilitated if their rewards and their merits are not connected," so free enterprise is "not just an economic system, it’s a moral imperative," he argued.
The opposite, Wallis said, is "what God asks for," because "there’s a biblical principle for officially,
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"The opposite, Wallis said, is "what God asks for," because "there’s a biblical principle for officially, even governmentally, protecting the poor." He claimed "the economy needs correction like Jubilee" to redistribute wealth and make "the playing field more level again."" |
Not "all" of the "faith community" is on the same page as Wallis. Brooks explained that "as Christian people, we know that morality matters first over materialism." Because "not everyone knows that, this is our teaching moment to remind everyone that morality matters," and that redistributing wealth is no panacea. Brooks said we ought to know this lesson by now, because "the average American is 150% richer in real purchasing power than he or she was in 1972, but the average level of happiness hasn’t changed."
Wallis praised the aggrieved Occupy Wall Street protesters for being "hungry for change," and cited the protesters' slogan, “we’re part of the 99%,” as evidence of "the fundamental inequality that is greater than it’s ever been since the Great Depression." *Brooks answered that "most of the rhetoric we hear about income inequality and income redistribution … is actually trying to foment envy in this country, and that’s not just a dangerous thing to do, it hurts the poor." Instead of looking to the government to solve problems, “we need to be looking for a way to make us more aspirational and we need to walk away from policies that are going to make us more envious.”
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"Brooks answered that "most of the rhetoric we hear about income inequality and income redistribution … is actually trying to foment envy in this country, and that’s not just a dangerous thing to do, it hurts the poor.'" |
Brooks and Wallis were addressing the CCDA’s 2011 National Conference. CCDA describes itself as a network of Christians who minister in “under-resourced” neighbourhoods, emphasizing “mercy with justice.”
Kristin Rudolph is a staff member of the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD) in Washigton, D.C. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from the King’s College in New York City.
Republished with permission.
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