The current financial crisis, coming in the midst of a presidential campaign fueled by faith-based rhetoric, is giving Americans a chance to reconsider economic policies in the light of religious beliefs. That does not often happen, as the economy is generally viewed as a secular mechanism that works for the greater good when it operates without too much regulation or interference from the government or other entities.

That approach to market regulation, which has shaped debates in Washington for the past 30 years, is being challenged by two developments:
• One is the economic crisis, which is prompting theological reflections on morality and the marketplace from religious thinkers who support a hands-off free-enterprise system and those who want faith to help shape a more activist economic policy. At the same time, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are enunciating their economic platforms in light of their respective moral worldviews. In this debate, some cite greed as the culprit in the crisis, some the free-market system, while others point to failed government policies — or some combination of these factors.
• The second development is the effort in recent years by liberal Christians — the so-called “religious left” — to persuade policymakers and believers to see the economy in moral terms that would call for certain economic policies.

This edition of ReligionLink provides background and resources for journalists covering this pressing topic.

Why it matters

Despite recent financial travails, the United States remains the global economic engine whose condition affects the daily lives of billions of people, especially the poorest in America and elsewhere. But the role of the United States is also changing as other economies — in East Asia, Russia and the European Union — adapt to a globalizing marketplace. Experts say decisions by policymakers and the next president in the coming months are likely to have an impact on economic growth and economic justice — or suffering — for years to come.

Background

SURVEYS

• A 2008 survey from the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron shows a marked shift (Tables 5 and 6) from 2004 to 2008 in the priorities of religious voters from social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage, to economic issues. The survey also shows (Table 7) how different faith groups feel about whether there should be an increase or decrease in government services. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has a Q-and-A with the survey’s author, John Green, on the results.
• PollingReport.com posts results of survey questions about the candidates, including who can best deal with the economy, and about the $700 billion bailout.

PARTY PLATFORMS, CANDIDATE VIEWS

• The Republican Party platform for 2008 details the party’s economic positions and philosophy in two principal sections within a 67-page PDF file. They are “Reforming Government to Serve the People” (Page 15) and “Expanding Opportunity to Promote Prosperity” (Page 23).
• The Democratic Party platform for 2008 can be read in a 59-page PDF file. The first section, “Renewing the American Dream,” begins on Page 7 and sets out the party’s tax and budget priorities.
• The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life compares the views of the two presidential candidates on poverty reduction.

ARTICLES

• Read an Oct. 3, 2008, Christianity Today article about evangelicals who say the bailout measure was flawed but necessary.
• Read a Sept. 29, 2008, Christianity Today story titled “Christian Financial World Sees Silver Lining in Banking Mess.” It details how some Christian banks and credit unions — though not all — have staved off insolvency.
• Read a Sept. 26, 2008, essay by Rabbi Michael Lerner against the bailout. It’s posted by Beliefnet.
• Read the transcript of a Sept. 26, 2008, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly segment, “America’s Economic Crisis,” in which host Bob Abernethy speaks with the Rev. James Martin and Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners magazine, about “the moral and ethical implications of America’s economic crisis, especially its impact on the poor and working class.”
• Read a Sept. 25, 2008, Associated Press story about Democrats trying to frame the economy as a values issue.
• Read a Sept. 25, 2008, essay at First Things titled “Friends of the Unrighteous Mammon” by the Rev. Robert A. Sirico of the Acton Institute. Sirico argues that “the most productive economic system ever known” — that of the United States — “also happens to be the one that is most respectful of human rights and dignity, and provides the freedom to worship.”
• Read a Sept. 24, 2008, Catholic News Service story about an article in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper, citing failed governmental policies in Washington as the cause of the meltdown and calling for a more transparent system with better regulation to make the economy more equitable.
• Read a Sept. 24, 2008, column at ReligionWriter.com titled “Where Do Evangelicals Stand on CEO Compensation?” Also read an interview that ReligionWriter.com author Andrea Useem conducted with Michael Lindsay, author of the 2007 book Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, on this topic for the Wharton Leadership Digest. 
• Read a Sept. 24, 2008, column at Crosswalk.com, “Finding a Christian Perspective on the Economic Crisis,” by R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Mohler says the American system of free enterprise remains the best and says, “There is cause for concern, but no justification for panic.”
• Read a Sept. 22, 2008, Sightings column by Martin E. Marty titled “Crash,” offering theological reflections on the crisis.
• Read a Sept. 19, 2008, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly segment, “Wall Street Ethics,” featuring an interview with Rebecca Blank, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of Is the Market Moral?: A Dialogue on Religion, Economics & Justice.
• Read a Sept. 18, 2008, column, “Greed in the Economy,” by Jim Wallis, head of Sojourners and a leader of the “religious left.” Wallis traces the financial crisis to greed and deregulation.
• Read a Sept. 17, 2008, column at Crosswalk.com, “Wall Street’s Troubles Are No Reason to Fear,” by Chuck Colson, a conservative evangelical Christian leader. Colson says the economic system is secure, but the crisis is a moral wake-up call for Americans.
• Read a Sept. 16, 2008, roundup of religious views on the economy at “On Faith,” an online site hosted by The Washington Post and Newsweek for religious commentary. The site’s experts, from a range of faith traditions, responded to the question: “Are the economy’s recent financial failures also moral failures? Are credit and debt religious issues? Do you have faith in the economy?”

OTHER RESOURCES

• Read a Sept. 26, 2008, letter from Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, urging the Bush administration and Congress to consider the moral aspects of the current financial crisis.

See these related ReligionLink editions:
• “They’re off! God and politics in the presidential campaign”
• The Government & Politics category of the ReligionLink archives has a number of other useful editions, including a June 4, 2007, tip, “The ‘religious left’ reasserts itself,”  and a Jan. 5, 2004, one, “Religion, ethics complicate tax debates.”
• The Money & Giving category gathers together a range of ReligionLink editions on topics from the prosperity gospel to business ethics to volunteerism and charities/nonprofits.

National sources

• Liaquat Ali Khan is a law professor at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan. He has written for The American Muslim about Islamic perspectives on the economic meltdown. Contact 785-670-1671, ali.khan@washburn.edu.
• Rebecca M. Blank is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, specializing in economics and social policy. She is a past dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and former co-director of the National Poverty Center. Blank is co-author of Is the Market Moral?: A Dialogue on Religion, Economics & Justice. Contact through the Brookings communications office, 202-797-6105.
• Daniel Finn is a professor of theology and economics St. John’s School of Theology-Seminary in Collegeville, Minn. He is the author of the 2006 book The Moral Ecology of Markets: Assessing Claims About Markets and Justice. He wrote an article in the Sept. 26, 2008, edition of Commonweal magazine, “Libertarian Heresy: The Fundamentalism of Free-Market Theology.” Contact 320-363-2102, dfinn@csbsju.edu.
• John Green is director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Akron in Ohio. He is also a senior fellow in religion and American politics at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Green is one of the foremost experts on religion and politics. Contact 330-972-5182 or 202-419-4588, green@uakron.edu.
• Laurence R. Iannaccone, (pronounced “YAWN -uh – cone -ee”) Koch Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., is a leading authority internationally on the economics of religion. He heads the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics and Culture and directs the Center for the Economic Study of Religion. Contact 703-993-2331, larry@econzone.com.
• Rabbi Michael Lerner is editor of Tikkun Magazine, chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives and rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in San Francisco. His books include The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right (2006). Lerner opposed an immediate economic bailout, saying that the crisis presented an opportunity for society to engage in “ethical and spiritual reconstruction.” Contact RabbiLerner@tikkun.org.
• Robert T. Miller is an associate professor at the Villanova University School of Law. He wrote an article for the First Things blog titled “A Conservative Case for the Paulson Plan,” arguing for the $700 billion bailout package. Contact 610-519-7183, miller@law.villanova.edu.
• Wilfred M. McClay holds the SunTrust Bank Chair of Excellence in Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a widely published author on issues related to religion in America. He co-edited Religion Returns to the Public Square: Faith and Policy in America. Contact 423-425-5202, Bill-McClay@utc.edu.
• R. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and hosts a weekday call-in radio program. In 2001, he chaired the executive committee of the Greater Louisville Billy Graham Crusade. Contact 502-897-4121, mohler@sbts.edu.
• Michael Novak is a well-known theologian and author who has written widely about the ethics of economics and social policy, often from a conservative viewpoint. Novak holds the George Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, where he is director of social and political studies. Contact through Mitchell Boersma at the institute, 202-862-5839, Mitchell.Boersma@aei.org, or through Veronique Rodman, 202-862-4871, VRodman@aei.org.
• Eduardo Peñalver is a professor at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, N.Y., where he teaches property, land use and a course on Catholic social thought and the law. He writes frequently about the economy and justice. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, and he is a blogger at Commonweal. Contact 607-255-5346, emp3@cornell.edu.
• Jim Wallis is a liberal evangelical Christian and founder of the poverty-fighting coalition Call to Renewal. He is also editor in chief of Sojourners magazine and author of the best-selling God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. His 2008 book is The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America. Contact through Tim King, 202-745-4636 or tking@sojo.net and media@sojo.net.
• Robert J. Wuthnow is director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University and one of the leading sociologists of religion in the United States. He has written widely on the relationship between economics and religion. Contact 609-258-4742, wuthnow@princeton.edu.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

• The Rev. Albino F. Barrera is a Catholic priest and professor of theology and economics at Providence College in Providence, R.I. He is the author of the 2006 book God and the Evil of Scarcity: Moral Foundations of Economic Agency and the 2005 book Economic Compulsion and Christian Ethics. Contact 401-865-2274, abarrera@providence.edu.
• David W. Miller is executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Miller is a prominent expert in business ethics and issues of faith in the workplace. He contributed the entry “Economic Ethics” to the 2001 Encyclopedia of Christianity. Contact 203-432-8669, David.W.Miller@yale.edu.

IN THE EAST

• The Rev. James Martin, an associate editor at America magazine in New York, earned a degree in finance at the Wharton School of Business and worked at General Electric Financial Services before becoming a Jesuit priest. He wrote about his two careers in a book, In Good Company: The Fast Track From the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. Contact 212-515-0146, martin@americamagazine.org.
• Eugene McCarraher is a professor of humanities at Villanova University in Pennsylvania who writes widely on issues of the economy and justice. Contact 610-519-4796, eugene.mccarraher@villanova.edu.
• David Skeel is a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania and an evangelical Protestant. His courses include one on Christian perspectives on law. Skeel has blogged about some theories on what caused the financial crisis.  Contact 215-573-9859, dskeel@law.upenn.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• David P. Gushee is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Georgia. He edited Christians & Politics Beyond the Culture Wars: An Agenda for Engagement. Contact 678-547-6457, gushee_dp@mercer.edu.
• Timur Kuran is a professor of economics and political science at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Kuran specializes in Islam and economics. He is the author of the entry “Modern Islam and the Economy” in the New Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 6. Contact 919-660-1872, t.kuran@duke.edu.
• Robert D. Tollison is a professor of economics at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. He co-wrote the 2006 book The Marketplace of Christianity. Contact 864-656-0483, rtollis@clemson.edu.

IN THE SOUTH

• Susan Pace Hamill is a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law who specializes in tax law, business organizations and ethics. She is an advocate for Bible-based tax reform guided by the moral principles of Judeo-Christian ethics. Contact 205-348-5931, shamill@law.ua.edu.
• William P. Quigley is a law professor and director of the Law Clinic and the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University in New Orleans. He is the author of Ending Poverty as We Know It: Guaranteeing a Right to a Job at a Living Wage. Contact 504-861-5591, Quigley@loyno.edu.
• C. Melissa Snarr is an assistant professor of ethics and society at the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville. She has done research on the role religion plays in the living-wage movement. Contact 615-343-0667, Melissa.snarr@vanderbilt.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST

• Russell Reno is a professor of moral theology at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. He has written several entries on theology and the financial crisis for the blog of the periodical First Things, including “The Wall Street Crisis” on Sept. 23, 2008. Reno is skeptical of a government bailout and points to poor judgment of consumers from Wall Street to Main Street as a root cause of the crisis. Contact 402-280-2929, russellreno@creighton.edu.
• The Rev. Robert A. Sirico is a Catholic priest and president of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in Grand Rapids, Mich., whose mission is “integrating Judeo-Christian truths with free market principles.” The institute has commentaries on economic issues by its staff members. Contact 616-454-3080, rsirico@acton.org.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Michael Lindsay is a sociologist at Rice University in Houston and author of the 2007 book Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite. In it, he describes executive compensation as “one of the most troubling areas for evangelical business leaders.” Contact 713-348-5511, mlindsay@rice.edu.
• Charles M. North is an associate professor of economics at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is the co-author, with Bob Smietana, of the 2008 book Good Intentions: Nine Hot-Button Issues Viewed Through the Eyes of Faith, which discusses a range of economic issues in faith terms. Contact 254-710-6229, Charles_North@Baylor.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

• Jim Balassone directs the business ethics programs of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley. The center “brings scholars and business people together to address key ethical challenges and develop best practices for building ethical organizational cultures.” Contact 408-554-5466, jbalassone@scu.edu.
• Pamela K. Brubaker is a professor of religion at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. She writes widely on social ethics and economics, including the 2007 book Globalization at What Price?: Economic Change and Daily Life. Contact 805-493-3873, brubaker@callutheran.edu.
• Anthony J. Gill is an associate professor of political science at the University of Washington in Seattle. He wrote the entry “A Political Economy of Religion” for the 2001 book Sacred Canopies, Sacred Economies. Contact 206-543-4718, tgill@u.washington.edu.
• John Mark Reynolds is an associate professor of philosophy and director of the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. He has blogged about the economic crisis and the tendency to “pile on” about Wall Street greed. Reynolds likens such critics to the friends who blamed Job when troubles beset him. Contact through Michael Fatigati, 562-944-0351 ext. 5583, michael.n.fatigati@biola.edu.