RELIGION & GOVERNMENT : Paul Ryan’s Catholicism and the Poor – WSJ
By MB Snow at August 18, 2012 | 12:55 am | Print
By ANTONY DAVIES AND KRISTINA ANTOLIN, AUG. 17, 2012
Someone is twisting the Catholic Church’s teachings on caring for the poor, but it isn’t Paul Ryan. His controversial budgetary ideas demonstrate that he has a better grasp of Catholic social thought than do many of the American Catholic bishops.
The culmination of centuries of theological and philosophical thought, the church’s teachings cannot simply be satisfied by a government edict to “feed the poor.” Commanding “Let there be light!” works fine for God, but for mortal beings, edicts don’t carry the same punch.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has long supported government interference in the economy as a means to help the poor. But we suspect the bishops haven’t fully thought this through: If God really did favor a top-down approach to poverty reduction, why wouldn’t He establish a government with the power to wipe away poverty on demand instead of leaving things to chance and the possibility that someone like Mr. Ryan would come along and mess up His plans?
via Antony Davies and Kristina Antolin: Paul Ryan’s Catholicism and the Poor – WSJ.com.
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