This is the latest in our series of posts critiquing Wayne Grudem’s book Politics According to the Bible. Today we’re looking at the issue of taxation. Grudem starts with the most fundamental principle of taxation – whether it should happen or not. He points out that Jesus endorsed the principle of taxation in Matthew 22:17-21, [...]
This is the latest in a series of posts critiquing the arguments in Wayne Grudem’s book Politics According to the Bible. Today we’re tackling the twin issues of poverty and equality. Should we tax the rich? Grudem begins by arguing that it isn’t fair for governments to take more money from the rich simply because [...]
This is the next post in the series critiquing Wayne Grudem’s book Politics According to the Bible. We’re currently in the middle of his section on the aims of economic policy. Today we focus in on his arguments about free markets. Grudem begins by marking out some fairly widely agreed common ground – there needs [...]
This is the latest in our series of posts critiquing Wayne Grudem’s book Politics According to the Bible. Today we’re looking at the question of what the main aim of economic policy should be. Grudem doesn’t directly address this question, although it is clearly one of the most important questions to ask when deciding policy. [...]
Yesterday, I was at the TUC-organised march against the cuts. It was a fairly standard demonstration – you march from A to B, and then when you get to B, there are speeches. For the most part, there was something of a carnival atmosphere, with samba bands, brass bands, and choirs amongst the marchers. The [...]
Apparently, Oldham Council are considering a one-off tax on takeaways in a bid to tackle obesity. Whilst most of the news coverage focuses on whether this will help tackle the problem or not, I think that this raises a couple of wider issues. Firstly, there’s the issue that this tax may well be regressive – [...]
Thought I’d share a post I wrote for Coventry Green Voice regarding the impact of the cuts. Enjoy. George Osborne apparently believes that the cuts he announced yesterday are the salvation of the economy, and of the government’s finances. However, in reality, they will seriously damage both our economy and our society. Lets look at [...]
This is the second in my series on what’s wrong with Capitalism. I started with some Definitions, to help any readers who aren’t familiar with Capitalism and the ideas surrounding it. The Bible talks a lot about money, and the main thrust of what it says is that, although money and possessions are good things, [...]
Last week I did a short talk outlining some of what the Bible has to say about money for an evening about managing your money well. That, and a number of other things I’ve spotted over the last month or so have made me particularly aware of the moral issues involved in the way we [...]
Last night on Newsnight, Archbishop of Canterbury made an argument that economics should not be left solely to economists. Implicit in his comments was the belief that economics is a matter of morality as well as a matter of money. He does, in fact, have a point. Bookmark to: