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Money Changers in the Temple?
it seems to work for a while, and those who are
naive attempt to make it work for them, too.
We never became pen pals after that initial
exchange of correspondence. Perhaps my full court
press on the subject was a bit daunting to him.
Governmental authority should embrace that which is
good, not evil. There aren't too many communist
countries left any more. Communism, despite all the
ink spilled and the blood shed in attempts to make it
work, just didn't deliver the goods. There are, however,
more churches today in formerly communist countries.
In the mid 1990s, I saw a scary thing on TV one
Sunday -- a televangelist preaching on
''Biblical
Economics."
He, with an open Bible and legal pad
before him (and a fake bookshelf for a backdrop),
imploringly made six points -- all false:
,.
1.
People are sliding down the economic ladder.
(This is generally not true -- 4 out of 5 people
have moved up the ladder in the last two
decades);
2.
The middle class is dramatically shrinking.
(A
great overstatement -- wage gaps are
understandably widening between the skilled
a~d
unskilled -- always a function of
education and training; again, the preacher
assumes incorrectly that people are moving
down, not up);
3.
Less money is being given to the poor.
(Patently incorrect -- a record 150 billion
dollars is currently being given for
philanthropic causes, and the record has
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