The new Baylor Religion Survey's findings that religious and economic views are fused together for many Americans intrigued me. So I ran it by two economists for their thoughts.
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Much of Baylor's findings "rang true" to economist Bill Beach, director of data analysis at the Heritage Foundation. He said.
I wouldn't go as far as saying God favors one economic system over another. I don't see a notion in the survey that government is inherently evil or inherently obstructionist but it can get in the way.
If you believe God has a plan for you, it's hard to work the plan and release the graces and talents you've been given if you have a growing dependency on government.
William Galston, a former domestic advisor to Bill Clinton, who now heads Governance Studies at the Brookings Institute, says the liberal view is equally interwoven in history.
If you are speaking to a main-line Protestant or Jewish audience or to those Catholics who stress social justice, the duty of society to the least among us has enormous influence.
There's a fusion between religiously based understandings of social justice —- including economic justice — with the development of liberalism in the 20th century.
DO YOU THINK ... your view of the economy is a matter of faith?
