Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Poverty

December 24, 2014

Poverty Imagery and the ‘Christmas Song’

In last week’s Acton commentary, “The Worst Christmas Song Ever,” Jordan Ballor touched on the well-intentioned yet harmful message shared by “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” the 1984 song produced by the music group, Band Aid, in response to the famine that struck Ethiopia. Continue Reading...
December 12, 2014

3 Reasons to Stop Referring to ‘The Poor’

“Every single person on the face of the planet is created in God’s image. Everybody has the same heavenly Father. Everybody has capacity, talent, and ability. Everybody has responsibility. Everybody has stewardship responsibility. Continue Reading...
December 11, 2014

Can Summer Jobs Reduce Violent Crime?

Giving disadvantaged youth a summer job reduces violent crime, according to a new study published to the journal Science. In a randomized controlled trial among 1,634 high school youth in Chicago, assignment to a summer jobs program decreases violence by 43 percent over 16 months (3.95 fewer violent-crime arrests per 100 youth). Continue Reading...
December 01, 2014

Moral Capital and the Rule of Law

“If we want to be coherent when addressing poverty,” writes Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg at Public Discourse, “our concerns can’t be rooted in emotivist or relativistic accounts of who human beings are. Continue Reading...
November 20, 2014

National Catholic Register Interview on PovertyCure

What is the best way to help the the global poor? One group attempting to bring innovative thinking to that question is PovertyCure, an initiative of the Acton Institute. PovertyCure brings together an international coalition to encourage entrepreneurial solutions to poverty that are rooted in a Christian understanding of the person, who is created in the image of God. Continue Reading...
November 19, 2014

How the Christian Worldview Changes Our Approach to Poverty

Christianity sets forth that humans are made in the image of God — that we have particular God-like characteristics when it comes to creation, cultivation, compassion, relationship, and so on. Such a remarkable truth tells us something deeply profound about the world we live in, as well as how we ought to respond in any number of situations. Continue Reading...
November 17, 2014

Poverty, Family Breakdown, and the Cross

It has become a regular occurrence at conservative publications to note the strong correlation between traditional marriage and family and higher income levels. Take, for example, Ari Fleischer, who wrote the following in the Wall Street Journal last June: If President Obama wants to reduce income inequality, he should focus less on redistributing income and more on fighting a major cause of modern poverty: the breakdown of the family. Continue Reading...