Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 12:16:49
From: Anacaona Makandal <anacaona-AT-dsuper.net>
Subject: Protestantism and social equality


>This slur rather puzzles me.  My own impression has been that the
>evangelical Protestant set of mind generally encourages people to pull
>themselves out of poverty, thus reducing economic, social, and political
>inequities overall.
>
>I would be interested if anyone has any numerical or statistical light to
>throw on the question.
Just the fact that United States, truly a country with a Protestant set of
mind, has the most children living in poverty in the industrial world shows
that evangelical protestantism doesn't necessarily lead to social equality. 
The fact is that evangelical protestantism, with it's focus on individual
actions and success, encourages people to believe that if things go wrong,
it's because they haven't tried hard enough. Whereas in fact, much of what
causes poverty (especially in the "Third World"), are systemic problems.


Anacaona
anacaona-AT-dsuper.net
http://www.dsuper.net/~anacaona/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
Freedom is no longer just "freedom OF choice," but "freedom FROM choice".
[Gazoo]