Morality of the Minimum
I was inspired by my conversation with Tony Ledford (in the comments section here) to share these quotes from a January article in The Nation:
Despite the media's conclusion in 2004 that "moral values" appealed only to people who oppose abortion, gay marriage and stem-cell research, the minimum wage emerged as the clear values issue of 2006.
Katy Heins, an Ohio organizer, said the issue was particularly resonant in Ohio, which has been ravaged by job losses in recent years. "People were working hard and still lining up at food pantries--and this showed that there was something not right economically, but also wrong morally," said Heins. "It led to a strong surge of people of faith who are saying, 'I'm concerned with poverty and the war and other things that are going on in our country, rather than just the gay marriage issue and the abortion issue.'"
"We think we succeeded, along with others, in making the minimum wage issue the values issue of the 2006 campaign by appealing to people's better instincts," says [Rev. Paul] Sherry. "We helped people of faith see that if their faith was to be genuine, the minimum-wage issue was a significant vehicle to translate their convictions into a functioning reality. While other issues might divide people of faith, this one united them."
Despite the media's conclusion in 2004 that "moral values" appealed only to people who oppose abortion, gay marriage and stem-cell research, the minimum wage emerged as the clear values issue of 2006.
Katy Heins, an Ohio organizer, said the issue was particularly resonant in Ohio, which has been ravaged by job losses in recent years. "People were working hard and still lining up at food pantries--and this showed that there was something not right economically, but also wrong morally," said Heins. "It led to a strong surge of people of faith who are saying, 'I'm concerned with poverty and the war and other things that are going on in our country, rather than just the gay marriage issue and the abortion issue.'"
"We think we succeeded, along with others, in making the minimum wage issue the values issue of the 2006 campaign by appealing to people's better instincts," says [Rev. Paul] Sherry. "We helped people of faith see that if their faith was to be genuine, the minimum-wage issue was a significant vehicle to translate their convictions into a functioning reality. While other issues might divide people of faith, this one united them."
posted by Jill Williams at
9:41 AM
4 Comments:
Thank you for the link to the article in The Nation, Jill. This is indeed encouraging. But I notice the conspicuous absence of the Southern Baptist church, and it is the largest Protestant denomination in the country. On the other hand, I see (at letjusticeroll.com) that the Progressive National Baptist Convention is a member of Let Justice Roll.
Is it possible that fundamentalist churches such as the Southern Baptist church are too closely tied to conservative political organizations and the “business-friendly” principles (in this case, delusions disguised as principles) to join an effort such as the one being made by Let Justice Roll? (I was raised as a Southern Baptist, by the way, but abandoned it the first Sunday after my graduation from high school.)
I think this may be the case but would like to know what you think.
Hmmmmmmmmmm....something "morally worng" in the state that was instrumental in securing Bush's last win? It seems that something is amiss Watson. Someone needs to put the word compassionate back in front of the word conservative. THE FACADE MUST BE MAINTAINED ... DUMKOFF.
For those who may be dropping in from other cities I just wanted to add that almost every city in the United States of America has the legal right to set a minimum wage above that which is set by the state and Federal governments? Your local government probably doesn't want you to know that but you heard it here. If your city is granted "police powers" by the state in which you live then Federal Appeals Courts have already ruled that you have the right to raise minimum wage.
Thanks for your comments, Chuck and Billy.
Regarding yours, Tony, I frankly don't know enough about the political ties to the Southern Baptist Convention to make a guess. I always thought part of what made Baptists Baptists was their ability to be independent from some governing body, like the convention. So, in theory, just because folks in the Convention have political ties to big business shouldn't mean that the local congregations couldn't join on to a minimum wage effort, for example. But it is possible (and even likely) that reality is much different from that theory.
What I do know is that my grandparents are Southern Baptists and they support a minimum wage increase.
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