Rebecca M. Blank is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, specializing in economics and social policy. She is a past dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and former co-director of the National Poverty Center. Blank is co-author of Is the Market Moral?: A Dialogue on Religion, Economics […]

A 2008 survey from the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron shows a marked shift (Tables 5 and 6) from 2004 to 2008 in the priorities of religious voters from social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage, to economic issues. The survey also shows (Table 7) how different faith groups […]

Read a Sept. 26, 2008, letter from Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, urging the Bush administration and Congress to consider the moral aspects of the current financial crisis.

Read a Sept. 17, 2008, column at Crosswalk.com, “Wall Street’s Troubles Are No Reason to Fear,” by Chuck Colson, a conservative evangelical Christian leader. Colson says the economic system is secure, but the crisis is a moral wake-up call for Americans.

Read a Sept. 18, 2008, column, “Greed in the Economy,” by Jim Wallis, head of Sojourners and a leader of the “religious left.” Wallis traces the financial crisis to greed and deregulation.

Read a Sept. 19, 2008, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly segment, “Wall Street Ethics,” featuring an interview with Rebecca Blank, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of Is the Market Moral?: A Dialogue on Religion, Economics & Justice.

Read a Sept. 24, 2008, column at Crosswalk.com, “Finding a Christian Perspective on the Economic Crisis,” by R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Mohler says the American system of free enterprise remains the best and says, “There is cause for concern, but no justification for panic.”

Read a Sept. 24, 2008, column at Christianity Today titled “Where Do Evangelicals Stand on CEO Compensation?”

Read a Sept. 24, 2008, Catholic News Service story about an article in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper, citing failed governmental policies in Washington as the cause of the meltdown and calling for a more transparent system with better regulation to make the economy more equitable.