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Equality
With the commencement of our second year of publishing Religion & Liberty , we are adding a regular feature by the Reverend Dr. John K. Williams. Dr. Williams is a graduate of Melbourne and Oxford Universities. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree, he taught philosophy at Melbourne for three years before studying for the ministry. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and served as chaplain and senior teacher at St. Leonard’s College, East Brighton, Australia, for eleven years. Dr.Compassion
At a reunion of Johnson administration officials in Austin, Texas, a quarter century after the War on Poverty fired its cannonades, the mood of reminiscence was akin to Wordsworth’s memory of enthusiasm following the French Revolution: “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive.” Sargent Shriver exulted that the Reagan years had not really damaged Great Society programs, most of which were “still in existence, all helping millions of Americans today.” New York Times columnist Tom Wicker described the sumptuous affair and proposed that it was tDid It Liberate? Liberation Theology: Post Mortem
Editors note: In the inaugural issue of this journal there appeared an article entitled “Death Knell for Socialism and Liberation Theology” [January/February 1991]. Subsequent to the appearance of the papal encyclical Centesimus Annus, Acton President Father Robert Sirico predicted in an article in National Review : “… this encyclical constitutes the epitaph for liberation and collectivist movements.… The ‘Christian-Marxist dialogue’ is dead.”Talents and Stewardship
R&L: In 1986 you were co-chairman of the Lay Commission which issued a statement on religion and the economy and which was signed by a number of lay Catholics. What motivated you to do this? What were some of the reactions, both positive and negative?The Transfer Society
R&L: You’ve written extensively on the development of the American economic system and in particular the growth of what you call the “transfer society.” Would you briefly define what a “transfer society” is?Religion, Man, and the State
R&L: Dozens of denominations and groups claim to be evangelical. Can you give us a definition of what the word means?Capitalism with Compassion
R&L: Do you see a potential contradiction between being a successful entrepreneur and a Christian believer?On liberty's moral superiority
R&L: Do you think the clergy’s view of the state as a means of solving the real problems minorities face has changed over the years?
The Time has Come to Reevaluate Strategy for Change
R&L: How valuable are mediating institutions to community life?Population Growth Benefits the Environment
- R&L: You have written extensively on the subject of population growth. Could you explain the thesis of your argument that population growth and density are beneficial for countries in the
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Michigan Welfare Reform has Long Since Begun
R&L: Many conservative leaders, including yourself, have referred to the “paradigm shift” that is occurring in the nation’s approach to welfare. What does that term mean to you?Learning from Victorian Virtues
R&L: Let’s begin by discussing your latest book, The Demoralization Of Society . In it you state that Victorian society stigmatized the recipients of government assistance. Tell us about that.