Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
James Martin, S.J.September 27, 2008

Here is Jim Wallis, the editor of Sojourners magazine and a consistent voice on behalf of social justice; and your own faithful blogger, on PBS’s "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly," discussing the religious and moral implications of the financial crisis.  The show’s host, Bob Abernethy, also asked us to point the way forward using resources from our religious traditions.  The best, or at least most piquant, quote came from Mr. Wallis, who suggested that as penance any malefacting Wall Street CEOs should be paraded down the Street in "sackcloth and ashes."  That may be letting them too lightly for their foolishness and greed.  Even my Wharton professors might agree with that.

James Martin, SJ

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
15 years 6 months ago
All the millions of dollars that people have invested in the stock market through their 401K plans is not likely to be pulled out any time soon. Therefore, the alarm that the markets will melt down and we will end up in a depression is false. This bailout is intended to prevent a lifestyle change for those like Paulson who do not know about life outside of their little world. I suspect that in Paulson, we have someone who is only slightly more competent than "Brownie" in that Paulson at least has some direct experience on Wall Street. However, that experience has not given him a broad perspective or deep insight.
15 years 6 months ago
Is this from the same America magazine that has published articles emphasizing forgiveness for abusive priests? Just wondering...
15 years 6 months ago
''...should be paraded down the Street...'' I know this was said in jest, but you do know the difference between this action and true penitence, I presume. What Mr. Wallis wants to do sounds more like what the Romans did to those they defeated. These guys aren't defeated - they've just collected their severance pay. Not only that, they aren't penitent. Nor need they be; they are simply cogs in in a system. The real penitents are those who know better or say they do. Let Mr. Wallis walk the street in sackcloth and ashes, joined by the Wharton professors who taught business ethics based on the various Pope's related Encyclicals. Oh, I see, they are too busy pondering over whether there are any absolutes in ethics in business. Or in anything else!
15 years 6 months ago
How about all the stupid people who thought they could own a house without paying anything to anybody ever? If taxpayers have to bail them out, they should have to parade down Main Street stark naked while all the responsible investors pour trash on them.
15 years 6 months ago
This financial mess wasn't created by debt. It wasn't even created by bad debt. It was created by perfectly rational human beings who created bad debt to sell it for a profit.
15 years 6 months ago
Today we live under violent forces: exploitation, militarism, over-consumption, the wasting of energy, sexism, anti-gay/lesbianism, racism, etc. If they are understood as the terror exercised by sin, the question becomes how I react to it and what choices do I make. Theologian James Alison tells us that being able make a good choice is often just plain luck because of the world's established structures of sin. Also he tells us that we all partake to at least some extent in the imagination that dominates our society and culture. None of us are outside the social constructions of meaning produced by our own groups, societies and cultures. In New Testament terms, sin is a power which rules over us.

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024