A (usually) twice-daily round up of news related to Sojouners commitments to social justice and the poor.
THE ATLANTIC/PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: Chart: One Year Of Prison Costs More Than One Year At Princeton
One year at Princeton University: $37,000. One year at a New Jersey state prison: $44,000. Prison and college "are the two most divergent paths one can take in life," Joseph Staten, an info-graphic researcher with Public Administration, says. Whereas one is a positive experience that increases lifetime earning potential, the other is a near dead end, which is why Staten found it striking that the lion's share of government funding goes toward incarceration.
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FIRST THINGS: Capitalism And Social Justice
Many conservative pundits can only say the words “social justice” while sneering. Fortunately, Ryan Anderson isn’t one of them. Here he takes two prominent conservative public intellectuals—Peter Wehner and Arthur Brooks—to the woodshed for the unfortunate lacunae in their new book, Wealth and Justice: The Morality of Democratic Capitalism.
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THE WASHINGTON POST: The Values Debate We’re Not Having (OPINION)
Lost amid day-to-day coverage of the Republican presidential candidates’ jockeying is the question of what kind of values debate we need to have heading into 2012. The economy has so far overshadowed “culture war” issues in this campaign, but rumors of the religious right’s death are greatly exaggerated.
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THE CHRISTIAN POST: 'One Day's Wages' Fights Poverty, 2 Years On
When Eugene Cho went to visit the country of Burma, he spent time traveling and visiting schools in the area. It was there he discovered, to his shock, the salary of a school teacher in those small towns and villages was roughly $40 a year.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: Government Aid Helped Cut U.S. Poverty Rate Nearly In Half: CBPP
As rampant as poverty is in America, it would be much worse without government aid. The Census Bureau estimates that last year a record 46 million people lived below the poverty line, and revised figures released this week suggest that the number may in fact be more than that. But without government programs aimed at helping citizens most in need, the poverty rate would be almost twice that, with more than a quarter of all Americans being classified as poor, according to a new study.
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THE GUARDIAN: Religion-Friendly Democracy And Democracy-Friendly Religion (OPINION)
There will be no peace in our world without an understanding of the place of religion within it. The past decade has seen many convenient myths, which disguised the importance of religion, stripped away. Many thought as society progressed, religion would decline. It hasn't happened.
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POLITICAL WIRE: Gingrich Says God Forgave Him
Newt Gingrich told the Christian Broadcast Network that he sought God's "forgiveness" for his extramarital affairs.
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Jack Palmer is a communications assistant at Sojourners. Follow Jack on Twitter @JackPalmer88.
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