Christina Peterman Ms. Briones Morality Period 2 16 May 2014 Honorbound What is a Just Wage? Leo XIII. "Rerum Novarum." Vatican.va. Vatican, 15 May 1891. Web. 10 May 2014. Pope Leo XIII says that although we must always take care of the workingman and do what we can to improve his life, we must not confuse this with the socialist removal of private property. Stressing the fact that the owning of private property is in fact in accordance with God’s design for the universe, the Pope then widens his argument by saying it is the father’s duty to provide for his wife and children as the case may be. Therefore, it is not the duty of the government to provide for the family, because that duty lies with the father. In order to do this, the father or any worker must be paid a fair and just wage for the work that they completed. Pope Leo recognizes, however, that numerous factors must be considered in order to find a wage that is truly just. He supports his point of providing a just wage by pointing out that what the wealthy have received is a gift from God, and they should use it for the good of all—and one way in which they can do that is by paying a just wage to those that they employ. Coming from a Pope of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIII, I can be quite certain that the ideas expressed are accurate as well as in line with the Church’s perspective. The numerous quotes and footnotes inform me that this encyclical was extensively researched and is therefore quite useful. Although I was at first concerned by the fact that it was published in 1891, reading the encyclical convinced me that the ideas expressed therein are just as valid today as they were more than a century ago. It is for these reasons and the fact that I know I can pl... ... middle of paper ... ...air and right, and the government should not interfere in this matter according to Dorn. He claims that it is this freedom to choose what to pay workers, this unregulated economy that will provide the best environment for workers to succeed and move up in their jobs. Dorn’s perspective, although backed with statistics and published in a reputable magazine, fails to take into account many factors including human dignity. His arguments for abolishing the minimum wage do not take into account the standard of living or family of those workers making the minimum the government will allow businesses to pay them. Also, this perspective fails to take into account the businesses who would take advantage of the lack of a federally mandated minimum wage, and instead of using the “freedom” to allow workers to rise within the company would use it to keep workers in poverty.
Many people against raising the minimum wage create arguments such as, “it will cause inflation”, or, “ it will result in job loss.” Not only are these arguments terribly untrue, they also cause a sense of panic towards the majority working-class. Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times. For more than 75 years, real GDP per capita has consistently increased, even when the wage has been
With the hindsight of the 1960s, it is easy for us to view how influencers of the era have reformed and revitalised the Christian tradition to a great extent. Because of this hindsight of the 1960s, an era in which the zeitgeist was full of intellectuals, poets, musicians and authors, we can see the traditions of Christianity were considered to be backward to a world that was changing in terms of beliefs and ethics as society embraced these social reforms. The statement then clearly reflects Pope John XXIII and his impacts on Catholicism. Pope John XXIII recognized these changes and through his leadership, the impacts he had on Christianity had a substantially large influence over the Catholic Church as he ultimately altered the Christian tradition by creating the Vatican II. By doing so, he adjusted traditional Church Scriptures (ressourcement), involved himself with promoting ecumenicalism and also interfaith-dialogue as well as becoming engaged in the modern world (aggiornamento), therefore meeting the needs of the evolving society by revitalising the old traditions.
The Crusades were the first tactical mission by Western Christianity in order to recapture the Muslim conquered Holy Lands. Several people have been accredited with the launch of the crusades including Peter the Hermit however it is now understood that this responsibility rested primarily with Pope Urban II . The main goal of the Crusades was the results of an appeal from Alexius II, who had pleaded for Western Volunteers help with the prevention of any further invasions. The Pope’s actions are viewed as him answering the pleas of help of another in need, fulfilling his Christian right. However, from reading the documents it is apparent that Pope Urban had ulterior motives for encouraging engagement in the war against the Turks. The documents and supporting arguments now highlight that the Pope not only sought to recruit soldiers to help but also to challenge those who had harmed the Christians community and annihilate the Muslims. He put forth the idea that failure to recapture this lands would anger God and that by participating, God would redeem them of their previous sins.in a time of deep devoutness, it is clear this would have been a huge enticement for men to engage in the battle. Whether his motives were clear or not to his people, Pope Urban’s speeches claiming that “Deus vult!” (God wills it) encouraged many Christians to participate and take the cross.
The minimum wage was, as it should be, a living wage, for working men and women ... who are attempting to provide for their families, feed and clothe their children, heat their homes, [and] pay their mortgages. The cost-of-living inflation adjustment since 1981 would put the minimum wage at $4.79 today, instead of the $4.25 it will reach on April 1, 1991. That is a measure of how far we have failed the test of fairness to the working poor.” (Burkhauser 1)
Through the close study of two of the aspects shown in the diagram, their contributions allow Christianity to be considered a living religious tradition. The significant contributions of Pope John XXIII, during both his papal and Pre-papal life have had everlasting effects on not only Catholicism, but Christianity as a whole and lead to the sense of Christianity being a living religious tradition. His works include two Papal encyclicals, Mater et Magistra and Pacem in Terris, along with his work being Apostolic Delegate of Greece and Turkey. Moreover, The significant practice of Baptism has further contributed to Christian being considered a living religious tradition as it accounts for the premise of most Christian beliefs to be initiated, especially in terms of salvation and affirming the beliefs in the trinity and following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
US Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Complete Edition ed. N.p.: US. Catholic Church, n.d. Print.
Minimum wage is a topic that has been popping up since the 1980s. From whether we should lower it, or even raise it, but now in the 2000s minimum wage has been the center of attention more than ever. There are two sides to this topic of minimum wage; whether it creates more jobs or does not create jobs. Those who argue that raising minimum wage will create more jobs will have a rebuttal which is that it does not only cause the loss of jobs but that it would make things much worse and vice versa for those arguing raising minimum wage will cause loss of jobs. There will be two authors representing opposite views, Nicholas Johnson supporting minimum wage will not cost jobs with his article “ Evidence Shows Raising Minimum Wage Hasn’t Cost Jobs”
At the beginning of the sixteenth century church theologian, Martin Luther, wrote the 95 Theses questioning the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. In this essay I will discuss: the practices of the Roman Catholic Church Martin Luther wanted to reform, what Martin’s specific criticism of the pope was, and the current practices Pope Francis I is interested in refining in the Roman Catholic Church today.
Through the years from the medieval ages up until now, the Roman Catholic Church has always had a major influential presence in all walks of life for European people, whether it was for taxation, the establishing of laws, the rise and fall of monarchs, and even daily social life. Furthermore, the Catholic Church held such power that they could even appoint and dispose of great kings with just the writing of the pen. However, their power started to wane once human curiosity overcome ignorance and blind obedience. For example, the Enlightenment Age brought a series of shocking blows to the Church’s power such as disproving the Church’s theory of geocentricism and presented an age of questioning and secularism. In essence, by looking at the Church’s
Although the livable wage has a good intention of decreasing poverty, it is not consistent with the American spirit of capitalism because the livable wage promotes an economy that does not support business. America has always been a business friendly country. America is a business friendly country because of the American belief in a hands-off approach to commerce and the economy. This is called “laissez-faire” economics; the system allows American companies to make decisions that are best for the firm which in turn increases wealth throughout society because it makes an incentive to increase productivity. It also turns out that this system of capitalistic economics is the most efficient at allocating scarce resources. For example, the opposite of capitalism, a command economy, failed in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union’s economy failed because it tried to allocate resources through central planning, instead of having businesses determine how much of a product to produce. Our system of limited government interference in business has allowed American society to become the wealthiest societies in the world. The lack of government intervention income has become ingrained with t...
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
Gitterman, Daniel P. “Remaking A Bargain: The Political Logic Of The Minimum Wage In The United States.” Poverty And Public Policy 5.1 (2013): 3-36. EconLit. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
In this essay I will identify the issues which brought about this papal encyclical in 1891, specifically the social conditions of people, resulting from industrialisation and the church’s Christological role in declaring human dignity in terms of God’s plan for mankind. I will set out the historical position in Britain in this late Victorian era within the context of European radical political upheaval, as part of the need for reform and a response from the Church. These issues will be compared with the encyclical one hundred years later, to analyse the development of policy in1891 and 1991 in terms of the church’s teaching, within the context of the wider social and political movements of the late twentieth century. I will determine that whilst John Paul II used the centenary in 1991 to publish Centesimus Annus and see it as a ‘re-wording’ of the original, it ultimately failed to take forward the radical change envisaged in Rerum Novarum, with limited exceptions.
"Fides Et Ratio, Encyclical Letter, John Paul II, 14 September 1998." Fides Et Ratio, Encyclical Letter, John Paul II, 14 September 1998. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1998. Web. 21 Nov. 2013
Education from the Church has initiated structural learning which brought a gradual end to the barbaric era (Dark Ages). The Church’s legacy gained them the medieval reputation of society and this has influenced the reputation of the Church today.