“Upper-class people, in spite of all their advantages, suffer empathy deficits,” Dr. Keltner said. “And there are enormous consequences.” In other words, a high-powered lawyer or chief executive, ill equipped to pick up on more-subtle emotions, doesn’t make for a sympathetic boss.
Despite initial skepticism, the Rev. Andrew Studdert-Kennedy has come to believe that long-term economic growth is both sustainable and desireable. The Rev. Giles Fraser is not so sure.
As the House and Senate
Many in our churches are fearful when they hear the debt discussions and the seeming inability of Congress to move to a solution from their
We study the compensation and productivity of more than 2,000 Methodist ministers in a 43-year panel data set. The church appears to use pay-for-performance incentives for its clergy, as their compensation follows a sharing rule by which pastors receive approximately 3% of the incremental revenue from membership increases. Ministers receive the strongest rewards for attracting new parishioners who switch from other congregations within their denomination.
Many businesses and retailers have discovered that discount coupons that may get people into stores does not always translate into repeat business if no discount or freebie is involved. Churches don’t offer coupons or giveaways, but have the same problem: people who use their services but do not support their ministries financially.
Some people look at income inequality and shrug their shoulders. What matters, they argue, is not how the pie is divided but the size of the pie. That argument is fundamentally wrong. An economy in which most citizens are doing worse year after year—an economy like America’s—is not likely to do well over the long haul.
The idea is pretty simple – between the 2nd and 6th of May, the Methodist Relief and Development Fund is asking people to see if they can live below the global poverty line, with a budget of £5 for all their meals for five days.
Many church traditions would agree that people have a natural right to assemble and organize to promote their interests. Pope John Paul II, for example, in words that came out of his experience in Poland, wrote that unions “are indeed a mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice, for the just rights of working people in accordance with their individual professions.”