Alan: To be clear...
There may be no "Christian""conservative" -- not a single one -- who lives up to this core principle.
There may be no "Christian""conservative" -- not a single one -- who lives up to this core principle.
In fact, most "Christian""conservatives" are dedicated -- at bedrock -- to spurning the principle articulated by Merton in order to build their lives on the premise that the central business of a "good life" is to determine exactly who "the undeserving poor" are, and then take away their place at the table, implicitly hoping that "the undeserving poor" live impossibly hard lives on the dispossessed margins of society.
Preferably, these poor people will die quickly without receiving a penny of assistance from "worthy" people like them.
Preferably, these poor people will die quickly without receiving a penny of assistance from "worthy" people like them.
"The Hard, Central Truth Of Contemporary Conservatism"
