Suchergebnisse

Old-time religion in a free market empire -- Combining faith and reason in the modern world through Catholic social thought -- Justice, community, and solidarity in the American battle over affirmative action -- Enter the poor: American welfare reform, solidarity, and the capability of human flourishing -- Fear of the other -- Christian cosmopolitans in the American empire

In this essay, I will consider how law, religion, and democratic pluralism revolve around a particular issue: global migration. My essay is organized around three major themes. First, I explore the ways in which Catholic social teaching addresses human dignity, the plight of the poor, and the promotion of global justice. I argue that this theme provides an important bridge between secular and religious conceptions of human rights. Second, I argue that pluralism, particularly that which results from religious diversity and multi-ethnic, diasporic identities, is now a fundamental part of political and cultural life in the wealthy democracies of Europe and North America. The diversity within these societies is both a cause and a product of their wealth, as well as a response to their strong commitments to democratic principles, particularly human equality. Third, I consider how liberal political theory offers a secular understanding of human dignity that has much in common with Catholic social teaching. As an example, I consider Seyla Benhabib's argument that the global migration of peoples demands a vision of justice that recognizes a right to membership. Finally, I conclude by arguing that Catholic social teaching supports Benhabib's concept of a human right to membership and that the goal of a well-functioning liberal democracy should be to transform strangers into citizens.

In this essay, I will consider how law, religion, and democratic pluralism revolve around a particular issue: global migration. I use the term "global migration" to encompass a number of related issues that are often collapsed under the term "immigration." In nations that have constructed their identities around waves of settlers or migrants-places like the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand-immigration involves the formal reception of foreigners into the host country as potential new citizens.' This is just one part of the migration of peoples around the globe. Migration also encompasses emigration, asylum, economic migration, and undocumented or irregular immigration. This larger collection of human movements presents new challenges to democratic nations in a global environment in which most have explicitly committed themselves to certain fundamental, democratic values and human rights norms. Furthermore, these same values relate closely to core notions of Christianity. Catholic social teaching is a tradition within Christianity that emphasizes the dignity of the human person and, as such, complements and supports key liberal values essential to democracy and modem human rights discourse.

The current deterioration of the American economy is bringing new attention to the problem of poverty in the United States. After falling over the last few years, the number of Americans living in poverty has begun to rise once again. Notwithstanding the achievements of recent "welfare reforms," the American poor continue to be numerous by any measure. Unfortunately, decades of affluence have exacerbated American tendencies to view liberal concepts such as freedom, autonomy, tolerance, and choice in ways that accentuate personal autonomy over community integration. These liberal values have been increasingly unhinged from strong countervailing principles like duty and responsibility, and many Americans feel no strong impetus to sacrifice in order to help the weakest members of their society. This situation continues unabated as a lack of common purpose in American life and a materialistic vision of society have made it extremely difficult for American law and public policy to confront poverty in the United States in a meaningful way. After explaining how strong propensities toward materialism and individualism in American culture have affected views toward welfare in the United States, I will explain how current American reforms of economic assistance for the poor are creatures of a political rendering of poverty that fails to take seriously the low regard in which many Americans hold the poor. From this it becomes clear that, in the long run little should be expected from American welfare reform. For an alternative vision, I will draw on Catholic social thought and David Hollenbach's recent work in Christian ethics to argue that the principles of solidarity and the common good as understood in Catholic social thought would: (1) offer the poor a more integrated role in American society, (2) function as a corrective to the ongoing erosion of a sense of communal responsibility in American culture, and (3) provide the theoretical foundation for a more comprehensive structure of income and social support for the American poor.

The Rappaport Center's first visiting Professor, Governor Martin O'Malley, presented a major public address to kick off the spring semester. Governor O'Malley ran for President of the United States this election, was Governor of Maryland, and Mayor of Baltimore.

Martin O'Malley and BC Law Dean Vincent Rougeau sit down for a wide-ranging conversation on the current political climate, globalization and grassroots change.