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The Rachel Held Evans Conversation: Why I am a Conservative

February 15th, 2012 | 1 min read

By Matthew Lee Anderson

Rachel Held Evans' readers ask all kinds of hard questions.  As in really hard questions.

There's are thoughts on several topics there that may be unfamiliar to Mere-O readers, as the Iraq War comes up, the meaning of "pro-life" gets kicked around, and.....well, read for yourself:

What’s more, I don’t think wealth inequality is unjust per se.  Bill Gates deserves a whole lot more money than I do, given the sorts of things we’ve built respectively and the role they’ve played in the world.  The disparity in our resources isn’t unjust.  Instead, injustice occurs if people are disenfranchised and not allowed to participate in the political process.  We should have real concerns (and I do) about that, and we should be concerned about how wealthy people use political power to create “hedges” around themselves and their businesses so that they keep wealth.  But those critiques should be made carefully (I forget who first pointed it out, but we should remember that Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party had the same objection to “crony capitalism”).

Thanks to Rachel and her readers for the really invigorating discussion.  I thoroughly enjoy Q&A, probably more than any other format I speak or write in.  So the opportunity really was a joy.

And if you are coming from Rachel's and didn't get your question answered, drop it in the comments below and I'll get to it as soon as possible .

Matthew Lee Anderson

Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.