The William Stringfellow Award: Wally and Juanita Nelson

We are sorry that we cannot be with you today. Instead we are at the international conference on war-tax resistance and peace-tax campaigns in Washington, D.C. We have not paid federal income taxes since 1948 because so much of that revenue funds war and preparation for war. But it is not the question of pain for killing that we wish to raise. It is in the spirit of justice, as you have named the award, that we pose the queries about the justice of our economic lives.

By economics we mean the way we create and distribute our resources. What could any of us create all by ourselves? How is it, then, that a few can hug to themselves the lion's share of these resources declaring, "I made it!" or "I discovered it" or "I inherited it"?

What is money? One definition is: a claim on the labor of others. Nineteenth century writer John Ruskin said: "If all the money in the world were destroyed in an instant, it would leave the world neither richer nor poorer, but it would leave the inhabitants of it in different relation!"

Where does interest come from? Does money grow? Will dollars stored in a vault increase? or will they more likely rot or rust? Do endowment funds even for the most righteous causes depend on appropriating some of the labor of others? Is there such a thing as socially responsible investment - you'll hear more on this in a moment -- if in the end we get more than the labor expended, is acceptance of interest a form of theft? Is equal pay for equal work a great enough goal to work toward if it means only that lawyers get the same pay regardless of gender, color, etc., while janitors get less? In The Intelligent Women's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, G.B Shaw advocates that everyone receive the same income. That is to say, does a doctor need more calories than a farm worker? Is speculation in land one cause of vast disparities? Did any of us create the land? How can some own it and exact tribute from others for its use? Might we be stewards of the land, rather than owners? How could this be arranged?

To return to the title of the awards: Is it possible that if we had more justice, we would need less charity? And does justice, like charity, begin at home in how we conduct our daily lives including the economic?