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Neoliberalism Vs Evangelical Internationalism

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Where separate nations, people groups, and political systems exist, many differing economic policies and ideas exist as well. All of the world economic ideologies consist of different focuses, morals, and processes of creating the ideal economic system. Each ideology uses different methods and ideas that conflict with the others, but these ideas can also overlap and be consistent in many areas. Four major economic ideologies are neoliberalism, Evangelical internationalism, and Alternative globalization. Each of these ideologies has many differences and contradictions with one another, and yet according to critics on both sides, they each have their flaws as well. Whereas the idea of neoliberalism is based on privatization, free market, …show more content…

Evangelical Christian groups, such as the International Justice Mission (IJM) and Concerned Women for America, aim to fight against anti-trafficking and White Slavery, or forced prostitution (Bernstein 2007, 403). Before Evangelical Internationalism came about, these Christian groups took a much more isolationist view, where they focused mainly on traditional religious values. These groups were thought to have a specific sexual agenda in their missions to rescue women forced into prostitution and slavery. These groups use the term “slave” instead of “sex worker,” although many of the women in the industry do not see themselves as slaves (Bernstein 2007, 405). Although the new view is anti-capitalist and pro-social welfare, within this older Isolationist view, many people associated these Evangelical groups with having neoliberal ideals. For example, many critics said that this Evangelical fight against slavery had become a way for the groups to advocate for their own religious agendas (Bernstein 2007, 407). For example, when U.S. President Bush passed the “charitable choice” law that government funds would help these Evangelical groups, many people were under the impression that the lines between the secular state and religion were being blurred (Bernstein 2007, 406). Later on, when President Bush cut off all funds from Brazil’s AIDS program, these questions seemed to be answered, and major protests erupted across the country in response to the U.S. religious agenda, along with the neoliberal agenda of the Washington Consensus (Amar, 438). However, after a clear shift from this Isolationist view to an International one, different mechanisms shifted society from repressive, into a much more empowering one (Bernstein, 430). This new view is seen as a “new

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