OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (BP)–The Republican Party’s prosperity principles should be based on a biblical worldview, according to Rep. Zach Wamp, a Tennessee congressman who has been asked to develop a draft for the GOP’s national prosperity platform.
Wamp, a Southern Baptist church member, said the national principles of prosperity statement will become a major component of the GOP’s political platform and would shape the Republicans’ 2000 presidential campaign.
News of Wamp’s work to frame a draft was reported Jan. 12 on the on-line newspaper, Chattanoogan.com.
The Tennessee congressman told Baptist Press the formula for developing the platform should be based on Scripture. “That formula should be based on a biblical worldview — not a humanistic worldview,” he said. “If we make our plans based on God’s Word and his principles, then I think we will be blessed.”
Under Wamp’s plan, the GOP would support a five-point prosperity formula. “First, prosperity comes with a price, and that price is responsibility for others,” Wamp said. “The biblical foundation is, ‘To whom much is given, much is required.'”
He also said that the prosperity principles include a respect for all levels of work and emphasis upon competition as the “fuel of prosperity.” “We must have more competitive markets, not less,” he added.
Also included in the principles are beliefs that innovation and initiative are strangled by excessive government, taxation and litigation.
Wamp said he isn’t sure how many of his principles will be included in the final prosperity draft, but he noted that much of the wording will remain, including references to a biblical worldview.
“The prosperity principles will become code words for the Republican agenda and a host of my words have been incorporated into the presentation.”
Wamp’s ideas on the prosperity principles came after he read “How Now Shall We Live,” a book written by Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey. “Our prosperity comes with an array of responsibilities for each other,” Wamp said. “We are not here to serve ourselves. We are here to serve each other.”
The Tennessee congressman said he is adamant about incorporating biblical views into the platform. “I don’t want our party to be associated with a prosperity agenda that is not grounded in these biblical truths,” he said.
