diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
index 21e1ab49..347ab197 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
@@ -27,9 +27,11 @@ module Jekyll
     def convert(content)
       setup
       r = RedCloth.new(content)
-      if !@config['redcloth']['hard_breaks']
-        r.hard_breaks = false
-      end
+      r.hard_breaks = @config['redcloth']['hard_breaks']
+      # if @config['redcloth']['hard_breaks'] == false
+      #   STDERR.puts 'hards_breaks disabled'
+      #   r.hard_breaks = false
+      # end
       r.to_html
     end
   end
diff --git a/test/test_redcloth.rb b/test/test_redcloth.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9fd32be1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_redcloth.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/helper'
+
+class TestRedCloth < Test::Unit::TestCase
+  context "RedCloth with hard_breaks enabled" do
+    setup do
+      config = {
+        'redcloth'      => {
+          'hard_breaks' => true # default
+        }
+      }
+      @textile = TextileConverter.new config
+    end
+    
+    should "preserve single line breaks in HTML output" do 
+      assert_equal "<p>line1<br />\nline2</p>", @textile.convert("p. line1\nline2").strip
+    end
+  end
+
+  context "RedCloth with hard_breaks disabled" do
+    setup do
+      config = {
+        'redcloth'      => {
+          'hard_breaks' => false
+        }
+      }
+      @textile = TextileConverter.new config
+    end
+
+    should "not generate break tags in HTML output" do
+      assert_equal "<p>line1\nline2</p>", @textile.convert("p. line1\nline2").strip
+    end
+  end
+end