Abraham Lincoln said it even more clearly a quarter century later: “I see in the future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow. The money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated into a few hands and the republic is destroyed.”
I lay much of the blame for this materialistic attitude at the doorstep of Protestant theologian John Calvin. His "Doctrine of the Elect," which said that the eternally saved were predestined to prosper on Earth and be welcomed in Heaven, has long been used to justify greed and inhumanity to the less fortunate by the rich, and is contrary to the doctrine espoused by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount. Calvin's doctrine is, in essence, that those who are poor are not among the Elect, and are destined for the pits of Hell.
This form of materialism has lead to a society best described by British author John Berger: "The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied…but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing."
Churches based on Calvin's doctrine initially dominated many of the early American colonies: New England (Congregationalist), New York (Dutch Reform), and the Deep South (Presbyterian). The long since ameliorated beliefs of these Calvinist denominations, together with the dominance of Virginia's aristocrats in America's early days, were the foundation for how Americans have since related themselves to wealth. Wealth became the primary basis for a person's prestige among the American people. This in turn led to a preoccupation with acquiring wealth, because it was the societal measure of ones success. Only twice has America seen any serious inroads made against this belief: the period during and after the Civil War, up until the First World War; and the period that included the Great Depression, the Second World War, and their aftermath.
This second era (beginning with the sudden beggaring of multitudes of Americans in the period 1929-33; followed by the throwing together of so many young men from different American social backgrounds and economic classes during the war; followed immediately by the G.I. Bill and the beginnings of racial integration) came close to overthrowing wealth as the primary consideration when judging a person's value in the United States. The rise of the beatniks in the Fifties and the counterculture of the Sixties forced many Americans to seriously question the "Establishment's" values for the first time. The assassinations of the Kennedys' and other prominent voices for change—together with the earthly hell of Vietnam and the disillusionment caused by Watergate and other government related scandals—ended this too short interlude.
America's reverence for material wealth is especially surprising among America's Christians of every stripe. Jesus had only disdain for material wealth and little respect for its possessors. In fact, I can find only one passage in the New Testament where Jesus spoke well of a rich man: "And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, for so much as he also is a son of Abraham." (Luke 19:8-9, KJV)
Gandhi said "There's enough on this planet for everyone's needs, but not for everyone's greed." One of the great tragedies of our era is that the line between wants and needs has not just been blurred, but practically erased. Combined with the sense of entitlement so many people exhibit at this time, we have seen not only a growth of greed, but a widespread belief that—as Michael Douglas said in the movie Wall Street—"Greed is good."
I feel that we are headed for a time of economic hardship such as this nation has not seen since the Great Depression. I hope, whether this economic catastrophe occurs or not, we will then rediscover the truth of the Greek philosopher Epicurus' observation that "Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."
It is also vital, whether this disaster occurs or not, that we as a society examine not only our personal values and beliefs, but those of our society and our nation. This inquiry should include our beliefs in the existence of God, the nature of Love, the value of Truth, and the utility of Ideas: nothing should be exempted.
To doggedly adhere to any system of belief or knowledge without regular, critical examination of its underlying assumptions—to winnow out those things which are demonstrably wrong—is the essence of madness. It leads to a repetition of errors while expecting a different outcome. Dogmatic failure to examine underlying assumptions would have prevented Jesus from teaching His Message, Galileo from discovering Jupiter's largest moons, Pasteur from discovering germ theory, and Jefferson from writing the Declaration of Independence.
The four classic virtues of the ancient Greeks (Justice, Temperance, Prudence, and Fortitude), together with the three ecclesiastical virtues of the Apostle Paul (Faith, Hope, and Charity), are the seven ideas I believe lead to the most solid and consistent values by which one should try to live. Included in (but not limited to) these values are compassion, responsibility, mercy, fairness, equality, freedom, openness, community, cooperation, trust, honesty, and the opportunity to pursue personal fulfillment. We must realize that we all share the same world, and that we share a responsibility to that world and all of its inhabitants. Our world is Marshall McLuhan's global village, inhabited by individuals, families, communities and states, related by the metaphorical equivalent of blood and marriage, responsible for both ourselves and one another, especially in regards to our children.
All of the great ethical/religious systems of the world say the same thing; we are all children of the Same Source, and we should treat one another with care and respect for the sake of ourselves and our own happiness and fulfillment.
Jesus' message—like the Buddha's, Lao Tzu's, and all of the other great ethical teachers—was not a comfortable one. Rather, it was one of defiance to the belief system of the earthly powers of His time; a challenge to humanity to see and treat the stranger as their brother; to leave the comfort of their family and neighbor's accepted view of the world. It is not a message intended for the rich and the righteous, but for the supplicant and the sinner. It is a message of spiritual insight, not religious dogma. It is a message to break the bonds of accepted belief, and to realize a larger, more dynamic, and more all encompassing view of ourselves, the World and God.
It is a message of love.
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