Capitalism glorifies God?
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That's what she said...
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"I contend that if you profess to believe in God, you must also embrace capitalism.
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Lately, many religious shepherds are abandoning reason in favor of sentiment. Catholic nuns are joining Occupy Wall Street revelers, like zombies witnessing to rapturous fans. Meanwhile, Jewish activist and commentator Jack Goodman is hailing the Manhattan demonstration (which includes numerous blatantly anti-Semitic protesters) as a group of people “philanthropizing with their feet.”
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Even within the same religion, emotional progressives are clashing with rational believers. Dominican Sister Pat Daly of New Jersey told Catholic News Service, “I’m thrilled to see this momentum as more and more people are taking to the streets.”
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Conversely, Father Robert Sirico of Michigan told CNS, “The ethos of this all is the rage against wealth for wealth’s sake. … You don’t alleviate poverty by redistributing wealth, you alleviate poverty by creating wealth.”
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If you believe that God created the universe, then you must assume that he wanted man to live differently from animals. Otherwise, man would not have reason. Upon realizing that reason both defines and differentiates man, wouldn’t you set logic—not sensation—as the moral compass for human activity? Or would you “shepherd the flock” by encouraging young people to bully job creators, embrace sloth, strut topless in Manhattan and openly mate in parks?
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Squirrels scamper about and get frisky in public parks. Squirrels are also feral; they will never cultivate the land, own property, develop iPhones or create a monetary system. I think humans who reject reason by acting like squirrels have no business preaching about God.
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I find that atheists admit the metaphysical more than progressives who claim to believe in God. For, atheists revere reason while progressive “believers” adore emotion: They shop around until they find a church that washes them mindless with foolishly sentimental and entertaining services. They make themselves feel charitable by marching two-by-two past wealthy residences in midtown Manhattan with signs like “No Billionaire Left Behind.” They interpret the eighth commandment that God gave to Moses as: "Thou shalt share."
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Capitalism also allows for rational generosity whereas wealth redistribution fosters poverty. Reason says that you should be able to freely share your wheat with a person whom you know to be in genuine need or whom you wish to employ—not the able-bodied bum whom the government deems worthy of assistance.
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Rational men glorify God just as glowing candles glorify a candlestick maker; men must behave rationally in order to completely function and prosper—just as candles must hold a flame in order to fulfill their purpose of brightening a room. Said differently, a man that acts like an animal must be as disappointing to his maker as a candle that cannot hold a flame.
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I believe in one God, the creator of the universe. I believe that renouncing capitalism is irrational and that to deny reason is to deny the existence of God." - Katie Kieffer
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Who the hell is Katie Kieffer you ask? I have no idea.
"If you are not rich, it's your own fault." - Cain, obviously not his brother's keeper.
While I do not see how the "Occupy" revolutionaries have anything to do with the Gospel, this is a bit much. Capitalism does not glorify God any more than eating does in and of itself. I think a lot of people on the right end up making a God out of capitalism. While I do agree that free trade is itself a positive good, capitalism can and does result in cronyism when certain things are left unchecked.
ReplyDeleteTerry, weren't Mr. Cain's comments given in limited circumstances, off the cuff, and more or less directed at the question of whether or not people are supposed to blame their predicaments on others? Why should I blame anyone for my own failings, even if they aren't my fault - sometimes life sucks, no one did it to me. And as disgusting as the mega-profits of some CEOs are, does anyone think that by confiscating that it would make them one cent richer? Or that destroying the whole system and replacing it with either anarchy or centralized socialism would benefit anyone, much less the poor?
Herman Cain's comments give me the creeps, too, but then again, I'd want t know more about his private giving before making a judgment about him being his brother's keeper. I believe he is big on the idea that private charity should be robust and central to giving people a leg up, not government redistribution. Whether he is just blowing hot air or whether he actually walks the walk remains to be seen, but I will withhold judgment til I know what he does personally.
I don't know who I'm gonna vote for - our choices are not perfect, that's for damn sure. Let's hope and pray that in our zeal to oust the Abortionist-in-Chief we make the right choices and don't just shoot ourselves in the foot again.
Also, she makes a very common error that is made on both sides by equating capitalism and free trade - they aren't exactly the same thing, though they intersect.
ReplyDeleteOne can be for free trade but still have a beef with finance capitalism and huge multinational corporations.
She is an idolater of Coulter. She follows the cash cow, something Moses wouldn't be pleased with.
ReplyDeleteStill stuck in that candle/candlemaker analogy. Wonder how long it took to come up with that one.
ReplyDeleteShe is an ideologue who has no understanding of right reason; there is a reason why the Church does not support unregulated capitalism (in other words, pure capitalism). And it is unreasonable to reject emotions, since we are humans with emotions. Jesus had emotions -- Jesus wept! Jesus had emotions, and he is the Logos. Logos has emotions! To reject emotional responses is to become sub-human, and a beast. She is the one who is a beast, who can't stand being human.
ReplyDeleteAs Mercury said, it is quite possible to be in favour of free trade and still have qualms about certain aspects of capitalism.
ReplyDeleteI once heard Fr Sirico(whom Katie Kieffer approvingly quotes)speak. Afterwards, I realised that if I were blind and unaware that he is a priest, there was nothing - absolutely nothing - in his speech which would have indicated otherwise. I continue to find that profoundly disturbing.
BTW, Ms Kieffer's website states that she is a "..multimedia personality, journalist, speaker and entrepreneur." A quick 30 minute jaunt through some well-established conservative blogs would indicate that Ms Kieffer's claims are somewhat padded. I have the feeling that she is trying to cash-in on the current anti-President Obama movement.
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ReplyDeleteparepidmos - did you see my response in the other comment box? I apologized for my language and for my tone. But I really am interested in what you would have to say in response - especially concerning Europe.
ReplyDeleteMerc - Cain is clarifying that statement as we speak - so to speak. It will never go away however.
ReplyDeleteBTW - seems to me the protestant 'mega-church/prosperity gospel' mindset has infiltrated the Republican Catholic Church in the United States these days.
ReplyDeleteAll one has to do is to look at how she believes selfishness is good. QED.
ReplyDeletesounds good to me. let's take 'em out back & beat the shit out of 'em.
ReplyDeleteAnon - did she say selfishness is good, or rational self-interest? The latter means nothing more than that each person is responsible for taking care of themselves, making a living, and getting ahead, the former implies a lack of charity - they are not one in the same. Obviously, Christianity does promote rational self-interest in social and economic affairs (as opposed to depending on others to do things for you), but not selfishness. The two ideas seem to be confused on both sides of the political debate.
ReplyDeleteJust look on her site and the promotion of selfishness.
ReplyDeleteWhile she seems to like Ayn Rand a bit too much, and is very simplistic, she is using "selfishness" in scare quotes, not promoting selfishness as such, but in the way the Left uses it - namely, resisting their ideas of wealth seizure and redistribution, which helps no one.
ReplyDeleteI don't like her writing, nor agree with her ideas, but she is not saying people should be egoistic jerks and not share, nor that they shouldn't voluntarily live for others, just that Barack Obama and his friends' ideas of "sharing" is nothing of the sort.
I think she is a Stepford Christian.
ReplyDeleteHa! I do get that sense as well. Again, didn't say I like the site, just that she was using the word "selfishness" facetiously. I would assume she is very supportive of rich people voluntarily giving away large sums of money.
ReplyDeleteI do not like Prosperity Gospel crap, though. Was it Billy Graham who said "any Gospel you cannot preach in the poorest part of Africa is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ"? Someone said something like that.
http://friendswithchrist.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteFRIENDS WITH CHRIST
SUNDAY, 2 OCTOBER 2011
For a new evangelical flourishing of wealth....
...The book "Entrepreneurship in the Catholic Tradition" was launched at Australian Catholic University in North Sydney. In the photo above Fr Percy is on the right, Cardinal Pell in the centre and Dr Gary Johns (Professor of Public Policy at ACU) on the left.
The impression that we have of Catholic Social Teaching is that it is mainly concerned with social justice and that the rich and weathly are somewhat 'evangelically disadvantaged'. Yet as any right-thinking public policy shows, wealth must be created before it can be distributed. Fr Percy's new book shows how much Catholic Tradition has appreciated businessmen and women for centuries. What follows I took from Fr Percy's presentation at the launch...
So then I am bad because I'm not rich?
ReplyDeleteTerry - aren't artists always rich?
ReplyDeleteOf course entrepreneurship is a good thing, and of course someone's got to create wealth. In our society, which is not based on land ownership and agriculture, someone has to provide the jobs, and someone has to make things work. And we all do things that will make us better at our jobs, put us in a better position to earn a good living for ourselves and our families. Christian parents, especially fathers, have that as a responsibility.
However, that is not the THE end, and we need to be very careful about how we use the wealth we are given, right? Let's not fool ourselves into thinking that simply by being rich and living lavishly we are helping others (I've heard this argument). The wealthy can be good, and even necessary. Most wealthy people I know are contagiously charitable to others. Some saints were very wealthy and were so even when they died. But the wealthy also have very serious responsibilities - and I include myself among that number as a lower middle class American. Let's not say "well, I'm doing alright and living well, just as God wants me to" and forget about Lazarus.