God and Wealth

In the gospels Jesus speaks more about wealth than any other topic.  He says that the love of wealth, and its accumulation, constitute the greatest danger to a person's spiritual life.   That concept stands in stark contrast to the false message of today's seed-faith evangelists who teach that wealth is a sign of God's special favour because God wants us to be rich in the things of this world.  This phony word is called prosperity theology and it is based on re-creating God in an image that benefits certain people.

The growing wealth gap in our country adversely affects the middle and lower-income Americans -- directly in suppressed wages and benefits, and indirectly through the crippling of social programs. What a difference it would make if our nation could guarantee a job with decent wages to every willing able-bodied person, generous welfare to those unable to work, daily child care, free higher education to the motivated and qualified, and for all citizens good health care plus life and exigency insurance.  The greatest obstacle to those accomplishments is inadequate taxation of the wealthiest, accompanied by our corrupt tax code that allows corporations to avoid taxes and receive corporate welfare from government, while hiding huge lots of revenues in offshore banks and paying obscene compensation to senior management in cash and stocks.

As Jesus suggests, gross wealth disparity is not good for anyone including, finally, those at the top.   The great writer Ernest Hemingway wrote, "Later on, when reality got to me, I saw the rich for what they were, a goddamn blight like a fungus that kills tomatoes.  I set the record straight in 'Snows of Kilimanjaro'.  I still feel the way Harry felt about the rich in the story, always will."  In his deathbed statement, the fabulously wealthy Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, said, "Stop pursuing wealth.  It can only make a person into a twisted human being like me."

I believe that we can, and should, continue to honour and reward entrepreneurship. I am not talking about flattening incomes.  I am talking about people giving to the common good according to the extent to which they have prospered, a biblical concept.   I believe we can do that and create a new nation of economic justice, opportunity and compassion.  It would be in the spiritual best interest of our country and, most of all, a real blessing to the wealthiest amongst us.