Why Do So Many People Have Claimed Capitalism
SUPPLY AND THE DAMNED
Joseph Wallace
RE 311- Christian Ethics
In the current era, we have seen many different economic systems develop, fail and be replaced. The emergence of capitalism changed the entire field; most capable countries have adopted a free market system. This system has been touted as “the world’s greatest economic success story”1 because no other system “has been as effective…in turning scarcity into abundance.”2 Many people have claimed capitalism to be one of the world’s most moral systems because it “has improved the lives of so many people.”3 Economists, generally speaking, have come to agree that capitalism is the best economic system. …show more content…
However, this view of capitalism is, in reality, quite narrow. While a free market system may very well be the most successful one in the world, it is the source for many negative aspects of modern cultures. The abundance capitalism has allowed us to manifest has become the most influential and driving force in our lives. Our traditional virtues have been replaced by our desire and need for material possessions. Capitalism, as efficient of an economic system as it may be, creates more harm than good when left to its own devices; therefore, it is paramount that basic Christian virtues are integrated into the fabric of capitalism. Harvey Cox has defined the influence of The Market on our lives as the “comprehensive…business theology”4 of a new modern religion. Just like all religions throughout history, this one has a celestial being: The Market. Cox discusses how The Market, at first, had to “keep storming down…to quell this or that threat to [it’s] sovereignty.”5 But now in the present era, The Market has become the absolute “Supreme Deity, the only true God.”6 This new “only true God”7 has shifted the entire perspective of humanity. The Market, “in a dazzling display of reverse transubstantiation,”8 has been able to alter everything in our world into “interchangeable items for sale.”9 The cost of the new standpoint has been very grave. The Market has changed the way we look at each other and ourselves, and we now see “colored price tags.”10 The notion of “inherent worth” has been swiftly swept aside by this “true God.”11 The “era of Market religion”12 has shown us how nothing in the world, even our own individualized lives, is sacred or safe. Our every move and decision is influenced by The Market, and it has even come to destroy the sacredness of our spirituality, making it readily accessible as a commodity. While all traditional religions have taught mankind “that there are limits to any earthly enterprise,”13 The Market will never stop expanding because “the First Commandment is ‘There is never enough.’”14 The concept of a new religion centered on the supreme deity, The Market, conceptualizes, in a contemporary approach, the long-standing critiques Christian Theologians have had of capitalism. Capitalism is a free market economic approach centered around the idea that people will be more driven toward risks that create new innovations, which in turn benefit the entire society, because they have more to gain than in other systems. In theory, a free market system seems ideal and would be able to benefit everyone. However, like all theories, the most important variable not taken into account is that of human nature. Indeed, this variable is the sole reason for the downfall of many political and economic systems, such as socialism. Socialism failed because it did not understand the role incentive motivation plays in human nature.
In the concept of capitalism, the free market system would be it’s own driving force allowing it to mitigate prices of all commodities based upon the consumer base and basic economical principles. What happens, however, when outside factors begin to have an influence on this system? And what happens when the commodity being sold is considered a social necessity for all people? The end result is based upon the law of demand and supply. If the commodity is a social necessity, then there is and always will be a large demand allowing prices to be outrageously high. If the commodity is being influenced by outside forces, such as a shortage caused by political turmoil, then the law of supply allows for the prices to be high because of the shortage. Capitalism as an economic system has shown to be the most successful in it’s application from the theory, but it does little to nothing to prevent, and in some cases encourages, social injustices, such as allowing extreme unequal wealth distribution and treating aspects of this world (i.e. land, water, etc.) as a means to a profit.
Capitalism and consumerism indirectly and directly influence our view on everything. We are at a point where “we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies,”15 but how do we, or why should we, circumvent this reality? Does this mean we cannot use capitalism without losing touch with our humanity? Many theologians would say that, but a more practical approach would be to negate the negative influences from capitalism by reemphasizing basic Christian virtues within capitalism.
In recent years both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have offered criticisms, but more importantly virtues we must incorporate into Capitalism. Pope Benedict XVI wrote Caritas in Veritate, or Charity in Truth, as a theological approach towards the issues of capitalism and outlining “the basic tenets of Catholic social teaching.”16 Benedict’s doctrine provides an extremely strong foundation for understanding what virtues we need to have in any economic system, especially capitalism. To begin, we must understand “that ‘everything has its origin in God’s love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it’.”17 By reasserting this truth we can begin to reshape our viewpoint of the world as it has been influenced by capitalism, and begins the process of removing the ultimate power from a free market system.
Pope Benedict XVI continually reemphasizes that “the heart of the Church’s social doctrine” is charity. His emphasis on charity is important, because within our society today, charity is often considered to be a secondary act of an individual, usually driven by receiving something in return (i.e. a tax break). The notion that everything within society should be centered on the concept of charity seems to be completely at odds with the basic principles of capitalism, but what Benedict XVI is striving to teach is that “human beings are not self-sufficient, and their ultimate purpose extends beyond this world.”18 We only achieve what we do through God’s grace and “by grace people are ‘called…to pour God’s charity and to weave networks of charity’”19 throughout the world. This is an important concept that is perpetually lost in a capitalistic culture. A culture in which achievements are contributed to individual effort and considered to only be shared with others at a significant cost, but if everything achieved is through God’s grace who are we to restrict its access to others? Herein lies a moral issue that must addressed within the capitalistic culture.
Today, we are in a “culture of prosperity [that] deadens us.”20 Pope Francis has called this “a new tranny”21 in which “man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.”22 The reduction of man has created what Pope Francis calls a “globalization of indifference”23 toward the needs of others. We no longer live and view others through the lens of God’s love. We instead see everything as “consumer goods to be used and then discarded.”24 The “’throw away’ culture”25 of the present era has replaced exploitation and oppression with exclusion from society as its worst offense.26 What is worse is that the excluded are no longer part of society, whereas those who are oppressed still are. The excluded have become nothing more than “leftovers”27 to our culture. This, perhaps, is the greatest offense of capitalism and the culture we have allowed to form from it. In the words of Pope Francis, we are at a point where we are “incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them.”28 We now believe that it is the responsibility of that excluded individual to remedy his or her own situation, after all it’s not my fault. We must move away from the world’s rampant, egotistical way of perceiving life and others.
Many proponents of capitalism speak of and defend trickle-down theories and the benefits of these theories. They believe that the wealth and benefits of capitalism felt at the top of society will trickle down the social ladder and “inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world”29, but these theories have “never been confirmed by the facts [and] expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”30 The continued belief in these unproven theories maintains the status quo and keeps the excluded as excluded. This way of thinking brings to light “the new idolatry of money”31 felt throughout today’s world. Pope Francis compares our worship of money to the worship of the golden calf spoken of in Exodus 32:1-35. He goes so far as to say that the “worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose.”32 He pinpoints how capitalism dictates our view and has exasperated the situation of how human beings are no longer considered sacred, but instead as only means to an end for each individual. While this loss of the human value doesn’t negate the benefits of the wealthy, the rest of humanity is left to struggle each day to prevent their life from worsening as “the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few”33 continues to grow exponentially.
Many others would defend capitalism today by stating how “the poor today live better than the rich did a century ago”34 and that they “enjoy conveniences that the middle class couldn’t afford in the recent past.”35 These statements are indeed true, but fail to understand how relative the discussion of wealth inequality is. It is unfair and unjust to compare the struggles of today’s poor to those of another time and all this does is continue the cycle of keeping the excluded waiting on the outskirts of society. We must remember that the basic needs everyone is entitled to change each week, each month and each year. Nothing is permanent in the City of Earth, and we must not forget that scripture speaks “precisely against the marginalization of economically disadvantaged people within their social contexts.”36 Too often capitalism is spoken of in absolute terms and we must move away from this line of thinking, especially since it is only God’s grace and love that can be spoken of absolutely.
The abundance of capitalism has allowed our society to have many, many benefits and is the sole reason why people state how no other system has helped as many people, but this “thirst for power and possessions knows no limit.”37 Indeed, the power of a free market system allows too easily for “widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion,”38 completely negating the power of states in place to share wealth with all.
Abundance creates a power hierarchy in which those skilled and/or corrupt in economically controlling positions influence the social structure more so than any others. And while power in the hands of the wealthy may be a good thing in some instances, in such individuals as Bill Gates who supports charities, by and large it does very little to benefit the greater good. Capitalism is a system that “tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits”39 and anything and everything “is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which [has] become the only rule.”40 The unceasing appetite of “materialism and frivolous consumerism go hand in hand with spiritual poverty.”41 It is this vicious cycle that prevents us from being able to recognize that “human beings are destined for an end that transcends mere earthly existence”42 and that we “are ‘constitutionally oriented toward ‘being more.’’”43 God has through his grace given us many blessings, including the abundance brought about from capitalism, and it is paramount that we recognize that it was God and not the economic
system.
The power of capitalism has become a system that “rules rather than serves.”44 Within this power “lurks a rejection of ethics and a rejection of God.”45 It has influenced us to view ethics “with a certain scornful derision”46 because it is “too human”47 and “makes money and power relative.”48 This is why we must put forth the effort to reintroduce ethics into our economic system and it is through ethics that we will be able to remove the absolute authority of capitalism. Ethics is a threat to The Market God because “it condemns the manipulation and debasement of the person”49 effectively leading us “to a God who calls for a committed response which is out the categories of the marketplace.”50 Such a response would “bring about balance and a more humane social order,”51 and remind us “that ‘the human race is a single family working together in true communion,’”52 effectively eliminating the exclusion we have created in our capitalistic culture.
Already there are many examples throughout the world of individuals attempting to bring ethics back into capitalism. One such example is Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company, which was started by Jonathan Golden in Roswell, Georgia. Golden’s company is centered on the idea of “community trade.” Community trade is about moving past “mere economics and build[ing] relationships.”53 It is the merger of free market economics with Christian ethics. Their goal is to “create sustainable economic environments for people in developing countries, while providing U.S. consumers with great coffee.”54 Jonathan Golden describes this experience as “grace in action.”55 Some may say that this is only possible because of the small scale of Golden’s business plan, yet I would view his company as the first pebble being tossed. It is a clear example of how we can succeed in using capitalism without bending the Market God. I would concede that on a larger, global scale it would indeed be more challenging and different, but nonetheless this is what we must strive for on a global scale in order to forsake the Market God and renew our faith in humanity.
The goal of capitalism is strong economic growth and innovation through limited regulations imposed by the state. Like all economic theories the application of this system is faulted and must be regulated in order to prevent extreme injustices. We have failed to limit the injustice brought about from the capitalistic system and have seen how “unbridled consumerism combined with inequality proves doubly damaging to the social fabric.”56 We must accept the shortfalls of this system’s application and emphasize Christian ethics within capitalism. If we are able to succeed in doing so, we will be able to begin to rein in these injustices we have allowed to occur and bring them to an end. It is through an understanding that all that is great within society is through the Lord’s grace and thereby we have an unconditional bond with every other human being that we will be able to end the rule of money. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated in a letter from a Birmingham City jail: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. What affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” It is from this that we must remind the rich that they have an intrinsic duty to “respect and promote the poor.”57 In the words of Pope Francis, we are all individuals bound together and “’[n]ot to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs’.”58 We are all members of the City of Earth in which we live life knowing that it will end in the blink of an eye, so we must live this short life as best we possibly can to be able to live in the City of God now and for eternity.
Works Cited
Bole, William. "Relative poverty: the indignity of gross inequality." Christian Century 128, no. 26 (December 27, 2011): 10-11. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2013).
Cox, Harvey Gallagher. "The Market As God. (drawing parallels between business and religion)." The Atlantic, 1999., 18, Academic OneFile, EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2013).
Francis. “Apostolic Exhortation: Evangelii Gaudium.” Vatican Press (November 2013): 44-51.
John, Jeremiah. "Charity in truth = Caritas in veritate." Dialogue 43, no. 2 (June 1, 2010): 189-196. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2013).
Moring, Mark. “Alternative Capitalist: How a Coffee Business Brews Reconciliation.” Christianity Today. June 6, 2011. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/june/alternativecapitalist.html. “How Capitalism Will Save Us.” Forbes. November 3, 2009. http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/03/capitalism-greed-recession-forbes-opinions-markets.html.
Joseph Wallace
RE 311- Christian Ethics
In the current era, we have seen many different economic systems develop, fail and be replaced. The emergence of capitalism changed the entire field; most capable countries have adopted a free market system. This system has been touted as “the world’s greatest economic success story”1 because no other system “has been as effective…in turning scarcity into abundance.”2 Many people have claimed capitalism to be one of the world’s most moral systems because it “has improved the lives of so many people.”3 Economists, generally speaking, have come to agree that capitalism is the best economic system. …show more content…
However, this view of capitalism is, in reality, quite narrow. While a free market system may very well be the most successful one in the world, it is the source for many negative aspects of modern cultures. The abundance capitalism has allowed us to manifest has become the most influential and driving force in our lives. Our traditional virtues have been replaced by our desire and need for material possessions. Capitalism, as efficient of an economic system as it may be, creates more harm than good when left to its own devices; therefore, it is paramount that basic Christian virtues are integrated into the fabric of capitalism. Harvey Cox has defined the influence of The Market on our lives as the “comprehensive…business theology”4 of a new modern religion. Just like all religions throughout history, this one has a celestial being: The Market. Cox discusses how The Market, at first, had to “keep storming down…to quell this or that threat to [it’s] sovereignty.”5 But now in the present era, The Market has become the absolute “Supreme Deity, the only true God.”6 This new “only true God”7 has shifted the entire perspective of humanity. The Market, “in a dazzling display of reverse transubstantiation,”8 has been able to alter everything in our world into “interchangeable items for sale.”9 The cost of the new standpoint has been very grave. The Market has changed the way we look at each other and ourselves, and we now see “colored price tags.”10 The notion of “inherent worth” has been swiftly swept aside by this “true God.”11 The “era of Market religion”12 has shown us how nothing in the world, even our own individualized lives, is sacred or safe. Our every move and decision is influenced by The Market, and it has even come to destroy the sacredness of our spirituality, making it readily accessible as a commodity. While all traditional religions have taught mankind “that there are limits to any earthly enterprise,”13 The Market will never stop expanding because “the First Commandment is ‘There is never enough.’”14 The concept of a new religion centered on the supreme deity, The Market, conceptualizes, in a contemporary approach, the long-standing critiques Christian Theologians have had of capitalism. Capitalism is a free market economic approach centered around the idea that people will be more driven toward risks that create new innovations, which in turn benefit the entire society, because they have more to gain than in other systems. In theory, a free market system seems ideal and would be able to benefit everyone. However, like all theories, the most important variable not taken into account is that of human nature. Indeed, this variable is the sole reason for the downfall of many political and economic systems, such as socialism. Socialism failed because it did not understand the role incentive motivation plays in human nature.
In the concept of capitalism, the free market system would be it’s own driving force allowing it to mitigate prices of all commodities based upon the consumer base and basic economical principles. What happens, however, when outside factors begin to have an influence on this system? And what happens when the commodity being sold is considered a social necessity for all people? The end result is based upon the law of demand and supply. If the commodity is a social necessity, then there is and always will be a large demand allowing prices to be outrageously high. If the commodity is being influenced by outside forces, such as a shortage caused by political turmoil, then the law of supply allows for the prices to be high because of the shortage. Capitalism as an economic system has shown to be the most successful in it’s application from the theory, but it does little to nothing to prevent, and in some cases encourages, social injustices, such as allowing extreme unequal wealth distribution and treating aspects of this world (i.e. land, water, etc.) as a means to a profit.
Capitalism and consumerism indirectly and directly influence our view on everything. We are at a point where “we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies,”15 but how do we, or why should we, circumvent this reality? Does this mean we cannot use capitalism without losing touch with our humanity? Many theologians would say that, but a more practical approach would be to negate the negative influences from capitalism by reemphasizing basic Christian virtues within capitalism.
In recent years both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have offered criticisms, but more importantly virtues we must incorporate into Capitalism. Pope Benedict XVI wrote Caritas in Veritate, or Charity in Truth, as a theological approach towards the issues of capitalism and outlining “the basic tenets of Catholic social teaching.”16 Benedict’s doctrine provides an extremely strong foundation for understanding what virtues we need to have in any economic system, especially capitalism. To begin, we must understand “that ‘everything has its origin in God’s love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it’.”17 By reasserting this truth we can begin to reshape our viewpoint of the world as it has been influenced by capitalism, and begins the process of removing the ultimate power from a free market system.
Pope Benedict XVI continually reemphasizes that “the heart of the Church’s social doctrine” is charity. His emphasis on charity is important, because within our society today, charity is often considered to be a secondary act of an individual, usually driven by receiving something in return (i.e. a tax break). The notion that everything within society should be centered on the concept of charity seems to be completely at odds with the basic principles of capitalism, but what Benedict XVI is striving to teach is that “human beings are not self-sufficient, and their ultimate purpose extends beyond this world.”18 We only achieve what we do through God’s grace and “by grace people are ‘called…to pour God’s charity and to weave networks of charity’”19 throughout the world. This is an important concept that is perpetually lost in a capitalistic culture. A culture in which achievements are contributed to individual effort and considered to only be shared with others at a significant cost, but if everything achieved is through God’s grace who are we to restrict its access to others? Herein lies a moral issue that must addressed within the capitalistic culture.
Today, we are in a “culture of prosperity [that] deadens us.”20 Pope Francis has called this “a new tranny”21 in which “man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.”22 The reduction of man has created what Pope Francis calls a “globalization of indifference”23 toward the needs of others. We no longer live and view others through the lens of God’s love. We instead see everything as “consumer goods to be used and then discarded.”24 The “’throw away’ culture”25 of the present era has replaced exploitation and oppression with exclusion from society as its worst offense.26 What is worse is that the excluded are no longer part of society, whereas those who are oppressed still are. The excluded have become nothing more than “leftovers”27 to our culture. This, perhaps, is the greatest offense of capitalism and the culture we have allowed to form from it. In the words of Pope Francis, we are at a point where we are “incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them.”28 We now believe that it is the responsibility of that excluded individual to remedy his or her own situation, after all it’s not my fault. We must move away from the world’s rampant, egotistical way of perceiving life and others.
Many proponents of capitalism speak of and defend trickle-down theories and the benefits of these theories. They believe that the wealth and benefits of capitalism felt at the top of society will trickle down the social ladder and “inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world”29, but these theories have “never been confirmed by the facts [and] expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.”30 The continued belief in these unproven theories maintains the status quo and keeps the excluded as excluded. This way of thinking brings to light “the new idolatry of money”31 felt throughout today’s world. Pope Francis compares our worship of money to the worship of the golden calf spoken of in Exodus 32:1-35. He goes so far as to say that the “worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose.”32 He pinpoints how capitalism dictates our view and has exasperated the situation of how human beings are no longer considered sacred, but instead as only means to an end for each individual. While this loss of the human value doesn’t negate the benefits of the wealthy, the rest of humanity is left to struggle each day to prevent their life from worsening as “the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few”33 continues to grow exponentially.
Many others would defend capitalism today by stating how “the poor today live better than the rich did a century ago”34 and that they “enjoy conveniences that the middle class couldn’t afford in the recent past.”35 These statements are indeed true, but fail to understand how relative the discussion of wealth inequality is. It is unfair and unjust to compare the struggles of today’s poor to those of another time and all this does is continue the cycle of keeping the excluded waiting on the outskirts of society. We must remember that the basic needs everyone is entitled to change each week, each month and each year. Nothing is permanent in the City of Earth, and we must not forget that scripture speaks “precisely against the marginalization of economically disadvantaged people within their social contexts.”36 Too often capitalism is spoken of in absolute terms and we must move away from this line of thinking, especially since it is only God’s grace and love that can be spoken of absolutely.
The abundance of capitalism has allowed our society to have many, many benefits and is the sole reason why people state how no other system has helped as many people, but this “thirst for power and possessions knows no limit.”37 Indeed, the power of a free market system allows too easily for “widespread corruption and self-serving tax evasion,”38 completely negating the power of states in place to share wealth with all.
Abundance creates a power hierarchy in which those skilled and/or corrupt in economically controlling positions influence the social structure more so than any others. And while power in the hands of the wealthy may be a good thing in some instances, in such individuals as Bill Gates who supports charities, by and large it does very little to benefit the greater good. Capitalism is a system that “tends to devour everything which stands in the way of increased profits”39 and anything and everything “is defenseless before the interests of a deified market, which [has] become the only rule.”40 The unceasing appetite of “materialism and frivolous consumerism go hand in hand with spiritual poverty.”41 It is this vicious cycle that prevents us from being able to recognize that “human beings are destined for an end that transcends mere earthly existence”42 and that we “are ‘constitutionally oriented toward ‘being more.’’”43 God has through his grace given us many blessings, including the abundance brought about from capitalism, and it is paramount that we recognize that it was God and not the economic
system.
The power of capitalism has become a system that “rules rather than serves.”44 Within this power “lurks a rejection of ethics and a rejection of God.”45 It has influenced us to view ethics “with a certain scornful derision”46 because it is “too human”47 and “makes money and power relative.”48 This is why we must put forth the effort to reintroduce ethics into our economic system and it is through ethics that we will be able to remove the absolute authority of capitalism. Ethics is a threat to The Market God because “it condemns the manipulation and debasement of the person”49 effectively leading us “to a God who calls for a committed response which is out the categories of the marketplace.”50 Such a response would “bring about balance and a more humane social order,”51 and remind us “that ‘the human race is a single family working together in true communion,’”52 effectively eliminating the exclusion we have created in our capitalistic culture.
Already there are many examples throughout the world of individuals attempting to bring ethics back into capitalism. One such example is Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company, which was started by Jonathan Golden in Roswell, Georgia. Golden’s company is centered on the idea of “community trade.” Community trade is about moving past “mere economics and build[ing] relationships.”53 It is the merger of free market economics with Christian ethics. Their goal is to “create sustainable economic environments for people in developing countries, while providing U.S. consumers with great coffee.”54 Jonathan Golden describes this experience as “grace in action.”55 Some may say that this is only possible because of the small scale of Golden’s business plan, yet I would view his company as the first pebble being tossed. It is a clear example of how we can succeed in using capitalism without bending the Market God. I would concede that on a larger, global scale it would indeed be more challenging and different, but nonetheless this is what we must strive for on a global scale in order to forsake the Market God and renew our faith in humanity.
The goal of capitalism is strong economic growth and innovation through limited regulations imposed by the state. Like all economic theories the application of this system is faulted and must be regulated in order to prevent extreme injustices. We have failed to limit the injustice brought about from the capitalistic system and have seen how “unbridled consumerism combined with inequality proves doubly damaging to the social fabric.”56 We must accept the shortfalls of this system’s application and emphasize Christian ethics within capitalism. If we are able to succeed in doing so, we will be able to begin to rein in these injustices we have allowed to occur and bring them to an end. It is through an understanding that all that is great within society is through the Lord’s grace and thereby we have an unconditional bond with every other human being that we will be able to end the rule of money. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated in a letter from a Birmingham City jail: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. What affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” It is from this that we must remind the rich that they have an intrinsic duty to “respect and promote the poor.”57 In the words of Pope Francis, we are all individuals bound together and “’[n]ot to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs’.”58 We are all members of the City of Earth in which we live life knowing that it will end in the blink of an eye, so we must live this short life as best we possibly can to be able to live in the City of God now and for eternity.
Works Cited
Bole, William. "Relative poverty: the indignity of gross inequality." Christian Century 128, no. 26 (December 27, 2011): 10-11. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2013).
Cox, Harvey Gallagher. "The Market As God. (drawing parallels between business and religion)." The Atlantic, 1999., 18, Academic OneFile, EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2013).
Francis. “Apostolic Exhortation: Evangelii Gaudium.” Vatican Press (November 2013): 44-51.
John, Jeremiah. "Charity in truth = Caritas in veritate." Dialogue 43, no. 2 (June 1, 2010): 189-196. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2013).
Moring, Mark. “Alternative Capitalist: How a Coffee Business Brews Reconciliation.” Christianity Today. June 6, 2011. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/june/alternativecapitalist.html. “How Capitalism Will Save Us.” Forbes. November 3, 2009. http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/03/capitalism-greed-recession-forbes-opinions-markets.html.