Capitalism’s war on Christianity: How a “makers vs. takers” culture poisons our ethics

[DonViejo]

When every economic priority is reversed from what an ethical commitment would require, the results look like this

ELIZABETH STOKER

It’s been a terrible legislative week for the homeless in the United States, especially in the South. In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., business owners bothered by the effect the presence of homeless people has on shoppers campaigned city leaders to come up with a provision that would allow for the removal of such people. Since it’s challenging to come up with a legal reason to remove peaceful citizens from public property, the city came up with a roundabout jab: making it illegal to store possessions on public property. In effect, the new regulation will allow police to confiscate the possessions of homeless people and ransom them for a fine. While city officials claim the policy is merely born of consideration for the vaunted “aesthetics” of Fort Lauderdale, the veritable Venice of the Eastern Seaboard, it appears more likely that officials are banking on homeless people leaving the area rather than risking the loss of the few things they own.

Birmingham, Ala., has evidently decided to outdo Fort Lauderdale in passive-aggressive stabs at the most vulnerable of our population by removing the passivity from their aggression and campaigning for callousness outright. A food service ordinance in Birmingham apparently designed to require food trucks selling food to acquire permits is now being used to prevent Christian ministers (among others) from distributing food to homeless people. The excuses given by the Birmingham mayor’s press secretary are even wormier than the nebulous “aesthetic” reasons thrown out by the proponents of Fort Lauderdale’s new anti-homeless regulation: “The overarching policy goal of the mayor is based on a belief that hungry people deserve something more than getting a ham sandwich out on the side of the street.”

In theory this is likely something we could all agree on: Homeless people deserve much more than sporadic and limited assistance. That the Birmingham mayor’s office actually buys that would be far more believable if there were concerted efforts to house and employ homeless citizens rather than to drive them out of cities with increasingly cruel measures.

more
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/25/capitalisms_war_on_christianity_how_a_makers_vs_takers_culture_poisons_our_ethics/

[cbayer]

1. Great article and right along the lines of s4p's post in another thread:

Can the religious left help the cause of economic justice?

[okasha]

4. We're going to have to.

I don't see anyone else rushing in to help.Virtually every social service agency for the homeless and the hungy in my city is church-affiliated. The city is more interested in building golf courses and acquiring up to date.SWAT gear for law enforcement.

[cbayer]

5. This is true in so many places, which is why I cringe

when people suggest that religious organizations need to get out of social safety net system.

While I agree that governmental agencies should be taking care of this, as you and the article point out, they aren't and show little signs of doing so.

And I'm not seeing a lot about secular groups stepping up to the plate either.

Like it or not, religious organizations fill a gap where others turn their backs.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. The conflict is only with some christian organizations.

In other words, a capitalist culture, with its promotion of endless wealth accrual, will never be amenable on its own terms to an ordering of priorities that reflects a Christian view of life. Ministries that campaign against the state rather than the service of state power to business interests are only punting another fight further down the road. Until Christian ministries are willing to reckon with the overwhelming spirit of greed that infects our culture and subsequently our politics – that’s the same culture, by the way, that caused members of a wealthy community to call the police about a statue of Jesus Christ rendered as a homeless man – conflicts between Christian ethical aims and state power will only multiply as symptoms.

Sorry, but this "capitalist culture" has been around for at least 150 years, and probably much longer, and religion has served the interests of the ruling class for the entire time. Are there religious institutions that oppose "capitalist culture", of course, but they are marginalized, or, as in the case of the RCC, they do so in very measured ways while continuing to be an integral part of the power structure.

[trotsky]

3. It is sad how so many people who insist: "THIS is what Christianity means..."

have absolutely no idea why what follows is just as valid as what right-wing Christians say it means. And thus why they get nowhere.

[el_bryanto]

6. Is it fair to say that from your perspective all interpretations of Christianity are equally valid?

Or would that be an incorrect statement?

Bryant

[trotsky]

7. They absolutely are.

After all, that's a fundamental flaw with all revealed religions.