An Anglican Theology of Money

The Anglican Church of Canada has produced a report on The Theology of Money in which it denounces capitalism, a system that, apparently, is mired in “structural sin”. In its place, the report seems to be proposing Marxism branded with the stamp of an ecclesiastical imprimatur.

This would all be a little less risible if the senior ACoC clergy eager to impose economic strictures on the rest of us, earned less than six figures annually themselves. But, then, as a group of literary pigs have noted: all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

I remember a number of years ago attending a meeting where Fred Hiltz, speaking in his usual soporific monotone, became almost animated when announcing some wonderful news: not that revival had overcome every obstacle carefully placed in its path and visited the ACoC, but that a major donation was on the horizon, a bequest from a dead – even more dead than usual – Anglican, as I recall.

Of course, Western civilization is obsessed with money and its acquisition but it’s not the system that’s at fault, it’s the people living in the system: us. That includes (I do like to be inclusive) clergy and a church that is forever begging for financial support.

Here, the church version of the Occupy (anything but the cathedral or the bishop’s house) Movement is explained by Rev. Maggie Helwig, a regular at the Toronto gay pride parade:

On October 18, an Anglican Church of Canada task force has released “On The Theology of Money,” a report calling the faithful to embrace a “vision of ‘enough’” when it comes to material wealth.

Many Christians in the 21st century are torn between their faith, which teaches that hoarding wealth is wrong and that Christians should support each other, and an economic system that values individualism, limitless growth, and commodification, says the Rev. Maggie Helwig, a priest in the diocese of Toronto and member of the task force.

Using Biblical texts, early church teachings, contemporary theology and political theory, Helwig’s essay, Non nobis, Domine (Not to us, Lord) provides the main substance of the report, a result of two years of research, reflection and study.

Helwig makes the case that the current economic system and the value it places on money are antithetical to authentic Christianity, and should be seen as a kind of “structural sin.”

The essay takes its title from Psalm 115, which attacks the idolatrous worship of images made of silver and gold,  “the work of human hands,” and argues that the money economy, as it is currently practiced today, is a similar form of idolatry.

Citing stories like God’s feeding of the children of Israel with manna in Exodus 16, to the early church practice of holding goods in common described in Acts 2, Helwig points out that the Bible consistently teaches that Christians are called to be satisfied with what they need, and to share with those who have less—an argument she believes is backed up by the Bible’s frequent denunciations of lending money on interest.

She notes, however, “This vision of ‘enough’ is not only very different from the ever-spiralling growth of the money economy, it is actually hostile to it. If we are satisfied with simple, basic human lives of good work and mutual care, we will ‘fail’ according to the terms of our economy.”

Furthermore, Helwig argues that, because the capitalist economic system sees no intrinsic value in human life, it is completely indifferent to the suffering of those who find themselves unable to succeed on its terms.

“The inability of the market alone to ensure adequate human lives for the majority of the population is increasingly clear, as the gap between rich and poor, both globally and within nations, increases,” she says, quoting a report from Oxfam, an international confederation of groups working to fight poverty, that shows inequality as having grown dramatically over the past 30 years.

“These statistics speak of human lives stripped down to the voracious needs of an economic system’s implacable internal logic,” she adds.

[……]

Helwig also believes Christians should have a voice in the political arena, pushing for more redistributive economic policies and resisting trade agreements that “have been proven to limit the ability of persons and societies to make choices for the local common good.”

Occupy St. Paul’s

From here:

Scores of anti-corporate demonstrators invaded London’s historic St. Paul’s Cathedral on 16 October, but police who tried to stop them were told to leave by church officials, Religion News Service reports.

[…]

The Rev. Giles Fraser, the cathedral’s canon chancellor who took steps to ease tensions, told reporters that “I am very much in favor of people’s rights to protest peacefully,” and said he asked the police to leave the building “because I didn’t feel it needed that sort of protection.”

[…]

A statement issued by Occupy London Stock Exchange (Occupy LSX) quoted Andy Robert, one of the protesters, saying: “We’ve now been welcomed by St Paul’s … We are here to talk about the role of the financial sector, government and corporate greed have in ruining the lives of ordinary people and how we can bring about change.”

However, the occupiers may already have outstayed their welcome. It seems that their presence is threatening the profitability of the cathedral. I’m sure that the £22,600 raked in every day is all used to promote social justice and has has nothing whatsoever to do with corporate greed.

But the cathedral has now said the increase in numbers at the site meant it was forced to “review the extent to which it can remain open for the many thousands coming this week as worshippers, visitors and in school parties”.

The statement asked: “Is it now time for the protest camp to leave?

“The consequences of a decision to close St Paul’s cannot be taken lightly.”

Last year the cathedral said it generated £8.25m from commercial activities, or an average of £22,600 a day.

This total included entrance fees from 820,000 paying visitors.

Occupying Wall Street with Strange Bedfellows

The American Nazi Party is delighted with Occupy Wall Street and has released a statement with the enlightening news that Wall Street bankers are all Jews – and those who aren’t are spiritual Jews.

The Communist Party USA announced that it is squarely behind the occupiers. They concentrate on corporate greed – a real shocker – a new level of class-consciousness and putting people before profits – unless it’s people who are making the profit and then they go into an iterative tautological soliloquy, never to emerge from the resulting collectivist sinkhole.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gloated that the end of Capitalism is nigh – along with Western civilisation – and, I admit, looking at the protesters, he has a point.

Meanwhile, those who have not yet reached a new level of class-consciousness and don’t have time to occupy anything because they are busy trying to make a living (which may or may nor include the demon profit), are losing patience with the whole thing.

Occupy Canada is coming, apparently

On Saturday. The CBC tells us that it is the harbinger of an economic awakening and:

Canadian organizers are revving up their plans for the Occupy Wall Street-conceived global action day, the most adventurous idea yet for a movement that some experts say has the potential to trigger a major shift in the economic thinking of governments and big corporations.

Here we can see some of the organisers. I think I spot a couple of Macbook pros, a Macbook, a Dell and an HP laptop, all brought to the anti-big-corporation occupiers courtesy of big corporations.


I was planning on attending, but have decided instead to experience my economic awakening in the comfort of my study where I can savour the onset of a new epoch of halcyon accord without distraction.

It feels like the ’60s again.